Boating near LA

LA can be a bit stressful. When you feel the walls closing in around you - you need to hit the escape button and get yourself on a boat. Fortunately there are a few options for boating near Los Angeles.

Boating near Los Angeles

Live the sea-faring life without quitting your day job.

Options for boating in and around Los Angeles

• You can head east into the mountains. You've got the Lake Arrowhead Queen, giving boat tours around the lake. This is easy and leaves the captain-ing to someone else. 

•  If you don't want to own a boat but you want to get out and boat the coastline near LA, then you will find many operators willing to rent you a boat. Marina sailing is a good place to start. They're going to want to know you're experience and may require certification from an ASA approved sailing school.

• Or the third option, you can go whole hog and get your own pleasure craft. Boating around LA is a blast with your own boat. Yes, it can be expensive if you get a newer model - and it can be time consuming if you get a later model. But somewhere in the middle, maybe a 1980's year sailboat can give you good value. If you're going to use the boat regularly, then its worth the investment. The beauty of owning a boat in LA is you have Catalina Island in your backyard. We have previously written detailed directions on the timing and distance required for getting your boat from the major LA harbors out to Avalon or Two Harbors.

In conclusion, try renting a boat first. Make sure you absolutely love it.
If you do love it - commit!

You won't regret it...

The funniest boat names for boaters who love word play

One of the great mysteries of the boating world, is the rampant use of word play in boat names. Often called 'old man humor', word-play or puns still hold sway in the world of funny boat names.

And this makes perfect sense to me... because who doesn't like a dingy named "Row vs. Wade"??

What's not to like?

screenshot from the funny boat name page

Our friends at All Things Boat have recognized the huge number of hilarious names based on nautical word play and - they've written up this page that lists some of the very best funny boat names. If you need a quick laugh or else perhaps some inspiration for a name on your next boat, then head on over and see if you find something that gets you chuckling.
 

Boating to the Farallon islands: sailing distance from San Francisco.

Sailing from the Golden Gate Bridge out to the Farallon Islands is one of the great boating adventures in Central California. It can be challenging though, so you don't want to be too cavalier about this endeavor. We wrote this page to lend insight on the day trip for the sake of both power boaters and sailors. Do your research, wait for a safe window and then get out there and have a great time.

Golden Gate Bridge out to the Farallon Islands

Sailing to Farallon Islands

The distance from the Golden Gate Bridge outside of San Francisco to the Farallon Islands is approximately 29 miles (25 nautical miles). You need to take currents and tides into consideration when approximating your speed to the island chain. A 40 foot boat, moving about 6 kn/hr should be able to make the round trip in 8 hours, so a full day on the water.

There are other considerations for this boat trip, but first and foremost, you want to give the Farallon Islands a wide berth when you're rounding them. There is no reason to cut any corners on this pile of rocks. There's been many unfortunate incidents where boaters cut in too close, here is an exceptionally sad story that occurred during the Full Crew Farallones Race.

 Some boaters like to leave San Francisco on a slack tide, just as it's beginning to flood. If you leave in a max flood, make sure to stay near the North Coast for a back eddy, but watch for rough conditions in the Potato Patch, especially on an ebb tide.

You want to check marine conditions before you commit to the Farallon Islands. You want reasonable swell height and swell period. 5-8 foot swell with a short period (less then 10 seconds) can be miserable, but the same swell size with a longer swell period (more than more than 18 seconds) can be reasonable. Know your comfort level with open sea conditions. There's no reason to push it out there.

The Farallon Island group

You can monitor VHF Channel 12 to stay informed on large boats coming IN and OUT of San Francisco. This information is transmitted at 15 and 45 min. past the hour.

Many boaters prefer rounding the islands on the south side. It's generally a better way to see the islands. Make sure to check your charts and GPS repeatedly so you're certain you're clearing the rocks with plenty of margin of error. Swells can stack up as they get closer to the islands and waves start to break, so if the ocean is already up - it will be even more chaotic as you near the rocks.

we saw some Risso dolpins while crossing the channel

If you're sailing, the route you take will be dictated by the wind. Plan out your tacks - take advantage of a stiff breeze when its there - and be ready to reef if things pick up. Most folks end up with a nice downwind sail back under the Golden Gate into San Francisco.

If you're thinking about this trip or other boating adventures in SF Bay and surrounding coastline - you want to have a good set of nautical charts on board. We like the Maptech chart book for the SF region. You get the zoomed out big charts of the Bay. Then for each specific area - you've got the zoomed in high resolution charts to help with anchoring or approaching harbors.
These charts are waterproof, and virtually indestructible. We've been neglecting and abusing our Maptech book for a decade and they still looks crisp and new..Amazon gets you a bit better price than West Marine.



Alright - fair winds!

The Catalina island fox, wildlife for boaters

As a means to get off the boat and stretch our legs, Jess and I hiked up Divide Road Trail outside of Avalon and made it up to the south island summit. This isn't much of a summit, but you can see down to the windward side of Catalina Island.

Sailing out - just north of Avalon

Once we got up on this summit we were met with an inquisitive Catalina island fox (Urocyon littoralis). This is a small, friendly fox that seems perhaps a bit too comfortable with humans. Each of the Channel Islands has their own sub-species of island fox. Each sub-species has adapted to a slightly different island niche and taken on its own characteristics. The Catalina fox has clearly evolved to show no fear of humans.

Catalina Island Fox

 

sniffing around for lunch

There is no 2 ways about it. They island foxes are pretty damn adorable.

Catalina Island fox: handsome devils

The island fox has a beautiful coat of fur that blends in perfectly with the dry chaparral landscape of Catalina. This is sagebrush, manzanita and live oak country. The fox seems right at home

Goodbye island fox...until we meet again.

Boating site with a great list of dirty boat names

Boaters are simple people. They like to get off of dry land, float out in the water and possibly crack a beer. If general, they also like chips and salsa and maybe a few more beers. If there is some fishing involved or maybe a good sail, then all the better. But, if nothing else, there will be boats, there will be talk of boats and there will be beers.

Boaters also like boat names that are a little bit dirty. If they can come up with a name that is somewhat nautical and somewhat dirty, then that's a home run.

No one knows why this is a thing, but it is.

Maybe the dudes are thinking that a hot, single lady will be sitting on the shore and see a boat named 'TailChaser' pass by. Next thing, the lady jumps in the water and swims over to the boat to see what's up. This has never happened in the history of boating. But, like I said, boaters are simple people. They are hoping for the best and not too concerned if the best doesn't happen. At the end of the day they just seem to like dirty boat names.

Our friends at All Thing Boat, have put together a really funny page of boat names that are a little bit dirty and a little bit nautical, here's there list of dirty boat names. If you want to let the world know that you still got it...go ahead and pick one of these.

a few of the names - Sloop Doggy Dog is a crowd pleaser