I will be relocating from Northern California to Southern California
after the first of the year. I have a Cross 42 trimaran and will be
looking for a place to keep it. Can anyone advise of multihull friendly
marinas in South Cal? I will relocating to the Laguna Hills area.

Stu

From September Latitude38

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA SLIPS IN SEPTEMBER?

Due partially to all the plugs you have made, we decided to sail our
Celestial 48 Tamara Lee Ann to Southern California for the month of
September. We'll be leaving with one crew on Thursday, September 4,
and plan to arrive in Long Beach on Saturday afternoon. We - my wife
and two kids - will then fly to L.A. for the next two weekends to
cruise to Catalina. I'll then sail the boat back north the last
weekend of September.

I need some advice, however. Just like last year, before the start of
the Ha-Ha, I am getting nervous about where to leave our boat during
the week I'll be back in Northern California. The folks at Shoreline
Marina in Long Beach say they might have a slip, but haven't been
willing to commit yet. They are apparently reconfiguring the marina
about that time, and will have to shuffle around many of their
permanent slipholders.

I wouldn't mind leaving our boat on a mooring in Newport Beach, but
how would I get to and from the boat? I can't really take the dink in
and leave it anywhere for a week at a time while I am gone. I guess I
could probably snag a ride from a passing boat if I had to.

Are there any other good places to check for slip availability? The
few marinas that I called just dropped the phone in laughter when I
told them I needed a 50-foot slip for a month. Of course, everything
worked out just fine in San Diego last year before the start of the
Ha-Ha, so maybe I should just stop worrying and figure it out when I
get there.

Doug Thorne
Tamara Lee Ann, Celestial 48
San Francisco

Doug - One of the last places in the world you'd expect to find a
place to keep your boat - especially at a very inexpensive price - is
Newport Beach. But that's the ticket for Southern California. Bow and
stern moorings go for just $5 a night for a maximum of 20 nights per
month. And, we're told that Newport virtually never has to turn anyone
away. In our opinion, Newport is by far the most fun place to have a
boat on the Southern California mainland, as it has great beaches and
other attractions. It's also convenient to John Wayne Airport for
commuting back and forth to Northern California. To get a mooring,
call the Orange County Sheriff's Marine Division on 16 as you approach
the Newport Breakwater. You'll need to tie up to their dock while you
check in with your boat papers and personal identification. The folks
in the harbor office are a little formal - as you might expect from
law enforcement officers - but they've always been very friendly and
helpful. If there's any wind and current, tying up to two buoys can be
difficult the first time. Unless they're really busy, the Sheriff's
Department officers will help you out.

As you mentioned, a downside of leaving a boat on a mooring in Newport
Beach is how to get to and from shore without having to leave your
dinghy at a dock for a long time. Based on our experience, you simply
have to be willing to lock your dinghy to the guest dock for however
long you'll be gone and take your chances. Hitching a ride to shore is
not a satisfactory option, as you'll probably be rushing to catch a
taxi to the plane late at night or early in the morning when there's
not much casual boat traffic. If it gives you any comfort, the dinghy
dock is right next to the Coast Guard station. We've left our
inflatable and 15-hp locked to the dock for a week or more on several
occasions. It's always been there when we've come back.

So we recommend Newport Beach as your first option. Folks planning to
do the Ha-Ha should keep this in mind, as it's only about 70 miles
from the Ha-Ha start in San Diego, a place with limited guest
berthing.

Your second best option would be the various municipal marinas in Long
Beach. We'd start with Alamitos Bay, then the Shoreline Marina and
Rainbow Marina in the downtown area. Over the years, we've had
reasonably good luck getting a slip in Long Beach, scoring one about
50% of the time. As we recall, it's about .50/ft per night, with a two
week limit per month. The only slip they had for us during the busy
month of August was the state tallship Californian's slip at Rainbow
Marina. It is close to downtown restaurants and other attractions, and
there's a great beachfront path nearby. While it wasn't quite as nice
as Newport, wasn't as convenient to an airport, and costs about five
times as much, we still enjoyed ourselves.

If for some reason you get totally shut out on the mainland, we can
promise you that there will be plenty of available moorings at
Catalina. And if you registered with Vessel Assist, both Avalon and
Two Harbors will allow you to leave your boat unattended. Leaving your
boat at Catalina would add a cross channel ferry or helicopter ride to
both ends of your commute, but it's fun the first couple of times.

The bottom line is that finding a place to kept your boat in Southern
California may not be the easiest or most convenient thing in the
world, but it's absolutely doable. If you have to go to a little extra
effort to do it, trust us, it's worth it - particularly in September.
Just about everyone agrees that September is the best month of all at
Catalina, as it has the warmest air and water temperatures of the
year, and it's not very crowded because all the kids are back in
school. This isn't just hype on our part. Usually we take Profligate
down to Southern California for August and half of September, then
bring her north for a month before heading back down to San Diego for
the start of the Ha-Ha. Not this year. We're keeping her in Southern
California right up to the start of the Ha-Ha, with an eye toward
returning to Catalina and exploring Santa Cruz Island between now and
then. Late summer and fall sailing in Southern California is something
many more Northern California sailors ought to take advantage of.

As a final bonus, September and October are two of the easier months
in which to head north from L.A. to San Francisco. Generally speaking,
the winds are lighter and the seas flatter, and the time between bad
weather much further apart than in the spring.


On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 08:20:32 -0700 (PDT),
(Stu and Marilyn Wright) wrote:

I will be relocating from Northern California to Southern California
after the first of the year. I have a Cross 42 trimaran and will be
looking for a place to keep it. Can anyone advise of multihull friendly
marinas in South Cal? I will relocating to the Laguna Hills area.

Stu

Jeannette Bristol 32, San Francisco
http://www.eblw.com/contepartiro/contepartiro.html

You better leave it in the Bay area. There is nothing here for any
sized monohull let alone multihulls. Call around before you bring the
boat here - look at the Log's website for the complete marina list.

http://www.thelog.com/special/sectionview.asp?s=209

You'll find 4-7 yr + waiting lists.



On Sun, 19 Oct 2003 08:20:32 -0700 (PDT),
(Stu and Marilyn Wright) wrote:

I will be relocating from Northern California to Southern California
after the first of the year. I have a Cross 42 trimaran and will be
looking for a place to keep it. Can anyone advise of multihull friendly
marinas in South Cal? I will relocating to the Laguna Hills area.

Stu