The Ana Cruz Triangle by Duane Strosaker Jim Gabriel and I completed the crossings of the Ana Cruz Triangle, Thursday-Sunday, July 20-24, 2000. The Ana Cruz Triangle is in Southern California and is from Channel Islands Harbor on the mainland in Oxnard to Anacapa Island, from Anacapa Island to Santa Cruz Island, and from Santa Cruz Island back to Channel Islands harbor. We launched from a friends house in the harbor and arrived at the mouth at 6:00am. The forecast was 10-15 knot winds, 2 foot wind waves and a 6 foot west swell. The conditions were bumpy at first. Later there were some small breaking waves, but they were nothing to worry about. Closer to Anacapa Island, the conditions smoothed out. To monitor the drift, we first used the harbor mouth and the oil rig Gina as a range, and later Gina and the peak on West Anacapa. Between the harbor and Gina, there was some easterly drift, which we compensated for with a 25 degree ferry angle. There wasn't any noticeable drift during the few miles past Gina. Then a few miles from Anacapa Island, there was a strong easterly drift, and we had to ferry even more. There were several ships in the shipping lanes, but none of them came close to us. Jim and I completed the 13 NM crossing to West Anacapa by landing at Frenchy's Cove at 9:50am. After taking a break for an hour there, we started the 2 1/2 NM paddle to Landing Cove on East Anacapa. By that time the wind and waves had picked up. We stopped along the way to explore a couple of sea caves. It would've been nice to explore more of the caves, but the conditions were too rough. Of course, we had to use the famous hoist to lift our fully loaded kayaks onto the elevated platform in Landing Cove, which is surrounded by cliffs. The 6 foot swell created a lot of surge at the platform and made the task of attaching slings on the kayaks more difficult than usual. Standing on the ladder to attach the slings, the surge caused the water level to range all the way from our feet to our chests. Fortunately, the water was a relatively warm 63 degrees F. On that afternoon, the rangers and visitors left the island, and except for two researchers, Jim and I had the island to ourselves. Of course, that's if you don't include the thousands of seagulls that were squawking all over the place and dive bombing us as we did the short hike around the east island. On Friday morning we woke up at 4:30am, broke camp and had our kayaks off the platform by 6:15am. The forecast for our paddle to Santa Cruz Island was 10 knots winds in the morning, and 10-15 knots in the afternoon with 2 foot wind waves and a 5 foot west swell. The trip this day consisted of a 5 NM coastal paddle on the back (south) side of Anacapa, a 4 NM crossing between the islands, and a 2 NM coastal paddle from San Pedro Point to Scorpion Beach on Santa Cruz Island. We had calm conditions the whole way. The was a current working against us along East Anacapa and for a small stretch just past San Pedro Point. Otherwise we didn't notice any current or drift, including during the crossing, where the west end of Anacapa and San Pedro Point on Santa Cruz made a nice range. Just past San Pedro Point, Jim and I saw harbor seals with their little white pups. At Scorpion Rocks, we explored a few sea caves before landing and setting up camp in Scorpion Canyon. Then we went for a 4 mile round trip hike to Potato Harbor. Afterwards, Jim did some rolling practice and I went swimming. Originally, our plans were to paddle back to Anacapa Island on Saturday and then back to the mainland on Sunday. But we decided to spend an extra day on Santa Cruz Island and make the 18 NM crossing directly back to the mainland on Sunday, because Santa Cruz Island was more fun than Anacapa Island and we wanted to do a longer crossing. On Saturday, we paddled an 8 NM round trip to and from Chinese Harbor. Although Chinese Harbor is known as Nature Conservancy property and off limits without a landing permit, my chart and a National Park Service map showed that 1/4 NM of the easternmost part of the harbor was National Park Service property, where landing is allowed for day use. We landed there for a break. The 5 foot swell made the surf large, and we ended up doing a lot of bracing on the way in. We also had to punch some waves on the way back out. We landed for another break on a calm beach in Potato Harbor. Between Potato Harbor and Cavern Point, the island was well exposed to the 5 foot swell from the west, and the swell became larger at some focus points, making for fun up and down rides. I took a look at the Surging T Cave along the way back, but it was too rough to go through on this day. We did get to go in a couple of calmer sea caves in less exposed areas. During the rest of the afternoon, we relaxed at Scorpion Beach. I did a some rolling practice and played in the tiny beach break. Then Jim and I went swimming. For a long time, we saw a Coast Guard helicopter flying around, and then we saw Coast Guard and National Park Service boats. I asked a ranger about them, and she said that a private boat lost power at Chinese Harbor and washed up in the surf. The Coast Guard and National Park Service boats weren't able to get through the large surf to get the passengers off the beach. Also, the harbor wasn't accessible by vehicle over land. So the passengers were lifted off the beach by helicopter and dropped off on top of Cavern Point. On Sunday, Jim and I woke up at 4:30am, broke camp and launched at 5:40am. The forecast was 10 knot winds in the morning, and 10-15 knots in the afternoon with 2 foot wind waves and a 5 foot west swell. We ended up having glassy conditions the entire 18 NM crossing. When we launched, we were able to see the oil rig Gail halfway across the channel, and we passed by the right of it. Before loosing sight of Gail behind us, we were able to see the oil rig Gina, which was 3 NM off the mainland. We passed by the left of it. The oil rigs helped make the navigation easy. At one point in the shipping lanes, we had a ship going in one direction in front of us and another one in the opposite direction behind us, but they were not close to us. About 5 NM off the coast we passed by a large fleet of sport fishing boats. There wasn't any drift that I noticed in the channel. We reached the mouth of Channel Islands Harbor and completed the Ana Cruz Triangle at 11:10am. *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - All postings copyright the author and not to be reproduced/forwarded outside PaddleWise without author's permission Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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