Once again, the curtains in my bedroom began to flutter early Saturday morning. Instinctively, I turned the TV on and sure enough, Malibu was on fire again. The Santa Ana winds were nothing like the event in October here at Channel Islands Harbor about 20 miles NW of Malibu. We watched the weather maps and prognostications carefully and decided to make a run for Smuggler’s Anchorage at Santa Cruz Island.
The Malibu Fire smoke plume carried more than 30 miles out to sea before dissipating at all. I really have become disappointed in what was my favorite wind forecasting group. Sailflow has really missed it badly up this way for a couple months now. NOAA in turn has not been very helpful in making sailing decisions either so it could just be a fitful period of time for the weather around here.

We had an incredible ride the 20 miles to Smugglers. One 3 hour and 15 minute tack from the North Jetty entrance of CI ! The wind was out of the North-NorthWest at 15-20 kts and Sancerre flew along easily at 7-8 knots. Slept like a baby after an incredible meal provided by my riding partners and a nice Sancerre red. While Sancerre is known more for its white wines, its reds are really wonderful. Awoke to a building sea rolling directly into Smugglers which faces South ! South ? Yup, Dennis made his signature breakfast mui rapido and we got the heck outa there. We rode a 12-18 knot Southeast breeze back home again. Today, we did have to tack two times. More so as to stay out of the way of heavy freight traffic and because it was convenient to work our way with the wind and in so doing we had a fine broad reach for the last 7 or 8 miles of the trip. I have never come into the South Entrance on a starboard tack before. Great Fun !

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