I have to admit I was afraid and I even had a bad dream.
An adventure - you sometimes wish you were somewhere else when you are having one!
I defeated my fears and pushed on!
And Anacapa Island.
Anacapa comes from a Chumash Indian word meaning "mirage":
I spent many youthful hours looking at this strange island while surfing in Ventura.
I should have been seeing Santa Cruz by now, where is it?
The island was shrouded in fog right up to the very end.
Right about here, I had my worst accident of the entire trip. I caught a fish and while landing it, I stepped on the autopilot cable, breaking it.
No autopilot would probably mean aborting the trip or heading to the nearest West Marine.
I was able to fix it while underway, steering with my knee.
Smugglers is an open roadstead that doesn't offer much shelter but has excellent holding in 25 feet.
I was asleep in about 10 minutes after the anchor dug in.
This is a place where the bow anchor is dropped offshore, and you set a stern anchor in about 10 feet of water off the beach.
I used a 13 lb danforth on 50 feet of 5/16 chain + 150 feet of 5/8 nylon as my main anchor throughout the trip.
My stern anchor was a 8 lb danforth on 5 feet of chain and 150 feet of 1/2 nylon
My backup main anchor was a 13 lb danforth with the same chain and rode as my main.
These anchors worked without fail throughout the voyage.
