Check it out a little first?
We took a ferry to Catalina and spent half the nights in a hotel, the other half “camping” in a tent cabin at Two Harbors. Got in a bunch of nice day paddles, renting SOTs. What a beautiful place, with incredibly clear colorful water and fish. Make sure to do some snorkeling or diving while you’re there.
There’s a guy named Randy who owns an outfit that will do shuttles for kayak campers. The company is out of Descanso Bay in Avalon. They have Ocean Kayak Scupper SOTs plus others to rent. Friendly, helpful guy who has a diving background so knows the area very well.
I got some small swell on one day, some fog on others, wind on several. That was at a pretty quiet time, though. You best prepare for worse, especially since you might get stuck in one campsite longer than anticipated. IIRC, at some of the sites you can have fresh water delivered and waiting for you. Ask Randy about who does that.
Oh…and though there is a strict policy regarding human waste, from what we saw, actual enforcement was spotty. One really nice campsite was befouled with loose used toilet paper and piles of poop. They didn’t even bother to hike into the bushes and dig cat holes. A lot of powerboaters stop at those places to picnic and who knows what else.
Do it
You have a year to get ready, and it is a challenging but realistic goal. Use the year to get progressively longer day trips in offshore situattions and go for it.
Some thoughts:
Pratice your navigation. At canoe/kayak heigt above the water, I suspect you will be out of sight of land for at least part of the trip.
Choose a boat you can feel safe in for rough water and boarding waves. For me, this would rule out an open canoe.
File a float plan befor you go on this or any long open ocean training runs.
Consider crossing with a group of more experienced paddlers.
Last paragraph is so true
I see some who don’t want to spend the time and effort working on even flat-water skills. They just want a shortcut to get bragging rights for “doing” a big trip.
Take pleasure in climbing up the small steps, no matter what the endeavor.
Maybe a 4th ???
If you can, try out one of those big Seda Tangos or Necky Nootka (sp? ) or Tofinos if you can find one to rent. doubles …
Having a 4th person and two stable doubles would make a good team for support and encouragement + safety if it gets crazy.
Its a long way but not THAT hard. Start doing some coastal trips asap and mess around with emergency stuff inside when its super windy to get the feel and techniques down, work on them and then do it this SUMMER !!!
your water skills are valuable
from a standpoint of knowing what cold water immersion can do to a person. The type of boat is irrelevant right now. It’s like asking what kind of sunscreen or bathing suit and you’re about to learn surfing tomorrow. Take lots of classes and practice, practice, practice. By the middle of the summer start taking rolling classes and get a worthwhile roll down by winter. To repeat, the boat is irrelevant, your skills are the determining factor.
Check out Calamari Chris’s Crossings
The wild man of carlsbad. I met Chris about 2002, only paddled with him once ...
Here he is in the famed "Yellow Tampon" on a whale watch paddle we did with Santacruzmidwife and some other oldtimers ...
http://outdoors.webshots.com/photo/1108265695043972821RSQOJH
Here's his Catalina stories....
http://www.topkayaker.net/Articles/Destinations/Catalina.html
To be honest the paddle to Catalina is a long boring trip, be sure to use the restroom before you push off.....
Thoughts re boats
You don't have to get ideas on what boats right now. If you sign up for some lessons in basics and make sure it includes on-water rescues and a good range of the basic strokes, that answer will become quickly clear to you. The boats that make this stuff the easiest to do and still have adequate volume for carrying gear are the boats you want.
Someone above had an interesting posit - I think it was Onno - to get a fourth and go out in two doubles. Considering that many outfitters use tandems kayaks to provide a margin of safety, and you are talking a long point to point paddle, this makes sense. At least it does if you would enjoy paddling a tandem.
The problem is, right now you really don't know if you'd like paddling any kayak for that long a time, let alone what type. As others have said, to spend that long in open water where most of what you are seeing in more water, you will want to really like sea kayaking. There is also the question whether you want to do this in boats that you rent or that you own... more likely you'd want to own a single person kayak.
You do have a head start on many, including myself, with that scuba training. You are much less likely to have trouble with anxiety from claustrophobia when learning to roll.
Catalina
Hi my name is Rob
It’s funny your thinking of doing this I was just asking a friend if he wanted to do this. I have a 30ft sea ray (Boat) and I would be willing to hall the gear and follow you guys on your trip over to Catalina ( For safety ) I think it would a lot of fun for all of us. So just send me a email.
Anyone doing this in summer 2014?
Hello,
Is anyone preparing to do this trip in late June/early July? I will be visiting my sister at the Navy base and want to do a canoe/backpacking trip while I’m out there. I’m open water certified if anyone is interested in any of the three!
Thanks!
Ariana
Kayak trip to Catalina
If you get a chance watch my video of my kayak trip to Catalina. Please read the comments and my replies on you tube about the trip. If you have any questions feel free to contact me threw youtube etc. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryd-0t4R4fo