Courtesy Avalon Harbor Department
Avalon saw 11 days of wind advisories in December: eight days of Small Craft advisories and three days of Gale advisories.
As we all know, inclement weather can cause a lot of problems for boaters. Some examples from last month:
Dec. 6—A small power boat on a mooring took on water because the bilge pump was off; a 35-foot sailboat was adrift near San Clemente Island and had to be towed to Avalon by the United States Coast Guard.
Dec. 11—A boat lost power 7 miles outside Avalon and had to be towed in by Baywatch.
Dec. 12—An occupied anchored sailboat drug anchor and drifted off the West End, making its way back to the Avalon area two days later.
Dec. 19—An anchored sailboat drifted 8 miles off Avalon toward Dana Point and sailed back in several hours later.
Dec. 25—An unoccupied anchored sailboat drug anchor; another unoccupied sailboat anchored off Pebbly Beach went aground and was saved by Harbor Patrol; another occupied anchored vessel went adrift and was rescued by Baywatch (same vessel that drifted on Dec. 12).
Dec. 26—An unoccupied sailboat anchored outside Avalon waters ran aground near Frog Rock.
Dec. 27—An occupied anchored sailboat went adrift and was rescued by Baywatch (same as one of the unoccupied vessels on Dec. 25); another unoccupied anchored sailboat drug anchor and drifted into Avalon, hitting a float that was being towed by Harbor Patrol.
The Acalon Harbor Department would like all boaters to remember that when Harbor Patrol and/or Baywatch are responding to these drifting vessels, they are not available to respond to possible life-threatening calls.
On Dec. 15, Avalon Harbor Patrol and Baywatch Avalon responded to a dive accident call at the Casino Dive Park.
The diver can thank them that he was able to enjoy a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
On Dec. 30, the Avalon Harbor Department, City Fire and County Fire gathered to remember fallen Harbor Patrolman/City Fire Volunteer, Timothy Mitchell. May we never forget.
On that note, the Avalon Harbor Department would like to thank all of the boaters who heeded the Gale Warnings over New Year’s this year and either left to go back to the mainland, took refuge in Catalina Harbor or didn’t bring their boats at all. As a comparison, Avalon had 140 boats on moorings on Dec. 31, 2014 and 62 boats on moorings this New Year’s Eve (all but one were local boats). We are confident that those of you who made that decision had a MUCH happier celebration than you would have here under the circumstances!
The Avalon Harbor Depaertment wishes everyone a joyous and prosperous 2019! December 2018 stats are as follows:
Average Temp, High—63
Vessels Moored—339
Average Temp, Low—51
Vessels Anchored—107
Average Sea Temp—61
Rain (inches)—3.4
Rain Days—2
Weather Warnings—11
People aboard boats—1356
Moorings Sold / Transferred—1 / 0
Citations Issued / Discharges 0 / 0
Total Cruise Ship Passengers: 23,533
Visit the Avalon Harbor Department’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/avalonharborpatrol.
