Cruising Along the Channel Islands 33* 



Twenty miles out to sea, the island is perforce a 

 yachting centre, and the only port in Southern California, 

 except Santa Barbara, San Pedro and San Diego, where 

 there is an exensive boating and sailing contingent, 

 safe at all times ; and the little bay is filled with craft of 

 all kinds, racing auto boats, fleets of glass-bottom boats, 

 while launches extend out from every boatman's stand, 

 filling the south end of the beautiful bay and form- 

 ing an attractive colour scheme. 



Here is often the rendezvous of the South Coast 

 Yacht Club. The yachts cruise among the islands, 

 San Clemente, twenty miles distant, being an interesting 

 point for its fine fishing and the fact that, like all the 

 islands, it had at one time a large and vigorous native 

 population whose strange implements are found buried 

 in the shifting sand dunes that are constantly changing 

 shapes. San Clemente is government property, and is 

 rented to sheep herders, from whom permission must be 

 had before landing. 



An interesting cruise can be made to San Nicolas, 

 about eighty miles from Avalon. The island is in the 

 region of eternal winds. I made three attempts to 

 reach it in a sixty-ton yacht, each time being driven 

 back by heavy winds, or having to lay to in the heavy 

 sea. Approaching it, the island is seen to be low-ly- 

 ing, about seven miles long, with mountains or hills in 

 the centre, and over it a cloud bank that is bombarded 

 by the wind, which apparently is never quite able to 

 drive it off. To the east a long sandy spit reaches out, 



