• my only sail to the rear side of Catalina Island and only stay at Catalina Harbor.
• my last sail out of Marina del Rey with Club Nautique, which later became SeaTime. For some reason the building with the club office was demolished. Once we have discovered Newport Bay, we never sailed again from Marina del Rey.
• the first time that I saw the interior of Catalina Island and visited Avalon.
• the first time that I saw Catalina Airport. Later I landed there a few times myself.
• the first time that I saw buffalo grazing in open space.
• the first time that I piloted aircraft and sailed in the same adventure.
• finally, this was the last time that I was using Kodak slide film. It scanned so miserably, later on I took only Agfa or Fujifilm.

The boat was overbooked. Being accustom to sleeping outside and well adapted to cold, I stayed in the cockpit. However since the cockpit was too short to sleep, I moved to the foredeck. We anchored in the outer unprotected part of the Catalina Harbor. Once the wind freshened nights, I was awaken by the fury of waves and I was forced to tie down myself to the lifeline for safety.

But wait, there is even more! A series of incidents with the crew added some spice to the entire story. We learned what can happen with overconfident crew members, who declare themselves 'real Sea Wolfs.' One crew member wanted to take charge of the dinghy and pilot it ashore. Without asking for permission, or consulting with the skipper, he untied the dingy without taking oars with him, and than he has discovered that he could not start the engine! Ahoy Mariner! We saw him being blown away by the wind more and more afar, getting close to the rocks. Luckily one of the neighboring yachts was alerted by us and someone picked him up. But, for whatever reason the engine was out of service. Maybe he broke it, we will never know. And so we were condemned to row the dinghy...

This was not all. The same crewman, claimed to be a member in some sort of a rowing club, believed in his destiny and took charge of the first landing party. Our landing spot was not easy. A few shallow rocks were beneath the surface, and some skill and timing were necessary to pass them in sync with the incoming swells. His idea was to use an oar to force the dinghy against an incoming swell over the rocks. As expected, the Ocean won. He broke the oar! And so we were unable to go ashore completely, until someone from the crew actually swam ashore and purchased some plastic oars in Two Harbors. We have all paid our share for this, ...except for the man who broke it !! Let me spare remaining less spectacular, nonetheless annoying stories and details. There was more, the chemistry was broken.

However, I ignored all this and rather enjoyed the stay. It was a real trip of discovery for me. We took a bus to Avalon for a day visit. We were so enchanted by Avalon, that later on we made regular sails to Avalon from Newport Bay.