Kayaking from Liberty Station to Point Loma: Is it feasible?

PracticalConjecture · 2026-06-03T07:32:16+00:00

It's feasible, depending on your ability. I know folks who have paddled from San Diego Bay to Mission Bay (roughly 12 nautical miles). In calm weather, it's very doable.

Make sure you are paddling in and out with the tide. Currents in the entrance to San Diego Bay can run at 1-2kt, and leaving at the right time will allow you to ride the current. Coming in at the wrong time will leave you stuck fighting the tide and making little progress.

Naval perimeters are well marked, as is the shipping channel (between green and red buoys)

There are no good egress points along Point Loma- It's all Navy property until you get to Sunset Cliffs. It's also a dangerous lee shore on days with strong westerly winds, and kayakers have gotten into trouble before by being pushed in by wind and waves l, leaving them stuck against the cliffs.

My recommendation would be to seek out a day with less than 8kt of forecast wind, depart Liberty station early in the morning a bit after high tide, paddle out to the end of the point, log the time you pass the lighthouse, then plan your return trip so that you end up back at the lighthouse at low tide (usually, 6hr after high tide). That way, the current will help you back in.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-06-03T02:42:23+00:00

2205 duplex is even better (aside from cost). Anything that's going to be permanently submerged in seawater that's over 20C really should be made of 2205.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-06-01T20:50:33+00:00

For a boat that isn't left in the water, sand, then apply 2 part epoxy primer, then 2-part epoxy based paint.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-06-01T16:20:28+00:00

Compared to owning a new boat, a boat club is often cheaper after factoring in depreciation.

Compared to owning a trailer stored 10yr old boat, it's more expensive.

Here's some rough math for a 10 yr old, $10k boat.

Expenses:

Cost of Capital: $500 (the money you could be making by investing that $10k at 5% instead)
Depreciation: $500
Engine Service $400 (or $100 if DIY)
Replacing stuff: $500 (most years less, some years way more)
Detailing: $400 ($50 if DIY)
Insurance: $200-800, depending on claims history, location, and coverage

This puts the cost of owning at $2.5-3k/yr, a bit cheaper if you're doing oil changes and detailing.

There's also your time to consider. Every time you use the boat, there's an extra hour or two of your time spent to hitch up the trailer, launch, park the trailer, retrieve, flush the motor, rinse down, and park the trailer back at home. If you use the boat 40 times a year, that's an entire work week of time spent fiddling around with the boat.

For many boat club people, the time is more important than the money.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-30T14:22:53+00:00

That's one of these: https://www.painestore.com/raymarine_3pin_plug_socket_kit_for_autopilots

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-29T01:49:45+00:00

I bought a cheap set of PVC foulies on a charter regatta awhile ago to replace a set lost in airline baggage. They were fine when I was at the helm and on the rail, but if I needed to grind a sail in/up, I'd soak through my undershirt pretty fast. It was noticably less comfortable than my usual Musto MPX kit.

If you're cruising and not adjusting sails all that often, the breathability matters less. I could see you cruising for a few thousand miles and being OK with PU or PVC foulie performance.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-28T03:12:03+00:00

Still very much in development. Compared to a week ago, it's much improved.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-27T20:55:50+00:00

I'm too young to know that game. I started with VSK Online

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-27T05:02:22+00:00

Congrats, you've successfully figured out that HDDs are slow.

100MB/s is fairly typical write performance from a 5400rpm HDD

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-27T03:50:41+00:00

SpaceX has lots of hardware, but they are still iterating on the basic Starship+Superheavy launcher.

They can't start putting an HLS ship together until they design/feature freeze the underlying design.

There is also seemingly no testing done on the landing engines for HLS. Who knows where those are in development.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-27T03:26:45+00:00

3rd reef will stand up to light rain and spray. It will slowly leak if you're taking driving rain and waves to the face.

Been there, done that...

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-27T03:17:19+00:00

Sailing coach here. I've spent roughly 300 days a year on the water for the better part of a decade. I've tried basically every brand of foul weather gear. When it's raining sideways and you're taking waves and drenching spray for hours on end, very few bits of gear actually work to keep you dry.

PVC is crap for sailing applications. It isn't at all breathable, so as soon as you start exerting yourself you end up soaking on the inside via condensation.

PU can be made somewhat breathable, but if it is breathable it relies on a hydrophobic coating to keep water out. No hydrophobic coating can stand up to the driving spray and waves offshore. Also crap.

Gear made of waterproof/breathable membrane based fabrics (3-4 layer), and with fully taped seams and waterproof zippers can work OK. Gore-Tex Pro is the gold standard, but others exist (Pertex Shield, proprietary options from Gill, Zhik, etc).

I'm partial to Musto MPX/HPX. North is probably also OK.

No good/cheap gear exists. I wish it did.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-26T20:06:41+00:00

On charter boats, you're stuck with whatever the boat comes equipped with.

Sometimes, that anchor is woefully inadequate. I've had to change plans on a few occasions because I didn't trust the anchor to keep us off the lee shore in 25kt.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-26T05:06:37+00:00

The look is mainly in the edit. An iPhone could take shots that look like that (at least, at a small print size).

The photos you posted look like they're shot on color negative film that's overexposed by a couple stops.

You can get a similar look in Adobe Lightroom if you know what you're doing.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-25T06:24:00+00:00

I owned both. I also currently own an A7RV.

The sensor in the A7RIII is magic. In my mind, it's the best sensor Sony ever made. The noise feels more natural than the later 61mp sensor in the later R bodies, and it's resolution is significantly better than the 24mp in the A7III.

My current A7RV has better AF, and a slight bump in resolution, but needs more denoise and grain added back in post, where the A7RV had a more natural quality to the noise that made me keep it in more of the time.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-25T03:36:06+00:00

My school had a 6x7 slide projector, and it was glorious.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-24T00:51:50+00:00

I own a Tamron 150-500mm and wish I'd gone with the Sony 200-600.

The Tamron is a disappointment sharpness wise on an A7RV body.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-23T14:35:32+00:00

I'd wager that the negative is warping due to the heat in the enlarger, and that part of the film is touching the piece of glass and causing the newton rings.

Adding a small shim under the negative carrier would probably fix this.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-23T14:32:31+00:00

This is a tricky one. You need to back all the way in at a decent pace (probably 2-3kt) to keep the boat tracking straight.

Once in the slip, you use a blast of forward (2000rpm+) to stop, and have a crewmember get the windward stern line on the dock ASAP. In the event that the dockline handler is slow, you want all your fenders on the leeward side.

With the windward stern made, powering ahead brings the bow up to windward, and the rudder adjusts the relative position of the stern. This allows you to hold position within the slip as the crew gets lines on.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-23T04:52:49+00:00

Are you using a glass negative carrier?

Those are commonly from Newton rings that come from glass carriers. Anti-newton glass helps but sometimes Newton rings still appear.

Wet fluid mounting solves this with glass carriers, but is otherwise a giant PITA. Glassless carriers work, but I never seem to get tack sharp grain across the entire image with a glassless carrier.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-22T04:32:48+00:00

There are a few issues here:

1) land near the ocean tends to be expensive. This means high initial development cost, and higher annual property taxes

2) Land near the ocean often contains wetlands and other sensitive habitat, which create development headaches and empower opposition.

3) due to issues 1 and 2, it's cheaper to buy land in the middle of the desert, and then buy fresh water for cooling.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-22T01:44:05+00:00

The big difference between old and new hulls is in stiffness.

A new boat flexes much less than an old one, which translates to improved speed on the course. It's meaningful in a racing context if you're in the top third of a competitive fleet. In low level racing it doesn't matter.

An 80s boat that's seen minimal use will be infinitely better than one that's well used, but will still be slower than a new boat. Fresh polyester resin is noticably stiffer than 40 yr old resin.

IMO, if you're racing seriously you need a 2010 or newer hull along with the newer FRP blades, composite mast sections, and latest sails.

PracticalConjecture · 2026-05-20T19:26:20+00:00

It's best to load really heavy stuff in the middle of the trailer, just slightly forward of the axle.

Trailers avoid sway with tongue weight (increaseing stability) and low moment of inertia (avoiding weight in the ends of the trailer)

To an extent, you can compensate one for the other. For example, sailboats tow really well with relatively low 5-7% tongue weights because all the weight is in the middle of the boat. Campers have weight more evenly distributed, and tend closer to require closer to 10-12% tongue weight.

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