Just off the tall cliffs of the west end of Santa Cruz Island, the waters often seem nervous and fitful, capable of sudden nightmarish rogue waves. Experienced local boaters study these waters carefully before entering, or they give the whole area a wide berth of a mile or more.
Powerful currents tend to flow westward along the north and south sides of the elongated island, and they meet with in weird and unpredictable ways off the west end. As the currents swirl, eddies will collide underwater, spawning a sudden towering wave that can be dangerous.
I absolutely love this. Why, you may reasonably ask? Because the fish love it and I love fish. A moving current brings food to patient fish, so they gather in good numbers among the rocky reefs of this wild zone.
By watching the weather and currents carefully, I have had people catch amazing numbers of fish here and remain safe.
Even with my decades of local experience, there have been times when I was surprised and was required to do some of that magical captain stuff to get us all out of a mess.
One time I was cruising around picturesque Fraser Point when those opposing powerful currents forced an open ocean swell straight up, and I found myself surfing my 31-foot charter boat down a steep and fast wave that I estimated at over 20 feet.
To put it in surfer’s terms, that would be considerably bigger than a triple overhead face.
On another occasion we were coming out of West Cove with some nice halibut on board when an 18-foot wave suddenly climbed straight up out of a relatively flat sea. It was directly ahead of us, coming straight straight-on and threatening to break.
I bellowed from the bridge: “Hold onto something, rogue wave ahead of us!” I throttled back and my custom Grady White charter boat WaveWalker and we rode up over the towering wave safely.
I’ve heard stories of boats that didn’t fare as well. There have been waves that roll or swamp boats, and people have ended up in the water.
I once did some consulting work for a chartography company that was putting together a navigational-quality chart of Santa Cruz Island and adding some recreational information. They had put a surf spot icon on the Potato Patch, and I advised removing it because those currents would whisk a person off toward Point Conception faster than most people could paddle against the unrelenting current.
When the Potato Patch is calm, it is a gorgeous and pristine area where there is lots to see and do. From my own perspective as a kid who grew up with a fishing pole in one hand and a BB gun in the other, the place is all about fishing. Calico bass and sheephead forage aggressively around the boiler rocks and rockfish seem to be everywhere.
I highly recommend a visit to the Potato Patch which is a part of the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary. As a prudent and safety conscious sea captain, I advise you to pause and take a good long look at the waters before venturing in. If you have any concern, give it a wide berth.
— Capt. David Bacon operates WaveWalker Charters and is president of SOFTIN Inc., a nonprofit organization providing seafaring opportunities for those in need. Visit softininc.blogspot.com to learn more about the organization and how you can help. Click here to read previous columns. The opinions expressed are his own.
