Have you ever looked at a compass in Santa Barbara, then looked around feeling bewildered? You are in good company.
My Dad was a pilot, and so is my son. For myself, I took to the sea rather than to the air. My ancestors were Vikings, so adventure and navigating are in my DNA.
Years ago when my Dad came to Santa Barbara to visit me, we rented a small plane at the airport to go enjoy the local sights from a bird’s-eye view.
He was always careful and I watched him work methodically through the pre-flight checklist.
When he checked the compass, he stared at it for a long moment, then looked around at the mountains and ocean, reached out and tapped the compass repeatedly.
I caught his wrist and said, “Yes, Dad, that mountain really is to our north and the islands are to our south. We have transverse mountain ranges.”
As a navigator, he really had to come to grips with that bewildering reality.
This evening I was sitting at the Beachside Bar & Café (now the Ellwood) having a business dinner and telling my colleagues from the East Coast that just below Campus Point (which we could clearly see from the restaurant), was an east-facing beach. I always enjoy pointing that out to folks.
As we enjoyed our dinner, the sun set over land to our west, not over the sea. Our directions just seem warped. I know it is just a result of our transverse (running east-west) mountain ranges, but it just seems wrong.
On my charter boat and in my bait & tackle shop I often heard people talk about piloting their boats out of the harbor and heading north. I’d tell them it is actually not a good idea because it would put them right back into the harbor and up onto West Beach, much to the dismay of beachgoers.
To run up the coast, people actually steer westward. And to go fish or whale-watch down the coast toward Carpinteria, we head eastward. A run to Santa Cruz Island means a southward heading.
Santa Barbara Channel runs east-west, which explains why we get such powerful winds and tall, dangerous seas out on the Channel.
Weather/winds move down our coast and wrap around Point Conception, picking up power and speed, then aiming at San Miguel and Santa Rosa islands in the morning and then in the afternoon come howling down the Channel like screaming banshees.
Experienced boaters know this well and play along the coast when the winds are wild out in the Channel. Or, they wisely spend the night in a protected cove and recross the channel in the morning when it is typically calmer.
Many of our smart phones have built-in compasses. Take a look-see for yourself. The directions you had in your head may not quite match what the compass says.
