Channel Islands vs Santa Barbara

TORPEDO/ELECTRIC RAY

CHANNEL ISLANDS VS SANTA BARBARA

       Channel Islands Harbor,  is situated just 11 miles from the east end of Anacapa Island,Consequently much of the sea urchin fleet fished down the coast, Deer creek, Leo Carrillo, County Line then Anacapa Island, depending on the weather conditions.Coastal diving did not have the appeal diving at the islands had , especially during Red Tide. The ocean was less than  inviting when those red tides showed up down the coast. It was even more spooky when the electric rays that populated much of the coastal bottom would hover around. Those rays did not care to move out of the way, like most of the other sea life, and the thought of getting shocked by one was not a pleasant thought while struggling to find sea urchins. Those rays would just hover and I kept them in the corner of my eye.  If my attention was distracted, I would regain focus only to find them hovering a little closer.  Several times, I am a little embarrassed to admit I found a big boulder and dropped it on top of them.  Did not kill them but ruined their world for a minute. 

       One memorable trip, I was discussing with another diver who claimed to be ex-Underwater Demolition Team, about the 60 volt shock of electricity the rays could produce. He decided he just did not believe that harmless looking ray could really shock a diver. I thought it was ridiculous for him to doubt the fact since all the marine literature available clearly confirmed that indeed the rays could produce the electric shock sufficient to incapacitate a diver for a few seconds.

      As it turned out ironically and appropriately, on the following jump, we just happen to be descending down on opposite sides of the anchor line about the same time and lo and behold, what should appear than my nemesis the bothersome electric ray just below the doubting diver! I looked over at him and he looked at me as he extended his hand out and contacted the ray. I laughed so hard I spit my regulator out, as he jerked spastically as the 60 volts ran through his arm.

He was extremely embarrassed afterward and me an Gary had another good laugh or two telling the tale at the unloading dock.

    Thankfully the Red tides did not occur that often, but I still preferred the islands, because the diving conditions were just better.........

      As time went on the local urchin beds were getting thin and some of the Channel Islands boats were venturing to the outer Islands. On those further trips it became more practical and cheaper on fuel, to unload in Santa Barbara. Unloading in Santa Barbara was a little bit different than unloading in Channel Islands.

       Channel Islands boats simply had one crew member operate the hoist, and the truck driver from the processor would hold the line attached to the end of the hoist, and swing the load over truck when it reached the appropriate height, then climb onto the truck and pull the barrel knot under the bag of urchins and so on. It also was not too difficult to operate the hoist and swing the crane around as well and much of the time that is how it went. The truck driver would write down the weights on the fish ticket and usually the boat owner would keep track of the weights as well. When the urchins were unloaded the total was added up fish ticket signed, slam dunk.

Once we started unloading in Santa Barbara, we came to find that there was a broker, Wes Carpenter. Wes would unload all the boats fill out the fish tickets, as well as pass out the checks from the different processors as well. He would get a percentage for this service...I think it was ¾ of a cent per pound.

       Some of the processors were not willing to pay Wes for unloading the Channel Islands based boats they bought from, as when unloading in Channel Islands there was no “broker” that unloaded the boats,so one of the 3 hoists was relinquished for unloading those boats. Now Wes had a pretty good relationship with the buyers and he was able to make some pretty lucrative deals. He did not seem to put out that a few out of town operations were not going along with his program, during his heyday he was doing pretty well. If anyone gave him a hard time he could make unloading your sea urchins an ordeal as he controlled the 3 hoists and he directed the truck traffic so rarely did anyone cross him. Besides that Wes was generally a likable guy and he and his helpers made it easier to offload, and after a long day diving that was appreciated by many.

     There were times during the heyday of the urchin harvest when the processors became oversupplied and had to restrict the tonnage they received so they could catch up processing the supply on-hand. Wes would relay this to the boats and there was a lot of politics involved with which boats could work certain days and which boats could not work those days.

Some of the divers were disgruntled from the arbitrary system that restricted days they could dive. One in particular was about to do something about it in a big way. The urchin business was about to get a big shake-up that generally was good for the business as a whole, although there were some did not appreciate the change for different reasons, but they were in the minority as far as I know.

Andres was originally from Spain. He spoke with an accent, and he was serious about diving for sea urchins. Generally friendly, he was among the many unique characters that populated the urchin diving fleet. Andres did not like being told which days he could work and which days he could not, especially by Wes Carpenter.

      Andres had a brother that entered the scene and he started talking to us about buying urchins. He suggested that we rate the quality of our urchins 1-10. He went on to say that by being honest about our quality he would be able to guarantee us a better price in the market. Well shortly after that, Andres acquired a large vessel he would use as a pick-up boat. He said that anyone that sells to him could offload on the pick-up boat, so as not to have to run the urchins to Santa Barbara and then keep on working, and saving on fuel as well. Andreas was able to locate some investors that put up a substantial sum of money to open a processing plant. I heard he had some family back in Spain that were wealthy, but he was very persuasive and convincing. I agreed with Greg owner of the Vista Clara, my current vessel du jour, to sell our urchins to Andres. It worked out well for us. I remember getting a lot more for our urchins than we were getting, though sometimes the checks were a little late in coming.

      If my memory serves me, Andres was able to buy quite a bit of market share for 4 or 5 years. Wes Carpenters world was shaken up, that was clear. The offloading operation got quite hectic and complicated. The boats were in a line depending on when they arrived in the Harbor, but the processors trucks would want to off load all their boats before they drove the truck off the pier. The jockeying around the other trucks, just to wait for another boat, and go thru that process again was a practice of patience. Remaining calm in that morass of trucks and boats was a challenge. Once when a truck driver disappeared when it was our turn to offload I jumped in the drivers seat and was preparing to move it out of the way, when the driver showed up he could see the displeasure, on my face and said nothing.

       Andres' fall was as swift as his rise. All of a sudden he disappeared owing quite a bit of money, as his business venture went belly up. I saw him in Santa Barbara harbor several years later. He was walking, by Marina 2 with a fancy suit on. I almost did not recognize him, when I did he got a big smile on his face and said something to the effect that he lost 1 million dollars. He bounced back and restored his old boat Josephina, with all the bells and whistles you would want on a dive boat. I was getting my boat together at that time and he would stop by and help me with advice and information, cause he knew I was a diver for 20 years before I became an owner. He maintained his sense of humor through it all, and I had to admire the guy. He tragically succumbed in a diving accident, a few years back. Rest in Peace Andres

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