Eat and drink more.

shawn,
curious what your motivation is for this course? is it:

1. you want to paddle from catalina to the mainland, might as well be as close to home as possible.?
2. a challenge, conditions be damned?
3. since the big paddleboard race is to manhattan beach, this course must make sense?
4. Palos Verdes has beautiful scenery and you want to see it coming from catalina?
5. You're waiting for epic unseasonal S. winds from a storm system that you're tracking.
6. You want to coincide with the grey whale migration and you're sure to spot them with this course

otherwise, the course is not that attractive. AT ALL. but that's just my opinion... if you want to paddle from catalina, you can do the catalina challenge to dana point (40 miles) in april, which at least has the possiblity of some prevailing west winds to get some bumps. of course you can do it on your own with your own course... just keep in mind that the prevailing winds are from the west, and depending where on catalina you launch from, it'll most likely be most logical to head towards somewhere behind the orange curtain.
if you have flexibility, you can wait for some storm systems to kick up some south winds and pull the trigger on short notice and do the course to redondo- that would be pretty sick in fact- i'd hitch a ride over with in that case.
you're doing the work so you can go anywhere you desire, but you asked for advice... good luck

You could have entered 3 races today at the lanakila klassic in Redondo Beach .
$15 with food.
Mini as in +- 1 mile
short as in 4-5 miles
and +- 10 miles for the long course.
No guess work, safety boats, you name it. Sanctioned race, great workout (training, if you will)
Go to the community that races and you will be better off. You'll see what it's all about. Make some effort.
Right now you look to me like a blind man who doesn't want to see, because it's easier to ask others to see for you.

Some friendly words of encouragement from the SoCal paddling community! Nah, nah, nah-I think your question has generated this response because these experienced paddlers know how difficult and dangerous such a crossing could be. Most people paddle for many years to build up the muscle memory necessary for your endeavor. That doesn't mean it's impossible for a novice, though. Kai Bartlett used to solo the Hoe course in his first few years of paddling, but he's not exactly your typical beginner, He'd already been building the muscle groups w/ many years of surfing, and a couple years of paddling. Give it some thought, try a few 6 hr. plus runs along the coast, and you'll find out if you really want to do something like that. Guys up here in the marathon community compete in races of 60 miles plus in one day, so it's not like it's imposssible. It just takes alot of practice.

I meant no discouragement by suggesting an escort boat...I respect your goals and creative thinking. If you have an escort boat, go for it. However, from experience, I've never had a stellar Catalina crossing - 6-man or 1-man. It's always been a grind - few bumps, side wind, washing machine chop, etc. It's not a run for fun.
But its do-able with the right training. Laird Hamilton did it solo two years ago on a stand-up paddleboard (Catalina to Dana Point...41 miles) It took him about 8 hours I think.
If you want a long run that's fun, drive your boat up the coast, catch a northwest wind and ride it down...you can go for days. Plus you're never more than a few miles offshore.

Was that painteur's red Kaimana? Looking solid, guys.

nice...i got on the news for paddling once too, same day the coast guard rescued 16 rowers who swamped their eights (the big crew boats) inside the harbor.
one of those super windy days and nbc is cutting to shots of signs and trees blown over etc. after the announcer gives the brilliant advice of don't go outside in this weather the news cuts to a shot of us paddling out of newport harbor.

That's a bad mamma jamma video dacho...outiggering outlaws!

You paddling around Balboa Island in Newport?