It doesn't work like that.
Not with me.
Curvature and visual obstacle formulas:
http://forum.tfes.org/index.php?topic=3197.msg77197#msg77197Distance Catalina - San Pedro 40 km (
http://www.distancefromto.net/between/San+Pedro/Santa+Catalina+Island )
Of course, the distance between Catalina and Newport Beach is even greater...
Curvature for 40 km = 31.3 meters
Visual obstacle (photograph taken right on the beach, h = 3 meters) = 90 meters
No such visual obstacle is even remotely seen in the photograph.
Moreover, in the image shot in Palos Verdes, there is no ascending slope, no midpoint curvature of 31.3 meters, no descending slope, just a perfectly even surface of the ocean all the way to Catalina:
With a telescope certainly all the details could be seen...
Until such a photograph will be displayed on the net... we have the following image:
San Pedro seen from Catalina: zero curvature, no ascending slope, no 31.3 meter midpoint visual obstacle