Channel Islands to MDR: A Sailor’s Dream
On September 24, Channel Islands Yacht Club and Del Rey YC jointly ran the Channel Islands to Marina del Rey Race. The yachts left Channel Islands Marina starting at 11 a.m. and raced downhill (southeast) after rounding oil platform Gina off the Ventura coast.
This was the second (of the hopefully annual) Channel Islands to Marina del Rey Race. The race was nothing like the 2021 event that saw multiple cruisers drop out due to light-to-no winds. This one had all the ingredients: warm temps, blazing sunshine and winds ranging from 12 to 18 knots that held throughout the afternoon. Winds off Point Dume were recorded near 20. The seas were fairly devoid of the usual Pacific swells, and the boats romped.
Line honors went to Lonnie Jarvis’s Farr 400M Chronic, which finished the 44.5-mile course just before 3:30.
Most skippers interviewed said they sailed mostly rhumb line from Gina to the finish. All of the 33 competitors were in by 5:55.
Find complete results at www.dryc.org/racing.