Living Large at Marina del Rey

We dropped sails as we entered Marina del Rey and motored in amidst the glitz and glamour of LA’s major small-boat harbor, passing mega-yachts and party boats on their way back to the dock. We were approached by a nice man in a yacht club inflatable who gave us directions to the Pacific Mariners Yacht Club, where we had arranged to berth. We were also in touch with the club via phone and we were greeted by a small party when, at last, we threaded the narrow fingers of the dock to our guest slip directly in front of the clubhouse.

We had arranged to stay at the PMYC through our good friend Louis as a guest of his good friend Dennis, who was a club member. We were cordially greeted by the dockmaster Sparky and a few of the club members who were just finishing up a dinner event. We hung out in the clubhouse for a bit before retiring to the boat, very happy to be secure at a dock with shore just a few easy steps away.

We ended up spending about five days in LA, first exploring areas close to the marina, namely Venice beach, and eventually making our way further into the city. We were joined by friends from the bay and were able to visit a few old friends, who showed us around the town. During our stay we also spent a good amount of time with PMYC members around the clubhouse. Most all were very nice people, excited to hear our stories as well as share their own, welcoming us into their hang-out spot. The PMYC is a member-run club and refreshingly lacked the pretentious air that comes along with most yacht clubs. We made some good friends and got good advice for our upcoming travels as many of the club members had traveled south of the border. We even spent an afternoon watching the partial solar eclipse on the club’s patio through our friend Alan’s telescope.

We have always thought that it would be a fun idea to rent the boat to be used in some kind of film or music video and what more perfect place than LA? Lowell put a simple ad up on craigslist with a picture of the boat and the next morning we were politely asked to leave the dock. Apparently the owner of the entire marina complex had caught wind of our ad and had made the PMYC kick us out. The marina owner also mentioned false allegations that smoke had been seen wafting from the boat and It seemed obvious that he was looking for a way to get rid of us. We bid goodbye to our hosts and spent the night on a public dock that we did not previously know about on the other side of the harbor. The next day we peeled off the dock and sailed out the channel bound for Catalina Island.

We were definitely happy to have stopped and seen the sights in LA but it was a little challenging to be in a harbor where we clearly did not fit the part. We send our great thanks to the member of the PMYC and especially to Sparky and our host Dennis.