OXNARD : 11 Yachts to Set Sail in First-of-Kind Race

Eleven identically built and outfitted yachts will set sail from Channel Islands Harbor on Feb. 23 in a first-of-its-kind race to the starting point of another race.

The yachts will travel from the Channel Islands Harbor to the Long Beach Yacht Club in Alamitos Bay in the first annual Congressional Cup Yacht Delivery Race.

The purpose of the run to Alamitos Bay is to deliver the boats to the Long Beach Yacht Club, where they will be used in the Congressional Cup Race, which will be held March 13-16.

This delivery race will give area yachtsmen a rare opportunity to sail the $125,000 racing yachts, said George Fitch, vice commodore of the Anacapa Yacht Club in the Channel Islands.

The boats were built specifically for the Congressional Cup race, which is the most renowned international yacht competition in the United States, Fitch said.

The race is unique because the boats have never before all come from the same place, Fitch said. In the past, privately owned yachts of the same type were stripped down and given identical equipment for the race, he said. However, the boats still differed enough to give some contestants an advantage.

The Congressional Cup yachts, built and owned by the Catalina Yacht Co., are used only for the annual race in Long Beach, and now for the delivery race. Called Catalina 37 yachts, they were sailed for the first time in last year’s Congressional Cup race and have been kept in dry dock at Channel Islands Harbor since then.

Participants in the delivery race have been invited by the Long Beach Yacht Club and are “the very cream of the crop” in the racing community, Fitch said.

The race will begin about 10 a.m., with a cannon firing and an open escort to the starting area. To be a part of the escort, vessels should gather in front of the Anacapa Yacht Club at 9:15 a.m.

The race will probably take eight to 10 hours, Fitch said.