Sailing Marathon to Aid Crisis Center

The Westlake Yacht Club hopes to raise more than $10,000 to benefit Casa Pacifica, Ventura County’s new children’s crisis-care center, by hosting a sailing marathon Saturday on Westlake Lake.

Participating skippers will raise money for the center by sailing eight- to 13-foot boats around a lake course and collecting community pledges for completed laps.

Club member Susan Artof, chairwoman of the event, said the club has received nearly $10,000 in pledges for the event, which will feature 10 to 15 boats, each with a team of local sailors.

“We’ve never had a sailing event on our lake that was so visible,” she said.

The yacht club wanted to create an annual fund-raising event that would benefit a local organization, and it found its cause in the new children’s care center, Artof said.

“We wanted to affiliate ourselves with a group that had children involved,” Artof said.

“Casa Pacifica being the newest Ventura County organization in need, we approached them.”

The $11-million Casa Pacifica complex in Camarillo opened this summer after 10 years of planning.

The center still needs about $450,000 a year to cover its operational costs.

Artof said the money her group plans to raise would be given to Casa Pacifica to buy books, educational materials and recreational equipment, or to pay for any other operational needs.

The sail-a-thon will begin at 10 a.m. and conclude at 10 p.m. at the lake, which straddles the border of Ventura and Los Angeles counties.

Live entertainment and food will accompany the daylong lakeside event.

Pledges will be accepted through 9 a.m. on Saturday.

For information, call (818) 879-0612.