From learning the fundamentals in Channel Islands Harbor to earning certifications and chartering boats for coastal adventures, Marina Sailing gives Southern California sailors a way to build experience without immediately becoming boat owners.
OXNARD — Learning to sail and owning a sailboat don’t necessarily have to happen at the same time.
For aspiring sailors at Channel Islands Harbor, Marina Sailing offers a path that can begin with a first lesson and progress toward American Sailing Association certifications, club membership, independent charters, and eventually more ambitious coastal cruising.
The Southern California sailing club and school has operated since 1962 and maintains locations at six harbors: Channel Islands, Marina del Rey, Redondo Beach, Long Beach, Newport Beach, and San Diego. Across those locations, members have access to a fleet that includes monohulls and catamarans for instruction and chartering.
According to Marina Sailing owner Michael Darr, the organization has expanded considerably since its beginnings more than six decades ago, but its underlying purpose has remained largely the same.
“Marina Sailing started in 1962 as a place to learn to sail and get on the water, and it has grown into Southern California’s oldest and largest sailing charter and instruction company,” Darr said. “Today we operate six harbors with a school, a charter fleet and a club under one roof.”
Marina Sailing has added catamarans, expanded its fleet and developed its membership program over the years. The family-run company is now under its third owner.
“We’ve added catamarans, a much larger fleet and a membership program, but the mission hasn’t changed,” Darr said. “We exist to make sailing accessible and to turn people into confident, capable sailors.”
For Ventura County sailors, Marina Sailing’s Channel Islands location operates from the Marine Emporium at 3600 S. Harbor Blvd. in Oxnard. The location combines a sailing school, sailing club, ASA certification courses and sailboat charters, creating several entry points depending on a person’s existing experience.
Someone with little or no sailing experience can begin with Marina Sailing’s Complete Sailing Course, which combines ASA 101 Basic Keelboat Sailing and ASA 103 Basic Coastal Cruising. According to Darr, lessons are offered daily, allowing students to work instruction around their schedules.
From there, sailors can continue into more advanced instruction, including ASA 104 Bareboat Cruising, which is designed to prepare sailors to skipper larger boats in coastal waters. For students interested in completing the progression more quickly, Marina Sailing also offers its Ultimate Sailing Course.
“For people who want to go faster, the Ultimate Sailing Course is a five-day that covers 101, 103 and 104 with a voyage out to the islands,” Darr said.
Additional courses include ASA 105 Coastal Navigation and ASA 106 Advanced Coastal Cruising for sailors interested in continuing their training.
Formal instruction, however, is only one part of the process. Marina Sailing’s membership program is intended to give sailors opportunities to continue practicing after earning their certifications through chartering, day sails, racing, skills sessions and flotillas.
“Membership is what keeps the skills alive,” Darr said. “Members charter the fleet, take day sails, join racing and skills sessions, and sail with flotillas, so a certificate becomes real experience.”
That progression can be especially useful for someone interested in sailing but not yet ready to purchase a boat. Through the club model, qualified members can gain experience aboard different vessels and charter from Marina Sailing’s fleet rather than immediately assuming the costs and responsibilities associated with ownership.
“The path runs from first lesson, through certification and chartering with crew, to taking a boat out on your own,” Darr said.
The Channel Islands location provides a particularly fitting setting for that progression. Students can begin inside Channel Islands Harbor before developing the skills and experience needed to venture beyond the breakwater and into the waters surrounding Ventura County.
“Oxnard sits at the doorway to the Santa Barbara Channel and Channel Islands National Park,” Darr said. “Students can build real ocean experience here, not just harbor time. Members can progress from the breakwater to overnights and island trips.”
That proximity gives sailors the opportunity to put coastal cruising skills into practice rather than limiting their experience to lessons inside the harbor. As members gain confidence, destinations throughout the Santa Barbara Channel and the Channel Islands can become part of their sailing experience.
“Our friendly and competent team are here to make your sailing adventures fun and easy,” Darr said.
For sailors who already have experience, membership offers another entry into the program. Members can access the company’s fleet across its six Southern California locations while participating in additional instruction, racing, organized sailing activities, and flotillas.
The company’s activities also extend beyond instruction and chartering. Marina Sailing operates a yacht-management program for boat owners who want to place their vessels into the charter fleet. Under the program, the company handles areas including marketing, member training and qualification, routine maintenance and charter activity while owners retain the ability to use their vessels.
Now under Darr’s ownership, Marina Sailing is also working to expand the community surrounding the club. That includes placing additional emphasis on connecting sailors with one another rather than treating certification as the end of the learning process.
“Our goal is for Marina Sailing to be the most complete path in Southern California, from first lesson to confident coastal cruising and beyond,” Darr said.
Part of that effort includes developing new membership benefits with a greater focus on the social side of sailing and creating opportunities for members to get on the water together. The company is also upgrading its fleet harbor by harbor and developing future ASA instructors internally.
For Darr, those efforts are part of building a program in which sailors can continue progressing long after their first lesson.
“We’re building new membership benefits with added focus on the social aspects and putting sailors together,” Darr said. “We’re also upgrading the fleet harbor by harbor and developing the next generation of ASA instructors in-house.”
For someone beginning at Channel Islands Harbor, that creates a relatively straightforward progression. A new sailor can learn the fundamentals, earn certifications, continue into coastal cruising and bareboat training, gain experience with other sailors and, eventually, take command of a vessel independently.
Boat ownership may still be the eventual goal for some. For others, access to a fleet and the ability to charter may be enough.
Either way, the first step doesn’t have to involve buying a boat. It can simply involve learning how to sail one.
Marina Sailing’s Channel Islands location is at 3600 S. Harbor Blvd., Suite 112A, in Oxnard. Information about courses, membership, charters and the Channel Islands fleet is available at marinasailing.com
