Ventura Harbor over Channel Islands?

[montenido]

Hi all, I am moving up in boat size and need to get another slip. My current boat is in Channel Islands Harbor which I like a lot. Ventura Harbor is just up the road, so I thought I might look at that as a possible docking place as well. Does anybody have any opinions about Ventura Harbor? What I like about Channel Islands is that it is a sleepy marina. That is, when I sail mid-week, I am often one of the only boats moving in the harbor. On the other hand, there is not a lot to do in the CI marina.

My wife and I are also considering joining a yacht club to expand our circle of friends that sail. Any advice or input on yacht clubs in either of these harbors?

Thanks, Bill

[glassdad]

My boat , a Catalina 30, is also docked at Channel Islands. When I bought the boat 15 months ago, It was docked in Ventura. The Ventura harbor has a better Village with more stores, more restaraunts and weekend entertainment. Ventura appears to have lower slip fees. The problem with Ventura is that it smells bad. There is a sewage trearment plant next to the harbor. When the wind blows the right (wrong!) direction the harbor stinks. In the morning when I took an overnight to Ventura, we were woken up by the smell. By 8:30 the wind picked up and the smell disapated. Form that point on it was great but that was not the way to start the day.

The entrance can be tricky in big seas and you get some blowing sand in big winds. The dealbreaker for us was the smell.

Where in Channel Island are you. I am in Anacapa Isle by the Hampton Inn.

AW

[SJ34]

I moved to Ventura from LA about year ago. For the first few months we were at VWM, Phase 1. In the mornings and during the Santa Ana's we had to deal with the smell, not so much from the turd laundry but from the brackish brine in the stagnant area of the marina. We also got a lot of dirt onto the boat from the strawberry fields. We have been on the West side of the marina the past few months and the smell isn't noticable. Now we have a beach party every weekend with all the sand that blows on deck.

Sand is still better than the industrial fallout and soot we had to deal with in LA. Ventura is a nice harbor with a great boat yard (Ventura Harbour Boatyard) but all of the destinations from here are at least a full days sail away. We sailed down to CI for the 4th but aside from that there isn't much to do there. From CI you can sail the 5-8 miles up to Ventura and hang at the Village or do the comedy club, stay in a guest slip and sail back the next day.
Just my .02

[cabron99]

Been in the Ventura Marina for about 5 years. Quiet. Clean restrooms & showers. Maintained well. Dust from the farms in the Santana winds. I'm close to Catalina Sales and wouldn't trade. Islands are about 3-4 hours away.

Pat