Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club holds annual boat race for Memorial Day weekend

MONTEREY, Calif. (KION) Monterey Peninsula Yacht Club holds annual boat race for Memorial Day weekend.

The boats arrived from San Francisco to Monterey at around 5 in the morning.

The ocean, some may fear its engulfing and seemingly expansive nature while others find solace in being out in its depths. For those like Jim Murray, he's been sailing boats ever since he was a little kid. He flew in from the midwest to San Francisco just for the California Offshore Race. He tells KION sailing is an escape from a world laden with technology.

"I think in a world where an awful lot is heavily technology-driven. there's something really simple about just using the wind, and the waves, and your wits to come 88 miles to San Francisco down to Monterey," said Murray.

Each participating boat is assigned a rating that places them in a category. For Murray's boat, his was assigned to perf A, one of the fastest categories. He won that category and finished first overall at about 6 pm on Saturday.

He says he's been anticipating an event like this ever since the pandemic first appeared.

"It's been really tough just on the industry. When you think about a group of 15 people all flying together around the country to compete in a race, COVID just made that impossible, so it's great to be back out and I think you're seeing a lot of very enthusiastic people who are looking forward to getting back in the water," said Murray.

Last year, due to the pandemic, the California Offshore Race had to be cancelled. For the club, it was the first time in 22 years that competition wasn't held but the future is looking bright.

"The Monterey Yacht Club has been here since 1953 and so it's a tough bunch of people and so we had to shut down like everyone else in Monterey and the surrounding areas but still we kept going. We are back in action." said the Commodore, Jean du Preez.

This the first leg of the race, the next part occurs in Santa Barbara.