by Garrison Frost

It's entirely possible that one can travel faster during rush hour from south Redondo Beach to Malibu – crossing the entire Los Angeles basin – by sailboat than by car. Same goes for those ridiculously busy summer holidays when everyone seems to out buying a barbecue or looking for a parking space by the beach.

Of course, whether the boat beats the car depends a lot on the wind. On the day I did it, not long ago, the wind was average. We got from the Redondo Beach breakwall to the Malibu Pier in a little less than three hours. And we were sailing slow, way at the back of an annual point-to-point race. The lead boats probably got to Malibu in two hours. Try doing that in your SUV on the Fourth of July. Within minutes of the start, they were just specks to us.

Living in L.A., we're used to looking at the ocean from the land. What most of us haven't seen too much, I would bet, is what the land looks like from the ocean. On that sail from Redondo to Malibu, you get a good look at everything: the Legoland development of the beach cities, the wasteland of the airport, the industrial tangle of Chevron, the tall buildings of Santa Monica. It?s an L.A. that we all know, but have just never seen this way. Sure, we're seen it from the air, but never from the Santa Monica Bay.

Wacky as it sounds, this wouldn't be a bad way to get from the South Bay to your job on the Westside, assuming that that is where you work. You would park your car at King Harbor, hop on a speedy boat headed north, in a few minutes you're at the Venice Pier or Santa Monica or maybe even Malibu. As long as you?re not prone to sea sickness, or smelling like brine, it would be perfect.

Of course, explaining to your boss that you were late for work because the wind died out might be too much of a stretch for him. But if I had to choose between the vagaries of the ocean and those of the state highway system, I'd take my chances with the water every time. Nothing beats the 405 for unpredictability. Moreover, the sailboat is the ultimate zero-emission vehicle. Take that, Mr. Prius.

(July 13, 2006)

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