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Open-ocean skiers race from Long Beach around Catalina
International water-ski teams tackle a demanding open-ocean course between Long Beach and Catalina Island during the seventy-seventh running of this storied race.
Event details
The Catalina Water Ski Race sends high-powered boats and skiers into the open Pacific for a demanding run from Long Beach toward Catalina and back, with international participation and changing sea conditions giving the competition genuine offshore scale each summer. The Long Beach waterfront gives families an easy, walkable place to watch both the morning start and afternoon return.
Spectating families can watch the harbor-side start and finish from Long Beach itself, since the mandatory Friday check-in and race-morning departure both happen at the same waterfront location, before choosing whether to extend the visit toward Catalina Island.
Mandatory Friday check-in means teams require at least one overnight Stay, and spectating families benefit from the same overnight plan to catch both the morning departure and afternoon return. Reserve lodging near the Long Beach waterfront, pack sun protection for a full day watching from the harbor, and consider a Catalina extension to round out the trip. It is offshore racing on a genuinely grand scale, a rare opportunity to watch a demanding open-water pursuit from dry land. Ocean conditions can change quickly along the crossing, so treat published finish times as estimates rather than fixed appointments.
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