Yes, must be local.
Marina del Rey, the harbor, has 23 separate marinas and more than 5,000 vessels, most 30 feet or more (small boat use dry storage).
According to the Dept of Beaches and Harbors, the answer to my question is "basin." That describes nothing to the eye. But slips are located by their "Basin," marked on the chart above as "A Basin" "B Basin" and so on. Cal Yacht Club, where I am, isn't really in a Basin per se..
The chart calls "Main Channel" the shared waterway to the breakwater and Santa Monica Bay. It;s actually almost half a mile wide, and is the locus of dinghy races, water taxis, paddleboarders and so on. It is much different in scale from the "basin" into which a returning yacht sails to its slip.
And I;m damned if I keep my boat in a basin. What, it contains bathwater? It's a flood control project? I will have to compromise on "fairway," as distinct from "channel." Even though MDR says I have a slip in "Basin E".
This comes up because over the weekend I told a nine-year-old who was steering "to turn, uh, here, uh, just head into the , uh, the --
"That thing?" she said, pointing.
"It's called a slipway, or a fairway, or something, uh, you know, where the boat slip is--"
"This thing?"
"It's not a thing, Natalia! Use the terms! The bow, not the front of the boat. The port side, not the left side!"
"So what am I supposed to head for again?"
"The thing where our slip is. Now reduce throttle a little, my dear."
"You don;t have to tell me everything," she said.
It was embarrassing not to come up with the proper term.
Ok, next time it's "the fairway."
