Ferretti Infynito 9088' 5" (26.95 m)
View Specs & ReviewThirty days after you sell, the slip goes too
Yachting in Long Beach
A Minted Location · Long Beach, California
Here is the rule that matters most to anyone buying or selling a boat in Long Beach.
Under the City's Marina Rules, a permittee may keep the slip for 30 days after transferring title — extendable by up to 90 days on proof of a contract to purchase or construct another vessel. After that, the permit goes.
In a harbour where the City manages "more than 3,300 slips" and the waiting lists are long, that slip is the second most valuable thing an owner holds. Sell the boat without a plan for it and you start again at the bottom of a list — and a returning permittee comes back only in "the fourth (4th) highest priority for the size of slip requested – regardless of the former Permittee's date exceeding others."
That is the shape of this market: Long Beach is where you keep a big boat in Los Angeles County, and getting in is the hard part.
The capacity is genuinely there. Alamitos Bay publishes slips and side ties from 25 to 115 feet, with a 2026 rate ladder priced all the way to 120 feet at $4,106.95 a month. Shoreline Marina publishes 90 feet in slips and a side tie to 160 feet, the longest berthing dimension in the harbour. The yacht club prices a Long Dock line for vessels over 80 feet at $5.00 per foot per day.
What is not here is heavy service. The principal Long Beach yard publishes a 15-ton crane, and fifteen tons is a sub-40-foot number. A 100-footer berths in Long Beach and hauls somewhere else — plan a refit around a yard outside the harbour.
And the breakwater is the reason to be here at all. Coast Pilot: "The bay is protected by breakwaters and is a safe harbor in any weather."
Where to keep a yacht in Long Beach
The municipal system is the market. "The Marine Bureau staff manages more than 3,300 slips in its three marinas", plus five launch ramp facilities and nearly eleven miles of beach and waterfront.
Alamitos Bay Marina opened in the late 1950s and publishes 1,624 slips and side ties from 25 to 115 feet. California's Division of Boating and Waterways lists "Maximum Boat Length: 80" for the same marina — plan against 80 ft (24 m) and confirm anything larger with the marina office before you book.
Long Beach Shoreline Marina publishes 90 feet in slips and a side tie to 160 feet — the longest berthing dimension in the harbour. The City's pages give its smallest slip as 18 feet and as 25, and its slip count as 1,624 and as 1,764; the figure to plan on is the City's own aggregate of more than 3,300 slips across the three marinas.
Rainbow Harbor adds 87 berths across twelve 150-foot docks, "serving both recreational boaters and commercial operators", with "Dock 8 – Short Term Guest Mooring Area. Three Hour Limit Applies."
The 2026 Alamitos Bay rate ladder is published in full, and it runs further than the published slip sizes: 30 ft $533.17 · 40 ft $842.46 · 50 ft $1,135.35 · 60 ft $1,461.18 · 70 ft $1,819.21 · 80 ft $2,211.48 · 90 ft $2,635.99 · 100 ft $3,093.33 · 110 ft $3,583.76 · 120 ft $4,106.95 per month. Guest berthing is $1.52 per foot per night. Shore power and water are included; additional charges apply for wide slips, liveaboard status and auxiliary vessels.
The permit rules are where a buyer needs to pay attention.
- Visiting vessels get end-tie or guest permits for a "maximum period of fifteen (15) days per month. No extensions will be granted."
- *"A Permittee shall not give, sell, assign, or transfer… the use of a designated slip… the permit therefor or any interest therein."* On death, transfer to a surviving spouse or domestic partner requires title transfer within 120 days.
- Partnerships are constrained on both sides: no permit issues to a legal entity; original partners must hold "a minimum twenty-five percent ownership interest", and the application packet adds that partners must "have no more than 50% of interest in the vessel."
- Liveaboard requires a permit and the vessel "must be over thirty (30) feet." Insurance is a minimum $300,000 liability with the City named as additional insured.
⚠️ THE RULE THAT DECIDES A SALE
A permittee may retain the slip 30 days after transferring title, extendable by up to 90 days on proof of a contract to purchase or construct another vessel.
Sell the boat and a clock starts on the slip. In a market this tight, settle where the next boat is going before the current one is listed.
And read the LOA definition before you buy, because it decides which slip a boat fits: "the overall length of vessel (LOA) shall mean the actual length of the vessel including all permanent and functional overhangs." Any modification that pushes LOA beyond the permitted slip size is grounds for cancellation.
Fuel is on site at both main marinas — red dye diesel, mid-grade unleaded and "Pure 93 Octane Unleaded & Ethanol FREE." Hours are published as Monday to Thursday 08:00–17:00 and Friday to Sunday 08:00–18:00 by the operator and as "open seven days a week, 8 am to 5 pm" by the City — plan on 08:00–17:00 and call ahead if you need a late fill.
The yacht club publishes the clearest guest terms in the harbour — "410 feet of stable concrete dock space", reciprocal access for "two separate seven day periods per reciprocal guest per calendar year", at members $1.65 per foot, reciprocal $2.19, and vessels over 80 feet $5.00 per foot per day. Check-in after 13:00, out before 11:00, hail VHF 09. The other clubs here take visiting yachts by arrangement rather than by published terms — call ahead.
Haul-out is the gap in the market. The principal Long Beach yard publishes a 15-ton crane, and fifteen tons is a sub-40-foot number in a harbour that berths to 115 feet and prices to 120. Day-to-day service is well covered; a big boat berths in Long Beach and hauls elsewhere, so plan a lift or a refit around a yard outside the harbour.
Marinas
| Name | Where | Max yacht | Slips | Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamitos Bay Marina (City of Long Beach)Opened in the late 1950s, with slips and side ties from 25 to 115 feet — and a 2026 rate ladder priced further than that, to 120 ft at $4,106.95 a month. Shore power and water are included; extra charges apply for wide slips, liveaboard status and auxiliary vessels. California's Division of Boating and Waterways lists a maximum boat length of 80 feet for the same marina, so plan against 80 ft (24 m) and confirm anything larger with the marina office before you book. | Alamitos Bay | 115 ft | 1,624 | Yes, on site |
| Long Beach Shoreline Marina (City)Slips to 90 feet and a side tie to 160 feet — the longest berthing dimension in Long Beach. The City's pages give the smallest slip as 18 feet and as 25, and the slip count as 1,624 and as 1,764; plan on the City's own aggregate of more than 3,300 slips across its three marinas. Same City permit and guest rules as Alamitos Bay. | Downtown Long Beach | 160 ft | 1,624 | Yes, on site |
| Rainbow Harbor / Rainbow Marina (City)Twelve 150-foot docks "serving both recreational boaters and commercial operators", right in the middle of the downtown waterfront. Dock 8 is the practical short stop for anyone going ashore to eat. | Downtown waterfront | 90 ft | 87 | No |
| The slip permit rulesThe rule that decides a sale: a permittee may retain the slip 30 days after transferring title, extendable by up to 90 days on proof of a contract to purchase or construct another vessel. Permits cannot be given, sold, assigned or transferred. A returning permittee after a leave of absence rejoins at only "the fourth (4th) highest priority… regardless of the former Permittee's date exceeding others." LOA "shall mean the actual length of the vessel including all permanent and functional overhangs" — modification beyond the permitted slip size is grounds for cancellation. Liveaboard needs a permit and a vessel over 30 feet; insurance minimum $300,000 with the City as additional insured. | All three City marinas | — | — | — |
| Marina Pacifica Boat SlipsA "231 slip marina" with "slips ranging from 18 to 40 feet" on its own site, and 50 feet on California's registry. The small-boat end of the market. | Alamitos Bay | 40 ft | 231 | — |
Yacht clubs
| Name | Where | Max yacht | Slips | Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Long Beach Yacht Club"410 feet of stable concrete dock space." Check-in after 13:00, out before 11:00, hail VHF 09. The Long Dock line is priced for vessels over 80 feet. The other clubs in the harbour take visiting yachts by arrangement rather than by published terms — call ahead. | Alamitos Bay | — | — | No |
Fuel docks
| Name | Where | Max yacht | Slips | Fuel |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alamitos Bay and Shoreline fuel docksHours are published two ways: Monday to Thursday 08:00–17:00 and Friday to Sunday 08:00–18:00 by the operator, and "open seven days a week, 8 am to 5 pm" by the City. Plan on 08:00–17:00 and call ahead if you need a late fill. | Alamitos Bay and Shoreline | — | — | Red dye diesel, mid-grade unleaded, and "Pure 93 Octane Unleaded & Ethanol FREE" |
Figures are as each facility publishes them on its own site; blank cells mean the facility doesn't state a number. Confirm slip availability and current rates directly — or ask us to make the calls.
Cruising from Long Beach
The breakwater is the reason Long Beach exists as a berthing market, and Coast Pilot puts it plainly: "The bay is protected by breakwaters and is a safe harbor in any weather."
The federal system is in three parts: San Pedro Breakwater, running about 0.9 mile southeast from Point Fermin then 0.9 mile east-northeast; Middle Breakwater, 2.1 miles east-northeast then a mile east; and Long Beach Breakwater, 2.2 miles east. And the one exception worth knowing: "The Santa Ana is the only wind dangerous to vessels anchored inside the breakwaters."
Channel depths are commercial-scale: "Most of the channels in Long Beach Harbor are maintained at more than the project depth of 35 feet," with the main and super tanker channels at more than 45 and 40.
This is a working port, and the federal rules reflect it. The restricted harbour entrance area gives priority to outbound vessels with a 6-knot speed limit. The narrow-channel rule applies: vessels under 20 metres, sailing vessels, fishing vessels and any vessel crossing "shall not impede a vessel that can only safely navigate within a narrow channel." Vessel Traffic Service covers a 25-nautical-mile radius of Point Fermin Light — San Pedro Traffic on VHF-FM 14, pilots on 12.
The San Pedro Bay Regulated Navigation Area applies a 12-knot speed limit to larger commercial traffic, with engines ready for immediate manoeuvre and a minimum separation from other vessels of at least 0.25 nautical mile. In the Long Beach Pilot Area, "no vessel may enter… unless it is entering or departing Long Beach Harbor entrance (Queens Gate)", must pass directly through without stopping or loitering, and must leave the Long Beach approach buoy to port.
Standoff distances a recreational boater has to keep: escorted vessels 500 yards · cruise ships 100 yards · liquefied hazardous gas tank vessels 500 yards at anchor or moored, and 1,000 yards ahead with 500 yards each side and astern underway.
Two rules catch boaters out. "When a cruise ship approaches within 100 yards of a vessel that is moored, or anchored, the stationary vessel must stay moored or anchored" — you do not move out of the way, you stay put. And inside an escort zone a permitted vessel "must proceed at the minimum safe speed" — fully off plane, completely settled, no excessive wake.
Three tank vessel escort zones extend 2.0, 3.5 and 4.0 nautical miles seaward, and a voluntary 12-knot request extends 40 nautical miles from the breakwater.
Anchoring inside the federal breakwater is assigned by the Long Beach Port Pilots and outside it by the vessel movement reporting system. "No vessel may anchor anywhere else within Los Angeles or Long Beach harbors… for more than 10 consecutive days" without Captain of the Port permission. General Anchorage Q sits at the Alamitos Bay entrance.
⚠️ The Alamitos Bay entrance is the one place in this harbour that can hurt a boat. It is "entered from the south between two jetties each marked by a light on the seaward end", with a mariner-radio-activated sound signal on VHF-FM 81A — and two dangerous wrecks are charted in the approach, one of them covered 19 feet. No controlling depth is published for the entrance channel, so read the current chart and confirm the water with the marina office before you bring in a deep boat. Inside, the bridges cap the bay hard: Marine Stadium's fixed span is 32 feet; the west waterway at the Marine Stadium junction is 13 feet; the east waterway off Marine Stadium is 11 feet. Downtown, the Queen's Way bridge is fixed at 31 feet, 45 at centre, with 500 feet of horizontal clearance.
Tides here are mild, and the regional reference station sits outside the harbour. NOAA 9410660 is named "LOS ANGELES (Outer Harbor)", at Berth 60 in San Pedro, roughly 6 nautical miles west of Queens Gate; Long Beach has its own stations at Terminal Island and the Fire Boat Pier.
| Datum | LA Outer Harbor | Long Beach, Terminal Island | LB Fire Boat Pier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Great diurnal range | 5.49 ft | 5.51 ft | 5.50 ft |
| Mean range | 3.81 ft | 3.84 ft | 3.85 ft |
Absolute elevations differ because each sits on its own station datum, but the ranges agree to within 0.02 feet. Highest astronomical tide 11.173, lowest 1.807, with a maximum recorded of 11.749. A range of about 5.5 feet is mild and forgiving — there is no tidal gating of movements here.
Currents are predicted at Queens Gate, a station exactly at the entrance, at 35 feet referenced to the bottom.
- General Anchorage Q — Alamitos Bay entranceDefined partly by "an arc, radius of 460 meters (approximately 1509 feet)". Anchorages inside the federal breakwater are assigned by the Long Beach Port Pilots and those seaward by the vessel movement reporting system. "No vessel may anchor anywhere else within Los Angeles or Long Beach harbors… for more than 10 consecutive days" without Captain of the Port permission.
- The breakwaters — San Pedro BayThe reason Long Beach works as a berthing market. Coast Pilot: "The bay is protected by breakwaters and is a safe harbor in any weather" — a three-part federal system running San Pedro, Middle and Long Beach breakwaters across the bay. And the exception: "The Santa Ana is the only wind dangerous to vessels anchored inside the breakwaters."
- Alamitos Bay entrance and the inner-bay bridges — Alamitos BayTwo dangerous wrecks are charted in the approach, one of them covered 19 feet, and no controlling depth is published for the entrance channel — read the current chart and confirm the water with the marina office before you bring in a deep boat. The bridges cap the inner bay hard: Marine Stadium's fixed span 32 ft, the west waterway at the Marine Stadium junction 13 ft, and the east waterway off Marine Stadium 11 ft. Downtown, the Queen's Way bridge is 31 ft, 45 at centre.
- Commercial traffic standoffs — San Pedro BayTwo rules catch recreational boaters out. "When a cruise ship approaches within 100 yards of a vessel that is moored, or anchored, the stationary vessel must stay moored or anchored" — you stay put rather than move. And inside an escort zone a permitted vessel "must proceed at the minimum safe speed": fully off plane, completely settled, no excessive wake. Vessel Traffic Service covers 25 nm of Point Fermin Light — San Pedro Traffic on VHF-FM 14, pilots on 12.
Service, refit & supplies
Shipyards & refit
| Name | Where | Max yacht | Dockage |
|---|---|---|---|
| Haul-out and yard workThe principal Long Beach yard publishes a "15 ton crane", and fifteen tons is a sub-40-foot number in a harbour that berths to 115 feet and prices to 120. Day-to-day service is well covered here; a big boat berths in Long Beach and hauls somewhere else, so plan a lift or a refit around a yard outside the harbour. | Long Beach | — | — |
Chandleries & specialty suppliers
- Sail, canvas and chandlery — Long BeachSail repair, canvas and upholstery operate as on-site tenants at the yard, and a national chandlery chain runs a store on North Marina Drive, Monday to Saturday 08:00–19:00 and Sunday 09:00–18:00. Day-to-day support is well covered; the heavy lifting happens elsewhere.
On the Long Beach calendar
Long Beach is a year-round market, and the City prices it that way.
- The rate schedule has no seasonal dimension at all — one monthly rate per slip size, one guest rate, no off-season discount.
- "Nearly 3,000 feet of year-round guest docking", reservable up to 30 days ahead.
- The liveaboard rules assume it: "Persons granted live aboard status must utilize the privilege throughout the year. If not so used, the privilege may be revoked."
Marina offices run Monday to Friday 07:30–17:30, Saturday 08:00–16:00 and Sunday 08:00–14:00, with pump-outs "offered free of charge and accessible 24-hours-a-day" and 24-hour security patrols.
The City's own framing is the honest one: "Sailing conditions in Long Beach are practically perfect year round. That is why Long Beach has been and continues to be home of the Congressional Cup, Transpac and Olympic trial races."
Dated events:
- The 61st Congressional Cup — 29 April to 3 May 2026, at the Long Beach Yacht Club, an event established in 1965.
- Transpac — "held biennially since 1906… a 2,225-nautical-mile dash across the Pacific from Los Angeles to Hawaii." The 2027 edition has three starts: 6, 8 and 10 July 2027.
ONE NON-BOATING EVENT THAT IS A REAL MARINA CONSTRAINT
The Long Beach Grand Prix is not a boating event, but the City's Marina Rules name it explicitly, allowing crowd-control restrictions on docks and gangways "during specific dates and/or special events such as the Long Beach Grand Prix Weekend and the Fourth of July holiday."
Worth knowing before scheduling a spring showing or a visit.
Yachts we'd shortlist for Long Beach
Reviewed the same way as everything on this site — specifications verified against the builder's own numbers.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens to a Long Beach slip permit when you sell the boat?
A clock starts. Under the City's Marina Rules a permittee may retain the slip for 30 days after transferring title, extendable by up to 90 days on proof of a contract to purchase or construct another vessel — and after that the permit goes. Permits cannot be given, sold, assigned or transferred in any case, and a former permittee returning after a leave of absence rejoins the waiting list in only the fourth highest priority regardless of their original date. In a harbour with more than 3,300 municipal slips and long lists, that makes the slip the second most valuable thing an owner holds, so settle where the next boat is going before the current one is listed.
Is Long Beach a safe harbour in bad weather?
NOAA Coast Pilot says so directly: the bay is protected by breakwaters and is a safe harbor in any weather. The federal system runs in three parts — San Pedro, Middle and Long Beach breakwaters — across San Pedro Bay. The one exception Coast Pilot names is the Santa Ana, described as the only wind dangerous to vessels anchored inside the breakwaters. The tidal range is mild too, at about 5.5 feet, so there is no tidal gating of movements.
What is the largest boat that can berth in Long Beach?
Alamitos Bay publishes slips and side ties from 25 to 115 feet, with a 2026 rate ladder priced all the way to 120 feet at $4,106.95 a month. Shoreline Marina publishes 90 feet in slips and a side tie to 160 feet, the longest berthing dimension in the harbour. The yacht club prices its Long Dock for vessels over 80 feet at $5.00 per foot per day. One number to plan around at Alamitos Bay: California's Division of Boating and Waterways lists a maximum boat length of 80 feet there, so confirm anything larger with the marina office before you book.
How much does a slip cost in Long Beach?
The City publishes its full 2026 Alamitos Bay ladder: $533.17 a month at 30 feet, $842.46 at 40, $1,135.35 at 50, $1,461.18 at 60, $1,819.21 at 70, $2,211.48 at 80, $2,635.99 at 90, $3,093.33 at 100, $3,583.76 at 110 and $4,106.95 at 120. Shore power and water are included, with additional charges for wide slips, liveaboard status and auxiliary vessels. Guest berthing is $1.52 per foot per night, limited to a maximum of fifteen days per month with no extensions.
Can a yacht be hauled out in Long Beach?
Not a big one. The principal Long Beach yard publishes a 15-ton crane, and fifteen tons is a sub-40-foot number in a harbour that berths boats to 115 feet. Smaller craft and day-to-day service are well covered; a large boat berths in Long Beach and hauls somewhere else, so plan a lift or a refit around a yard outside the harbour and keep the berth for what it is good at.