Rough Seas End Chumash Tomol Crossing

The Chumash’s annual crossing of the Santa Barbara Channel by tomol encountered some rough waters this weekend, and the 21-mile journey was canceled near its midway point Sunday morning. The team of paddlers left for Santa Cruz Island from Channel Islands Harbor in Oxnard around 3 a.m. in Muptami of Kalawashaq, the Santa Ynez Band’s 30-foot tomol. With wind swell battering them and filling their short-walled canoe-like vessel with water, event organizers called off the crossing 11 miles from Santa Cruz. Support boats scooped up the paddlers and towed the craft to Ventura Harbor.