Home	Delta Ha Ha Cruise June 30 - July 8, 2012

(If you like, you can skip down through the prose and go straight to the pictures below!)

A week's cruise in the Delta for the Islander fleet started off with a Saturday gathering at Emery Cove. Fairly typical June Gloom wrapped western San Francisco in fog, obliterating the Golden Gate Bridge and made for chilly west winds through the harbor. That didn't deter five intrepid Islanders from their plan. Hosts Gary & Pat Salvo (Ophira) had lined up slips for all attending, an all were there by about 1400. Of course it was easy for rich & Takae Watters, since they too are berthed at Emery Cove. Dennis & Judy Bush brought Natural High, over early, then Rick Van Mell arrived with Vanishing Animal, followed shortly by Commodore & Nanci Melton with Freedom Won.

The whole idea was to assemble the fleet for an 0900 departure into the Delta on Sunday morning. The "Delta" is the labyrinth of over 1,000 miles of natural and man-made channels off the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers which eventually direct all off the runoff from the high Sierra Mountains through the narrow Carquinez Strait about 20 miles east of San Francisco into San Pablo bay and finally into San Francisco Bay and out the Golden Gate into the Pacific Ocean. The Delta washes the middle part of the Central Valley and provides for extensive farming on the endless "tracts" going back to gold mining days. These low lying islands are mostly protected by dikes from spring floods, and occasionally a big flood breaks dikes and floods a track. One big one now permanently flooded is Franks Tract -- some times crossed by adventurous boats of shallow draft. Here's a link to Delta details & map.

A delightful BBQ and potluck ensued in the sheltered space behind the harbormaster's office. Thanks to a portable grill set up by Rich Watters, and ably assisted in the cooking chores by Gary Salvo, we enjoyed steaks and kabobs with wonderufl side salads. We've asked Nanci Melton to share her peas and peanuts recipie, and Pat Salvo to do likewise with her roasted corn salad. But, you'll have to find them in the next issue of the Newsletter! (Gotta support Editor Bill Ray - you do likewise too, please!)

Sunday morning had June Gloom at full throttle as we first motored into west wind, then set sail as could bear away to the north around the outer end of the old defunct Berkeley Pier which stretched a mile due west into San Francisco Bay - ideal for the old sailing ships. Picking up a max flood, motor sailing past Red Rock and under the San Rafael Bridge we hit 9 knots over the bottom. We were on our way! Skies began to scatter out as we passed through Carquinez Strait and blazing sun, and hot temperatures greeted us as we cleared the Benicia bridge.

San Francisco Bay's fabled summer winds, in the 20 - 30 knot range most afternoons are not, as some might expect, because the Bay blows, it's because the Delta sucks. Summer time Delta highs are in the 90 to 100 range each afternoon creating strong updrafts. At the coast, 50 to 60 degrees creates a 40 degree differential and the colder, heavier air blasts (actually the National Weather service described it yesterday as "howled") through the gaps and over the lower hills into the Central Valley.

We rode a flood tide all the way to Pittsburg (California!) and arrived at 1430, covering the 35 miles in five hours. Four of us were quickly secure on the Pittsbug Yacht Club guest dock. Jay & Jean Lund's Solitude, berthed in Vallejo, joined Rick, John and Rich, while Pat and Gary stayed in Emery Cove ("hey, we live in Sacramento and we come here to get COOL"), while Dennis & Judy headed to southern California for their son's graduation from Marine boot camp!

A highlight of our Pittsburg stop was dinner at the New Mecca cafe. This icon Mexican restaurant is famous for serving the Giants and Athletics baseball teams, supporting youth sports ("Say no to drugs, yes to buritos!"), and serving huge plates for cheap prices. Dan Knox and Myphi, representing Luna Sea, drove in for the fun bringing crew member Bonnie Allijo along. Another crew, Ann Marie, had sailed up aboard Freedom Won. As the pictures attest, it was a fun table, and the plates were overflowing. We walked back to the boats, enjoying the art work and mementos of Pittsburg's Delta fishing past, as the sun settled in the west.

We paid for our downhill, flood tide ride to Pittsburg with an uphill slog against the ebb going east. We all departed at 0925 again under motor and jib to buck the 1.5 knot ebb and make what we could of the dead-aft wind. Sparkling water, and the cool morning wind was a delight. Jay had a great app on his iPad with details of the passages through False river across the north edge of Frank's Tract. It showed "invasive vegetation" spreading across the channel. Jay had also gotten reports from locals that it was thick enough to get into engine intakes. It was a quick decision to stay in the deep-water channel for ships.

Part of the attraction of the Delta is the ability to "gunk hole" into endless nooks and crannies. Rich & Takae have visions of going blue water down the coast and were looking forward to practicing anchoring and dinghy handling along the way. Solitude felt the same way, so they were aiming for Mandeville Slough to anchor out. It's also famous for July 4th fireworks (on 7/3 this year) and a big crowd of boats. As Tacoma Blue and Solitude peeled off into the windward side of Mandeville, there were a few scattered boats anchored. Rich radioed Jay that he was going to circle the tip and check out the other side. By this time rick & Vanishing Animal was in the main channel passing the far side and radioed back there were at least 150 power boats against the shore and anchored everywhere. Rich did indeed circle Mandeville then joined Jay in anchoring on the much less crowded windward side. By the time they departed at 0720 Tuesday there were over 250 boats -- and many said, "headed for 1,000!"

Meanwhile back on Monday, Rick & John continued on another 10 miles to Stockton Sailing Club. That's the home club of Islander 36 Fleet icon, Past Commodore Harry Farrell and his partner Carol Williams, and Carol's daughter Michele Williams, also an I-36 Past Commodore. You can't ask for a better club set up. The Junior Program has its own dock and dry storage crane just inside the harbor entrance, then plenty of slips too. The first three night's docking is free, and so it the big ice machine. The grounds are all inside a perimeter fence, including the Harbormaster's office and the clubhouse. The clubhouse has both an elevated deck with gas grills and tables, and a ground level, sheltered large BBQ area and kichen for serving a big crowd. It's all along the banks of the river where the afternoon breeze quickly drops the afternoon heat to manageable levels.

John & Nanci, with crew Ann Marie, and Rick & Sandy, plus goldens Riley and Teak, gathered in the shelter for a BBQ of chicken and Swordfish, with both fresh and potato salads and some nibbles and wine to round out the meal. As the sun set around 8:30, and an almost-full moon rose among the harbor masts, your well fed Islanders headed for their bunks and enjoyed the cool winds. Teak, hot for most of the day, fell asleep in the cool wind on the cockpit cushion with her head on her paws and nose just at the companionway. We had to wake her up to get her below when we turned in at 2200.

Tuesday morning Tacoma Blue and Solitude arrived at SSC after spending the night with the crowd at Mandeville slough. They reported the crowd of boats had already grown to over 250 boats with the whole day yet to go. it was a delightful lazy day. A bit of breeze kept things cool down below until mid-day, then it was cooler to be out along the river on the patio.

Chicken was the BBQ star of Tuesday night. With salads, radish, and carrots, it was delightful to watch the boats headed off for the fireworks at Mandeville -- if a good bit noisy. For those that stayed awake until after the fireworks, it was also interesting to watch party-weary boats reurning to SSC harbor from 2300 on. Some going a good bit faster in the dark than might be prudent!

Wednesday, July 4th, was a perfect "lay day." Kick back, do some chores - like end-for-end the mainsheet and splice an eye at the new end. We were invited into the SSC clubhouse by some members and enjoyed the great views and very reasonably priced beverages. A highlight of the evening was a wall of steel that slide silently past the windows blotting out the river as about 250 feet of freighter headed for Stockton. Shrimp and ribs topped the BBq this night. The air cooled nicely and all slept soundly.

Thursday we started the return part of the Delta Ha Ha. Noble & Barbara snuck out early and headed for a breakfast dive they knew about. Catching the high slack current, we were soon being aided by the ebb for the short 14 mile run down to Willow Berm Marina at the end of the Mokelumne River. Rick & John arrived about 1030 and stopped for fuel and to pump holding tanks. By the time we headed for the guest dock it was almost max ebb with a 1.5 knot current running along the dock.

Rick tried the breast-line-on-a-cleat docking method so Sandy wouldn't have to jump off to handle lines. Sandy stood just aft of the shrouds with a boathook holding a large bowline on a line leading to a block amidships with the tail going back to a primary winch. As we eased against the current, Sandy slipped the loop over a cleat and Rick snugged up on the line, then added power to pull the boat alongside the dock. Leaving it in gear, he stepped off and made fast the bow and stern lines. finally they added springs and then turned off the engine.

Mai Pen Rai arrived at the same time and had folks on the dock to grab lines. Then we stood by to catch Freedom Won's lines, and, a few minutes later, Solitude arrived and we finished off the group safe and sound. Tacoma Blue chose to spend time practicing anchor-out techniques and were a mile away in Potato Slough.

Jay & Jean Lund took advantage of Willow Berm's bicycles and rode off along the levies for a look around. Jay is a Civil Engineering Professor at UC Davis, and reservoirs are his specialty. The Delta is a perfect place to see the results of what man can do to the land. Though Jay told the story a day later during dinner at Pittsburg YC, it fits to describe it here.

When California's gold was discovered in 1848, there were no dikes or levies and the rivers covered the land during the spring floods. The combination of a need for better water channels to get supplies to the miners and to get gold out, and the large amounts of silt being washed into the rivers by hydraulic mining, led to the digging of canals and using the muck to build dikes. Much like the Dutch, some areas were then pumped dry and used as very fertile farm land. Thus the Delta came to be. As Jay noted, the building of dams and dikes and levies and canals are a product of the technology available, the current culture (go for gold and mine the land), and the vision for the future (we'll never use it all up) that prevails when the decisions are made. As he notes, for many projects we wouldn't do them the same way today - if at all.

While riding the levies, Jay and Jean took pictures of the fertile fields which don't look particularly interesting until you realize that they are 10 to 12 feet below water level. No better example of this reality is the house built high on a steel foundation to hold the living quarters above the dike height. It the water tops the levy, the house remains dry (assuming the foundation holds!)

Plenty of wind kept everyone cool for the afternoon until we gathered aboard Vanishing Animal for nibbles. Most went on to dinner, while Rick & Sandy stayed behind to work on the web page. The early arrival made for a very nice day - especially being all snug when the afternoon winds howled!

It was a beautiful Friday morning for a departure from Willow Berm. Light wind, cool temperatures and the start of an ebb tide. After threading the slightly tricky exit back into the San Joaquin River, it was easy powering - at first. The whole idea of our 0720 start was to get on down the road before the thermal winds started to blast into the delta.

Aboard Vanishing Animal Rick & Sandy reversed roles. Sandy had been steering while Rick checked the GPS location on the chart on the PC and gave hand signals or new course bearings as we went along. In the cockpit, two winch handles held down a paper chart of the Delta, with the point of the handle of one of them marking the last channel mark we had passed. Today it was Sandy's turn to be below and read the courses off the computer and pass them along to Rick. Though it was perfectly clear, channel markers were in plain sight, and most anyone might have just followed them along, it was a perfect way for Sandy to brush up on her navigation skills.

Even though we covered the 20 miles back to Pittsburg Yacht Club in two hours and forty minutes and arrived at 1000, the wind was already piping up into the 23 knot range as Freedom Won reported. Noble & Barbara Brown had a more difficult trip aboard Mai Pen Rai however. Shortly after leaving the dock is was apparent that diesel was leaking into the bilge and a ruptured return hose was the culprit. Noble sailed the boat down to the Pittsburg Municipal Marina (next to PYC and easier to sail into). with the help of PYC harbormaster Ralph Tocci, Noble got a ride to a hardware store, got parts and then continued back to his home port of Vallejo. (See The Rest Of the Story below!)

Too bad for Noble & Barbara though because PYC had a great catfish & ribs dinner for $15 that attracted a bunch of cruise-in folks. There were probably 70 people enjoying the feast.

We were hoping for an overnight lull in the winds, but the whistles in the rigging and the occasional slapping of halyards against the mast said it was not to be. Still trying to get a head start on the worst of the afternoon winds, another 0710 departure saw us clear of Pittsburg headed for Vallejo. It was the beginning of the ebb, but right at Pittsburg is where the San Joaquin and Sacramento Rivers join and funnel 1000 miles of tidal water through the Carquinez Strait. Wind against tide can make for nasty standing waves. Though there was lots of spray flying as we powered into 20 knot winds, we didn't get the boat-jarring standing waves this time. In fact, at several points as we flushed through the Strait, we were making between 9.0 and 9.8 knots over the bottom. This made for another quick 20 mile run as we arrived at Vallejo Yacht Club at 1005.

Mai Pen Rai was already in her slip at VYC, and Solitude was soon in hers at Vallejo Marina. Freedom Won and Vanishing Animal had slips, and Tacoma Blue had the "guest of honor" spot right in front of VYC at the guest dock. Bill & Delight Pendola, (Lean Times) joined us to celebrate the cruise and share in all the stories. We all settled down to chores and reading (and the web page) to await a you-cook steak dinner.

While chatting on the great VYC deck, Barbara Brown sat down to tell us The Rest Of The Story. Yes, Noble was able to get the needed parts at the Pittsburg store and got the engine running again. But, when backing out to get under way, they backed over a plastic flag and line, which promptly wrapped around the prop. Noble goes swimming and after several attempts, manages to get the flag free - note picture below. Then it was power on back home to Vallejo. Well, it turns out there had been some dock work done on their slip while they were gone, so their dock lines weren't reaching where they should, and, besides, one side dock is pretty narrow and wobbles. So, trying to get the dock lines made fast, an oscillation sets up and Noble goes in the drink - again. Oh, his iPhone was in his pocket. Not to worry, now that they're home, he goes to the Apple Store to learn he needs a replacement, but wait, his wallet is not in his pants pocket. A call to Barb confirms that the wallet was actually in the pants he'd been wearing to swim in to free the flag. And, Barb reported, they'd forgotten to put the shutter in the dog door and raccoons had come into their kitchen and opened the cabinets and eaten the dog goodies. So you think YOU had a bad day!

When we all stopped laughing it was time for dinner. You selected your big T Bone, and the chef helped you put it on the grill to cook the way you wanted it. Then you headed for the salad bar to load one plate. By the time all that was in order, it was time to flip your steak, then head back to get a big plate with corn and baked potato and maybe abeverage refersher. One last trip back to the grill to pick up your steak and we all st down to good eats. Just in case you weren't full, there was ice cream and sauces to fill those vacant cavities. The skinnest one of all (Takae) even went back for seconds!

So in total we had 9 Islanders participate in one way or another. Thanks to (in order of appearance) Ophira, Natural High, Vanishing Animal, Freedom Won, Tacoma Blue, Luna Sea, Solitude, Mai Pen Rai, and Lean Times for a great 2012 Delta Ha Ha.

Pictures by Takae Watters, Jean Lund and Sandy & Rick Van Mell. Click on images to enlarge, click "Back" to return.

San Francisco ...	looks good for the ...	ride to Emery Cove	Big Boy # 1
Big Boy # 2	The City is ...	backed by fog ...	Where's Golden Gate?!
Lost in fog.	New East span ...	of Bay Bridge ...	tower complete ...
ready for ...	suspender cables.	Big stuff.	At Emery Cove ...
flags fly ...	Riley is ready ...	for attention.	Plenty of breeze.
Dock shot.	Takae & Rich	Must be dinner time ...	getting together ...
Dennis & Judy	Nanci & John	Pat & Gary	Takae, Rick
goodies arrive ...	Skinnygirl ...	loves these!	BBQ is ready ...
Gary & Rich are ...	chefs at work ...	round one looks ...	great!
Round two, ditto.	Boys go for ...	deviled eggs!	Finger licking good.
They're happy.	Everyone's content.	Saturday sunset.	Sunday's crew ...
John is ready ...	crew too ...	Have a good trip ...	John's away ...
pushing into it.	Tacoma Blue astern.	June gloom.	Freedom Won
Carquniz Bridge ...	now astern.	So what!	Truck'in along.
I said, "No pictures."	Into the Delta ...	Benicia Bridge astern	Mothball fleet ...
is in several ...	sections.	Hill to the north ...	Mt. Diablo to the west!
Real dry here!	Going uphill.	Threading the channel	Clouds over Diablo ...
and astern.	Islanders in a row ...	other side.	We're in!
Flying high at ...	Pittsburg YC ...	dining room ...	and bar.
Solitude in a slip	Rest lined up.	Med moor.	Clubhouse view ...
wind farm ...	late afternoon cruiser.	Fleet is guarded ...	by Riley while ...
we relax.	The girls! ...	and boys.	Coming up on ...
the New Mecca Cafe.	Main drag ...	great detail ...	the Main event!
New touches ...	with TV and ...	America's Cup!	To go with ...
original side & ...	smoke'n bull!	Islander feast ...	BIG plates ...
all of $5.00 ...	much too much!	Burp!	Heading back ...
The Map ...	down street ...	at the end ...	Pittsburg heritage.
At PYC.	You're back!	Monday morning ...	leaving Pittsburg ...
motor sailing ...	headed through ...	Antioch bridge.	Rounding Web Tract
Little friend	Rich wants to ...	overtake ...	Solitude
Typical run ...	passing Freedom Won	& Vanishing Animal	got breeze.
That's John	Tacoma Blue leads into Mandiville	Solitude gets ...	dinghy ready ...
John follows Rick	past back side of ...	Mandiville Pt.	Wall to wall ...
power boats.	View from ...	Tacoma Blue ...	Across the way ...
character boat # 1 ...	character island?!	You see the best ...	Islanders here!
Hidden burgee ...	with sun shade ...	Stockton Sailing Club ...	great spot with ...
tall spars ...	here too!	Nanci's ready ...	for the grill ...
tasty stuff ...	enjoyed by all.	Harbormaster Suzie.	Riley wants some.
Million dollar light ...	and flags fly for ...	Stockton Sailing Club.	A beautiful place.
Bed time yet?	Almost ...	moonrise.	Vanishing Animal sleeps.
At Mandeville ...	it's gone ...	moon is up ...	Rich is happy!
Moon from Solitude	Tues 0720 departue ...	dressed for 4th ...	what a crowd!
Freighter leads	What's that?	BIG ship.	Relaxed Islanders
ditto	Nice bar	Volvo action	Great flag!
Hi Riley	dinner time.	Wednesday morning	Here comes ...
Solitude ...	nicely tucked in.	Rich & oar power ...	more power!
Stockton tour ...	covered slips ...	Civic pride ...	luxury row ...
nice spread ...	want one ...	too much grass?	right on!
BIG boat.	Dinner cooks ...	we're ready.	Glorious 4th!
I'm gone!	Thursday AM gaggle	Hidden spars ...	at Tinsley Island ...
big too!	Blue heron watch	Tacoma Blue & dinghy	Lots of weed
Peacefull trip	Into connection slough ...	where to go?	maybe ....!
Fileds near Willow Berm ...	High dike ...	note water height.	This house is ...
at dike height!	Goodies watch at ...	Willow Berm Marina ...	Room for all ...
smile ...	you too!	Long guest dock ...	Vanishing Animal
John, Noble & Jay	Leaving Willow Berm	Wind farm	Back at Pittsburg ...
tucked in.	Noble dives for flag	Starboard smiles ...	port side too.
Rick at work.	0630 on 7/7 ...	blowing hard.	Vallejo YC harbor.
It was a GREAT cruise!

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