We finally got under way Tuesday morning and had 20+ knots across the triangle
under a heavy marine layer. The winds abated somewhat and the skies cleared
by the Brothers, so we had a nice downwind run to Carquinez and then into
Benecia Marina for Nike's usual pit stop. We departed Benecia around 15:00
and sailed to Mandeville via New York Slough and False River. When
we got there around 19:45, we found a reasonable hole near the Hilton ranch
and dropped the hook. There was a small raft-up of 8 powerboats ahead and
a small sailboat raft on our starboard quarter. There were a number of
larger rafts up against the tulies and the music was evident all around.
Folks had been partying alllll day.
The next morning we woke up to find the sailboat raft had dropped their stern
anchors during the night and were now swinging with us but a bit too close
for my comfort. Also, some powerboats ahead of us had left and there was
a nice big hole about 100 yds off our starboard bow that looked inviting.
As we were re-anchoring, Mike, from the power boat in the raft-up ahead
of us, stopped by in his dinghy to let us know he was planning to buy a
Lagoon 410 and would we mind if he came aboard later? Of course not. I
cleaned up the boat in the morning and Deb tried to get a little work done
as the boats streamed in all day. Gabrielle watched DVDs all day. We monitored
channel 16 for BAMA contacts all day, but made none. It was a good day
to chill.
On Thursday, Glenn appeared in his dinghy behind us
around 10:00. He had arrived late the evening before and was anchored nearby.
He graciously offered to help us transport some of our guests who were
waiting at Herman and Helen's and he needed ice anyway so off he and I
went in our dinks. After we returned, he brought Perception along side
and we had the beginnings of a raft-up. The weather was clear and warm,
with just enough breezes to keep the bugs away as the boats continued to
arrive. The raft ahead eventually grew to over 25 boats and the new one
off our port side grew to about 20. Even a freighter joined them briefly
(see photo), though no other BAMAhamanians arrived to join us.
I manned the Barbie to cook up a mess of steaks, chicken
and veggies for our newly expanded crew. Boats near us fired rockets and
blew their horns as the sun finally began to set. The girls all climbed
up onto the boom to sit securely in the lazy bag as we sat on the coach
roof to watch the fireworks be launched a quarter of a mile away. Although
not quite up to the KFOG Kaboom experience that we had shared with Perception
earlier in May, the fireworks were quite spectacular. Every time it seemed
they were going to be over another batch would be fired off, even bigger
than before. Of course, it finally did end and the girls finally went back
home amid the rumble of boats leaving the anchorage and the flashing blue
lights of the Sheriff's boats helping them to do so in reasonable safely.
Friday morning awoke early with the rumble of more
boats leaving the anchorage. The girls from the raft-up returned to get
Gabi out of bed and they all socialized together for a while. The big houseboat
from Chico State that had annoyed everybody the previous day with Techno-noise
played at 100 db over their large theater speakers resumed and my crew
finally revolted. Glenn had disappeared in his dink so we waited for a
while after dropping the rafting lines to make sure Perception was secure
before departing the noise at Mandeville for a quiet spot on Potato Slough.
Later, we dropped our guests off at H&H resort and motored up to Antioch
to have dinner at the Bridge Marina Yacht Club.
The trip back down river was pretty calm, with 15-18
kt winds across middle ground and not much slop. The winds were light out
of Carquinez and so we motored up to the Brothers before raising sails.
The slot looked beguiling from the calm behind Angel Island and so we did
not set a reef before entering it. Unfortunately the winds quickly built
to 30 kts and we had to do a quick reefing fire drill to get the boat into
a manageable sail plan. It was good practice but tough on the crew's nerves.
We arrived in Jack London Square around 17:30.
Hope y'all had a good time over the 4th. We sure did.
Jeff Eastman
Bebe L'Amour
....from Glenn Fagerlin, Perception
Great write up Jeff. I will add a little about my trip.
I got a late start on Wednesday (7/3) at about 2:00
from Richmond. Had decent winds and made good time to Mandeville
arriving at dusk and averaging 6 knots for about 42 miles. I anchored
on the west side of Mandeville Tip for the night since I had little light
to pick out anchor lines.
In the morning I found Bebe Lamour, accepted their
gracious invitation and joined the BAMA raft up. The weather was
great, the water was warm and the sightseeing was spectacular. Hundreds
of boats, mostly power, and lots of activities all around - water fights,
anchoring drills, Arneson's turbo with flames, a PT boat, Ultra Lights
flying around, etc. I toured the anchorage by dinghy and found
sizable raft ups in Potato Slough and other close by spots.
The fireworks were very good. Jeff picked a great
spot about 100 yards from the barge and we had a great show. The
quality was surprising to me. A notch below the KBOOM, but not a
big notch. The after show activity was also entertaining with 3 police
type boats cruising around with flashing lights and the smaller boats heading
back home.
I had to be back in the bay area on Saturday so I was
planning to leave Perception somewhere (maybe for a week) and return the
next weekend. Friday morning I visited the Bethel Is. area and had
no luck finding a side tie. I decided to move over to the Sacramento
River and try there. After calling around I also had no luck over
by Rio vista. I gave up and decided to return Friday night.
Better planning is on the list for next time.
Getting back to Antioch was easy. I stopped in
a side slough with 15' of water up to the bank, put the bow against the
tules and had dinner about 6 PM. When I hit reverse to leave the
port engine stopped. A closer look revealed one of my dock lines
hanging off the stern cleat and tight as a drum. Do I want to go
swimming? No. I have another engine and lots of sails.
So, off I went on a one engine motor sail back to Richmond.
Perception will normally do about 7 knots on one engine.
With a boost from the sails I got up to hull speed (8.5) on a number of
occasions. With unfavorable winds my speed is reduced to 4 or 5 knots.
Unfortunately, I had 20 to 30 knots of wind on the nose a lot of the time
and an unfavorable current that built to about 2 knots. Sailing at
night was enough of a challenge through Middle Ground, Susuin Bay, Carquinez
Straights and San Pablo Bay, so I decided to follow the channels.
I was worried about unlighted stuff like the bouy off the Navel Weapons
Station that I saw at the last minute just outside the channel and the
yellow anchor markers off the Richmond Bridge. Everything is different
at night and I make sure I know where I am in relation to each bouy.
The radar and chart plotter worked well and helped to make sure I avoided
the hard and shallow stuff. I got in about 2 AM. When I got
to the dock and picked up one of my lines, I was amazed that the wet line
felt really warm.
There is some overhead in getting to and returning
from the delta, but the rewards make up for it. Great weather, different
environment with warm, fresh water, laid back 50's attitude and a lot of
different things to do and see. It was a fun cruise even with the
complications.
Glenn Fagerlin
Perception
The Plan....
Fourth of July on the Delta
This year several boats are planning to cruise up the
Delta and catch the fireworks at Mandeville Tip. The lure of warm
weather and water sounds really good after Memorial Day. Glen promised
to get Bob Naber up water-skiing. Joint Venture will be leaving
Alameda Sunday, June 30, and returning Saturday, July 6. Let "sandrakay_us
at yahoo dot com" know if any other cruisers are interested in meeting
up in the Delta to watch the 4th of July fireworks.
So far, we have these people expressed in joining the raft:
Jeff, Deb, Gabrielle, and Nike "the wonder watch dog"
Eastman on Bebe (bringing something other than tangerine margaritas.)
Randy Devol and Sandy Blackburn on Joint Venture
(experimenting with their new boat.)
Glenn Fagerlin on Perception (with central air conditioning?)
Bob Naber on Devoras (if the boatyard work is done in time)
Paul ? on New Focus? (rumors, rumors)
General Plan from Bebe:
We plan to sail Bebe up to the delta on Monday
the 1st and back on the 6th. We'd love to raft with whoever else
makes the run. The big powerboat rafts usually set stern anchors
also so swinging a big multi-raft should not be an issue (like it was at
TI) if we plan to do the same. Holding is good in the mud with enough
scope and we don't have a lot of keel resistance to make the currents problematic.
I checked with Herman & Helen's marina and they confirmed the fireworks
will be on the 4th. Given the mid-week event, I expect Joint Venture
will be able to get us all a good spot if they go down on Saturday.
(Editors note: Joint Venture makes no promises about arrival dates,
only about sharing the anchorage.)
I've done this event almost a dozen times. I
favor the north side of the cut because it is a bit more protected.
Lots of boats pull up into the weeds but I like to stay out in the middle
away from the bugs. There's a shallow spot off the siphon pipe a
quarter of a mile north of the Hilton ranch that can be a bit roly-poly
in a monohull but it offers a great view of the fireworks. It's a
real hoot if the weather is nice and the anchorage really fills up on the
4th as the day cruisers from all over the delta bring their boats to fill
in the small holes between the raft ups. There are dinghy parades,
water fights, and all manner of revelry as the anchorage fills up.
Arneson usually brings his jet boat up from Loch Lomond and shoots flames
high into the air to the delight of everybody. I can't imagine it
is much fun for them in crash helmets and racing harness but it is cool
to see. After the fireworks are over an added attraction for those
of us who stay is the parade of running lights out of the anchorage that
goes on for an hour or so. By noon the next day the anchorage is
almost empty.
Several of the marinas in the area have good launching
facilities. Herman & Helen's is the closest with a gas dock and
a small store & restaurant up river. An option for those who
can trailer is to pre-position the trailer at one of them. Tower
Park has the best in my opinion. [J.E.B. Pickett cautions
that the ramp at Tower Park is very steep and tow vehicle access is very
limited, but Rich Holden adds that they have successfully launched at Tower
Park without problem five times by using the Tower Park launch vehicle
(a tractor) for an extra $3. Total cost $11. Rich also considers B&W's
a good choice.] H&H has a pretty steep ramp and avoids
the bash back up through Middle Ground. I'm crossing my fingers for
another off-shore flow like last weekend but I've only been able to reach
back from the delta once, and that was in the rain.
We hope to see you there,
Jeff, Deb, Gabrielle & Nike Eastman
------------------------------
Joint Venture plans to arrive by July 3'rd or
possibly sooner to join the raft and leave mid-day on the 5'th. We
will monitor channel 72 for BAMA-related traffic, but I don't think we
will need the radio much. The raft will be hard to miss.
Let's have a pot-luck dinner on one of the large cats
on July 4'th. Joint Venture's nets will be available for watching
the fireworks prone, without straining your neck.
-=O=- Randy Corsair-31 #213, Joint Venture
We finally got under way Tuesday morning and had 20+ knots across the triangle
under a heavy marine layer. The winds abated somewhat and the skies cleared
by the Brothers, so we had a nice downwind run to Carquinez and then into
Benecia Marina for Nike's usual pit stop. We departed Benecia around 15:00
and sailed to Mandeville via New York Slough and False River. When
we got there around 19:45, we found a reasonable hole near the Hilton ranch
and dropped the hook. There was a small raft-up of 8 powerboats ahead and
a small sailboat raft on our starboard quarter. There were a number of
larger rafts up against the tulies and the music was evident all around.
Folks had been partying alllll day.
The next morning we woke up to find the sailboat raft had dropped their stern
anchors during the night and were now swinging with us but a bit too close
for my comfort. Also, some powerboats ahead of us had left and there was
a nice big hole about 100 yds off our starboard bow that looked inviting.
As we were re-anchoring, Mike, from the power boat in the raft-up ahead
of us, stopped by in his dinghy to let us know he was planning to buy a
Lagoon 410 and would we mind if he came aboard later? Of course not. I
cleaned up the boat in the morning and Deb tried to get a little work done
as the boats streamed in all day. Gabrielle watched DVDs all day. We monitored
channel 16 for BAMA contacts all day, but made none. It was a good day
to chill.
