your first delta experience

D

deltabighat

Member
exMember
Joined
Aug 17, 2004
RO Number
14904
Messages
493
On another thread today I mentioned I had been around the delta for 40 years and I got to thinking about my first trip and it was humorous. I was four years old and my parents were fishing for cats and stripers (for dinner no doubt)at Herman and Helens. We were on the levee and they tied a rope around my waist and tied the other to a tree to keep me from getting to close to the water. I have that picture at home today, me in my underware tied to a tree fishing. Boy the Child Protective Service would be on that big time these days........we loved it. What was your first experience with the delta.

DBH
 
Our first experience was about 4 years ago and is too long to type out! Just suffice it to say it involved

1 - getting lost
2 - getting mired in mud so that we had to ...
3 - get out and 'push' the boat back to deeper water
4 - getting a bunch of 'muck' in the prop (see above)
5 - buying a gps the next day!!

Fortunately it was a small runabout and we didn't give up! We can't imagine boating anywhere else but the Delta!
 
The guy I was dating invited me for a weekend on his boat in the Delta. Wasn't familiar with boating [except a few sportfishing trips offshore] and had no idea what or where the Delta was! But I'm always up for an adventure, so........

We drove to Delta Resort [now Lundberg's Landing]; he got his 28 Bayliner Victoria put in the water and we were off! By the time we left to return home, I was in love! In love with boating and the Delta, that is. The guy, not so much.......so eventually I decided I'd get my own boat instead of remaining in a relationship which was far from perfect so I could go boating!

Best decision I ever made......
 
SF bay, that amazing bar in Rio Vista with all the stuffed animals, Moore’s, Locke, Althewops, Georgianna slew, Stockton, That crazy Isle place with the tiki huts. This was all way back in the last century.
 
I took a bunch of guys down to Tower Park, and launched my 16' Chrysler Tri-hull with a 70hp Chrysler outboard. We put up the canvas, and with Don Longee up front smoking, we headed towards the main drag- the San Joaquin. As we entered the "big" river, we were perpendicular to the flow of water and traffic, and a huge yacht went by. We were engulfed by the wake that actually swept right through the boat, going over the bow and actually putting out Don's cigarette that was in his mouth. Gosh we laughed at that for many years.
 
I don't think it6 was my first time on the Delta (that was on a 12 ft. alum. boat out of Vierra's Resort), but it was the most memorable of my early memories.

My father and a friend had built a 21 ft. fiberglass fishing boat from a kit and we took it to Rodeo for it's maiden launch and a day of fishing. When we arrived in the early morning it was foggy as hell, but we were determined to get out and start fishing. We slowly puttered out and almost immediately lost our bearings, so we dropped the anchor and started fishing to wait for the fog to lift.

Suddenly we heard the sound of a loud horn and could see the prow of a BIG ship coming out of the fog and directly at us. My dad hollered at me to cut the anchor line while they tried to start the motor. I remember the cranking sound as it turned over and over but refused to start. Luckily we drifted out of the way of the ship and within a few minutes it had passed us and disappeared into the fog again. As a kid, it was very exciting but looking back it's a bit scary.
 
41 years ago, I was 11 years old.

We lived in Southern California. My family was invited to come along on a week long water ski trip ( I had just learned to water ski at a local lake a few weeks earlier).

We stayed at New Hope Landing. At the time they had a few cabins that could be rented and we did that. Our friends had a 16' low profile ski boat with a 110 Hp Mercury, big engine for those days. My dad borrowed an OLD 14' "Burchcraft" wood boat, kind of a mini cruiser, powered by a 35 Hp Evinrude (which had seen better days).

We would leave New Hope Landing in the morning and cruise out to the Meadows. There was a nice little beach that we would hang out on. Private property but as long as you didn't harass the livestock they didn't seem to care.

That became an annual trip for us up until around 1976. I never saw much more than the section of the Delta between New Hope Landing and the Meadows, however.

Jump forward ten years: I am married now, have a baby. We are invited out to the Delta again for a day of boating. It was the catalyst for us to start looking for our own boat. We decided we wanted a small cruiser rather than a runabout / ski boat. In 1987 we ended up buying a 1956 Stephens, 25 foot wood hull cruiser which we kept at Bethel Island. Kept that boat for like 8 years, then bought a 36' Carver which we kept at Tiki Lagun. Kept that for about 7 years then in 2003 we bought a 55' Destination Yachts houseboat, still at Tiki Lagun.

Rod
 
Dave---I guess ignorance can be bliss, huh?!!!

Rod---I bet that is how a lot of us got into boating; we have to spread the joy to our friends to get them interested. And with the price of boats right now, it is a great time to be a first time buyer [with a knowledgeable friend to assist].
 
On or about May 1, 1999 we took our new 21 ft Chaparral Cuddy and stayed at Sugarbarge on the boat. We spent the day traveling the delta. Although it was cold and rainy, we enjoyed our new toy. We finally came in and set the boat up for the night. The cuddy was quite snug, but we had the canvas up, shore power, and watched the TV which we set up in the cockpit.

The next day there was supposed to be an inaugural power boat race on Frank's Tract being hosted by Sugar Barge so we were looking forward to watching all the powerboats scream past. The weather was windy and colder than the day before so the event organizers decided to cancel the event much to the chagrin of the contestants who spent all that time and money to race their boats. Many of them came a long way to participate in the event. They weren't very happy and most openly vowed never to return. Apparently they were true to their word because I never heard about the event ever happening again.
 
May is not a good time of year to plan that kind of event for the very reasons you mentioned. The weather for such an event is much better in the fall. I guess the event organizers did not know that!
 
Dave -- You took me down memory lane back to the early '60s when I was a greenhorn boater and fisherman who obsessively went out every Monday on my day off. I berthed my new/used 21? Wizard cuddy at King Island (owner was Lloyd Chelseth and the slip cost $17 a month). Onthis particular Monday morning it was foggy as hell nut I was a fearless fool and dedided to head out anyway. My 75 HP
'Rude was humming and I followed the right bank to the shipping channel intending to fish across from McDonald Island back of light 14. I nosed into the main channel, congratu;ying myself for making it that far when I heard a bone-chilling "Blaaaaaaaaa" and a second later a huge freighter loomed ahead. I slammed the Wized into reverse and backed out of there as I shivered and shook with fright. All is well that ends wellm so I tied up to a clump of tules and waited for the fog to lift. End of story -- No fishing that day; I headed back to King and a "few" cold omes. Dave. thanks for the memory, Warren
 
Abdiver...New Hope Landing reminds me of an scary experience I had as a young man. I just bought (the day before) a high powered flatbottom ski boat and launched next door at Wimpys. Went to Meadows for a day of fun and water skiing in the new boat. That afternoon a guy in another high powered boat challenged me to a race and I just couldn't resist. I was several boat lengths in the lead when a houseboat crossed to the slough and kicked up a pretty good wake. I hit it at about 75mph+, caught a chine and flipped the boat. Next thing I knew I was gasping for air and debris floating everywhere. Sunk the boat (recovered it later), I broke 3 ribs, and banged up my buddies leg pretty badly. Lucky no one was killed. I learned an important lesson that day...NEVER put anyone else at risk of injury just for a little "fun".
 
Great stories! About 45 years back my Uncle Don - you know, the crazy, fun uncle - invited us to his 28' Trojan on Bethel island. I can remember being totally impressed and in awe of this floating "palace", all the knobs, controls, throttles - it was captivating to me as a little kid. We spent the day fishing around and had a great time. It was the start of a lifetime obsession for me. I went back a few more times, and when I was 15 built a crackerbox - a 16 foot wood hull with a small-block direct drive, no transmission - start and go! Thank God I never got it in the water, but have been boating ever since in all kinds of craft. Funny, but my crazy and fun uncle just passed last week and I'm going to say goodby this weekend.He wants his ashes sprinkled in the ocean around Albion, near Ft Bragg, as it was a yearly hang out for him for over 40 years.
I've boated all over - Berryessa, Arizona, Mass, Nevada - and can safely say there is no better place than the Delta! It is paradise.
Thanks Uncle Don!
By the way, his name was Don Chesworth, and over the past 75 years he has held almost every major fishing record in California so some of you might have met him.
 
RIP to your uncle. He sounds like a great influence on your life! I'm glad you will be able to give him the final resting place he wanted.
 
Thanks Flutter. He started me down this boating path - nobody else in my family was into boating at all, and my Father couldn't even swim! He's in a better place now and out of pain. Fort Bragg and Albion are so beautifull, I can't wait to head back up there. Last time we were there, it was the start of Abaloni season, and although we are not divers, all the others in the camp were, and they shared their ab with us, and it was SOOOOO good!!
As beautifull as it is up there, I like the Delta more...

Thanks again

Jim
 
My great-grandfather helped build the Delta as we know it today; but, well, I wasn't born yet..
My Dad's cousin owned a farm on Ryer, so my first experience was in the 50's as a little boy going to visit there and goofing around, including poking around in a john boat. Later on the yearly pheasant and goose hunts, which leads to my best early memory. I'm about 13, my dog and I were working along the levee, up comes a nice cock pheasant,, BOOM.. and off he glides over the levee. Dog goes running up the levee and starts barking, All of a sudden , the pheasant comes cart wheeling back through the air and the dog catches it like a piece of steak. All I hear from the other side of the levee is "nice pheasant! nice catch!".
Ever since then, when boating through Delta ever since, I keep waiting for a pheasant to come over the levee so I can return the favor.

George
 
George,

Funny how the little things stick in your memory, and are always ready to bring you back in time. Hey, nice boat! WOW!!
Jim
 
This whole thread brought to mind maybe why I love the delta so much. When my brother and I were very small 4-5 years old we spent hours in the summer, underneath a giant china berry tree here in Fresno, digging a maze of canals in the dirt. We had rivers, lakes, bridges made out of pieces of wood and small boats (sticks really, we called boats)and we would slowly fill up this maze with water from the hose until all the lakes and rivers were full of water. We floated boats on them and put little plastic soldiers in all of it like a battle ground. Great fun when you are little. Actually, absent the soldiers, the delta is not too much different that what we did....lots of rivers, old bridges, wood floating around and occasionally a bit smelly.

DBH
 
I moved here from Arizona in 1997 - one of the reasons was for boating. While I was originally planning on the Bay, a friend convinced me the Delta was a better idea. After touring the Delta and looking at more boats that I can remember, we chose Antioch for our marina.

I bought a '97 Regal 292 in San Francisco and cruised it up to Antioch after the deal was closed. Everything went smoothly until we got to Antioch, where I realized that I did not have the foggiest idea how to ease it into a slip. All I will say is that after a mighty struggle, there was no permanent damage to my boat, other boats, or the marina. But somehow, I got the boat stern in to the slip.

And now, I swear I have problems docking when there is zero wind!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top