Oakland Yacht Club and the Delta

We arrived at the Oakland Yacht Club on Sunday August 12 after a great trip down from Drakes Bay. We sailed in fog until we reached Bonita Channel which is the inside route form the North to avoid the "Potato Patch Shoal" outside of the narrows of the Golden Gate. The fog lifted and by the time we got into the narrows heading for the bridge we put the sails up and we sailed under the Golden Gate and into San Francisco Harbour. It was fantastic. Sun shining, boats out sailing on the Bay, a big warship preceding us under the bridge, all the elements you expect. We sailed along the Presidio and then under the Oakland Bay Bridge and on into the estuary between Oakland and Alameda. A totally man-made area. 50 years ago it was a swamp, now full of marinas and shipping industry. We called the OYC and managed to get a place to tie up. They are in the midst of planning a marina reconfiguration and space is a premium just now. We weren't there 5 minutes before this guy with an eye patch wanders over and says "Hi I'm Paul, and I understand your good friends with Derrick and Anthea, small ocean isn't it?" Well we had met Derrick and Anthea last year when they were around Van Isle and Tsehum harbour getting ready to head down the coast. We had a great time with them and David and Linda off Toketie last year before they both left to head south. Derrick and Anthea stayed at the OYC for a couple of months and got to know the people quite well. They knew we were heading south so they gave their friends a heads up. Paul was quickly followed by Ivan and Cheryl off Thumbs Up. Paul's boat Xanadu and Thumbs Up are both planning to head for the Marquesas next year (Feb/March 08) so we will likely met up with them again. We had a wonderful 5 days at OYC. Everyone we met was extremely helpful and friendly. We were both pretty taken aback by the generosity of openness of everyone we met. We are trying to arrange to spend the better part of September there while I go back to work briefly. Friday we paid out small bill (typically offshore yachts get 5 nights free when they first arrive at OYC) and headed out and up into the Delta. More properly, we headed through San Francisco Bay, through San Pablo Bay and into the Carquinez Strait, through Suisan Bay and into the Sacramento River. We have Tarun in FRESH WATER. She is sitting a bit lower now but on the bright side, nothing will grow on the hull for a week or so. We picked a few brains while we were at the OYC and have a bit of a journey planned out. There are rivers and interconnecting sloughs that have been dredged out for ship traffic so you can wander around. Very flat with huge wind turbine farms (literally THOUSANDS of turbines). The ride up the rivers is great, wind at your back and typically current with you. We made it up in a day but it will take a couple of days to get back. We are in no rush!! We spent Friday night anchored just inside a place called Chain Island. It was windy and when wind and tide opposed it got a bit rocky for awhile. We will have to get used to a different style of anchorage now that we are out of BC. Today we went all of 6 miles and tucked in behind another island (Decker Island) in a narrow channel in 4 meters of water. Still windy but flat. A few other boats are at anchor here and fishing seems pretty popular. No license so I don't think I'll try my luck. We plan to spend a couple of days here and then tour a few other places before working our way back to San Francisco before labour day.

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