By Bill Wells
Reprinted at the request of Bill, first published in Bay & Delta Yachtsman Magazine
Fishing is Great
I have to tell you the fishing in the Delta lately has been great. I think it is because of all the rain this year keeping the rivers full. I met Dillon Pitts, Alex Chatoian, and Andrew Chatoian at Vieira’s Resort. They had just finished a day of fishing downstream on the Sacramento River. They had four nice striped bass to show for their efforts.
The folks at Snug Harbor have likewise been seeing some large stripers caught just offshore from the resort on Steamboat Slough. My man in Oakley, Chris Lauritzen of Lauritzen Yacht Harbor reports excellent fishing down that way too.
Diablo Sail & Power Squadron
Ox Bow Marina in Isleton was the destination for the Diablo Sail and Power Squadron on the weekend of May 14 & 15. I had been emailing back and forth with member Geoff Goselin for a while and he invited Sue and I to join them. Eight boats including a Hunter 340 sailboat made the trek from the Bethel Island area to enjoy the guest docks at Ox Bow. On Saturday the 14th they held a barbecue and games on the marina grassy area near the office. Sue and I arrived in the area just as things were winding down. Yacht broker Nina Ankele attended the lunch and told us that we missed a great meal.
The Diablo Sail & Power Squadron is one of 450 local squadrons of the United States Power Squadron (USPS). The organization started as a power boat squadron at the Boston Yacht Club about 1913. Later the USPS split off as a separate organization and today has about 45,000 members nationwide. Active members may fly the USPS flag in lieu of the yacht ensign or the U.S. flag in U.S. waters. The flag has 13 alternating vertical blue and white stripes with a red canton containing a circle of 13 stars surrounding a fouled anchor.
We took a walk out on the dock and met several of the members and got to look at some of their boats as well as talk to the crews. We met Ralph Price, Gary Smith, Pepper Wardle, and Les Johnson all Diablo members and former district officers of the USPS organization. Later, at 1800 hours we were invited to join the club for dinner at the Ox Bow clubhouse. After cocktails we enjoyed an excellent dinner prepared by squadron chef Mark Galbraith and his lovely wife Brenda. They cooked a large amount of mouth watering ribs and chicken as well as salad, rolls, and potatoes. For dessert we had cake and coffee.
We met Guy Schwartz the commander of the club. I inquired and they said the power squadrons have commanders instead of commodores as most yacht clubs. The Power Squadron is heavily involved in boater education and has many courses ranging from basic boat familiarity all the way to advanced navigation. The Diablo Sail & Power Squadron has been around since 1958 and invites all sailors and power boaters in the San Francisco Bay and Delta areas to join and participate in their activities.
Many people believe as I do that you can never have enough education and are constantly honing their skills as mariners. The USPS has courses and seminars covering almost every aspect of boating from reading a chart to weather forecasting and everything in between. Here is a way to get more education and hang out with some great folks at the same time. You can check out their website at: www.diablosquadron.org
A View to a Thrill
Hydro Dave Hernandez invited me to take a ride on his race boat. Hydro is one of the coolest people in the Delta, just having a name like Hydro Dave makes you stand out from the crowd. He was in Bethel Island for a few days helping his lady friend Cathy Whitlock do some work on her boat collection. It had been fairly windy for a few days but when I met Dave on a Friday at noon there was just a light breeze that barely stirred the water surface in Frank’s Tract.
I walked down to the dock and Dave and Cathy had just returned from a ride. I heard them coming from several hundred yards away thanks to the over the transom exhaust on Dave’s boat. He pulled close to the dock and killed the engine a few feet away and coasted right up to the pier. The boat has a Casile V-drive with a crash box type of transmission with forward and neutral and no clutch or reverse gear. In a race the engine is revved up to a few thousand rpm in neutral and then shoved into gear, naturally this causes a lot of wear on the moving parts. Dave leaves it in gear when he is not actually racing to save wear and tear on the unit. Dave said he had originally built the boat from a Brendella hull in 1979 and built the motor in 1989. The boat looks brand new and had a beautiful custom paint job that Dave created himself. If you have seen a few of Dave’s paint jobs you will recognize his distinctive style with scallops and symbols that are meaningful to him. Looking at one of Dave’s boats is like looking at a Van Gogh or Picasso painting. They are all different but you instantly recognize the artist by the style of the work.