Help: San Francisco + Sacramento River Delta area Info Needed

[jld]

Uncivilized,
I keep my boat in the Antioch city marina. The delta has been my cruising area for a few years now. I truly love it. When I first came to the delta I bought a small chart book of the bay and delta at WM. You will want the charts. It’s quite easy to find your self aground in the delta, and you always want to know what the tide is doing. You may want to consider towing insurance, it’s reasonable and the sailors all told me when I arrived there that running aground was a matter of when, not if. So far I have always gotten my self off.
Rio Vista is great. Walton’s boat yard is among the last of the yards that allow you to do your own work if you like. They are really nice people.
It’s not hard to find a place to drop your anchor in the delta. We do have what we call a sailing season from around the middle of may to sometime in Sept when you can count on the wind and it’s most often 15 to 25, and up around the wind surfers 25+. Hope this helps.

[Stu Jackson]

Yeah, a shame, convenient place for Potato Slough and ThreeRiver Reach anchorages.

I just "discovered" Cache Slough this summer. A half hour north and west of the Rio Vista bridge, some nice anchoring pools after traveling though some ugly rip rap up the ship channel. Once the ship channel turns north, it's nice.

Lost Slough (watch out for the overhead cables) is great and tree lined. Need to use the North Fork of the Moke to get there.

[UNCIVILIZED]

Guys, Wow! And thanks. I surely wasn't appreciating so much information, or spots in that neck of the woods to drop the hook. Sounds like a big enough place to explore that one could wander/sail around for months. I guess if I snag the boat in question, one of the first things to add/upgrade is the windlass & ground tackle... AKA "Rent for 6 Months".

jld, thanks for the towing insurance tip. I seem to recall reading something about that & that silly business of keels getting into real estate arguments YEARS ago in Latitude 38.

Time will tell whether said adventure comes to pass or not. Gotta' do some $ math, that, & I'm LONG overdue to (get back to) make up & live by 5-year Plans.
In the mean time, there's more than enough to do right in front of me. But thanks again to everyone who is & or has, contributed to my debauchery (not that I need a lotta' help in that regard ;-)

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

I just "discovered" Cache Slough this summer. A half hour north and west of the Rio Vista bridge, some nice anchoring pools after traveling though some ugly rip rap up the ship channel. Once the ship channel turns north, it's nice.

Nooooooooooo.

Gee Stu keep your voice down..

Cache Slough is horrible. the bugs, anchor eating snags, sea monsters and massive rip currents, strong winds, storm surge, space aliens, typhoons. Retched place. There's even a dragon or two there, or so I hear. Avoid it at all costs. Nothing to see there.

These aren't the droids your looking for....Move along.

[markpierce]

Petaluma and Napa are good visits: good restaurants and particularly for Petaluma, some historic sites. Just be sure to arrive and leave on high tides and stay in the middle of the channels. One can stay overnight in Petaluma for a fee (make an appointment for opening the D Street bridge), but the Napa dock is for day use (one can readily anchor a few miles south of Napa).

[markpierce]

Napa:



Petaluma:



D Street Bridge:

[nimblemotors]

Yes, avoid the SFBay! Stay away,
there are TaxxManites everywhere that can steal away all your worldly possessions. The 1000 miles of waterway in the Delta must be avoided.

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Nooooooooooo.

Gee Stu keep your voice down..

Cache Slough is horrible. the bugs, anchor eating snags, sea monsters and massive rip currents, strong winds, storm surge, space aliens, typhoons. Retched place. There's even a dragon or two there, or so I hear. Avoid it at all costs. Nothing to see there.

These aren't the droids your looking for....Move along.

[markpierce]

Yes, stay away if you don't want 12-month boating with mild weather.

[sailorchic34]

Originally Posted by markpierce

Yes, stay away if you don't want 12-month boating with mild weather.

Yes that mild weather is horrible stuff too. Though it can get cold in winter too. I've had ice on deck. I can say with some authority and anchoring in 35 degree weather leaves much to be desired.

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

Yes that mild weather is horrible stuff too. Though it can get cold in winter too. I've had ice on deck. I can say with some authority and anchoring in 35 degree weather leaves much to be desired.

Best stay away from Tasmania too!

Jim

[fjwiley1]

Awwww don't be so hard on the tourist......living here in Florida I love all tourist....it helps keep us a " No State Income Tax" state.... More money for me to spend on my old sailboat ..

Sailorchic you bein a Georgia girl, when are you comin back over to this side to the warm water....?

Life is good if you Keepa Smilin....


Sent from my iPhone using Cruisers Sailing Forum

[Stu Jackson]

And here's how you get to do your OWN research!

California Delta Chambers and Visitor's Bureau

[YourBOATDoctor]

The fun place is Korths Pirates Lair Marina--I had by Glassic GlasPly there. Are you buying the boat from a woman named Edie? She restores a bunch up there,

[Randyonr3]

Ya, I live in the delta, been here all my live, some of the info is off a bit, but there is plenty to do here..
And a little blip I wrote years ago for a local mag........
.................................................. .................................................. ..................
.LIFE ON THE GEORGINA SLOUGH..

It was a number of years ago when we were first introduced to the Georgina Slough, on the waters of the California Delta when visiting my brother at OxBow Marina. The Georgina meanders through the farm lands of the delta conecting the waters of the Sacramento River with those of the San Joaquin.
Over the years, we've traveled the slough, and spent a good number of days and nights anchored among over hanging trees and enjoying the water as it flows below us. The Georgina is in itself is a paradise with wildlife both in the water and on its banks, from fish and turtles to coyotes and otters, all living in this remote area of the California Delta.
A few years ago, while visiting family members, we opted to use OxBow Marina as a layover. Little did we know that OxBow would be the birthplace for our next venture and the home of our business, OxBow Canvas & Upholstery.
We've come and gone from this area, sailing to far away ports and exploring new places, but once again we find ourselves back where we once started, on that tree covered waterway in the heart of the California Delta.
Our plans are to leave here again, when the seasons change, on new adventures, visiting places and countries we've never seen before,
Crossing Oceans and following the trades, But I feel we'll always return to this paradise on the cross waters between the Sacramento and the San Joaquin, On The Water, On the Georgina.
.................................................. .................................................. ...................

There are thousands of miles of waterways here that will take you from Nature Reserves up the Moklumne River to the Bars of Old Sacramento. From the fishing area around Rio Vista, to Sailing the wide open area where the rivers merge at Pirates Lair or at Big Break, You'll see people living on the banks of the sloughs in the south area as well as towns built right up to the rivers edge like Walnut Grove, and the Historic Areas lie Loche, ... you'll find it all in the California Delta.........

At present we're on Brunos Island, On the Delta Loop, for the winter....

[Jim Cate]

G'Day all,

Reading through this thread caused me to think back on my years of sailing in the SF area. This was long before retirement... I raced and daysailed on the bay every weekend, year round and loved it. When I had a trailer sailor I had a couple of goes at the delta area and just didn't enjoy it much. Felt constricted, ran aground, no proper horizon vistas, and so on. With fixed keel yachts later on, it just didn't seem worth the trip up there when I had a few days or weeks off. On those occasions, I wanted to get out to sea and do some coastal cruising, and so I did... a number of trips to the Channel Islands and back. I had a great time, and just didn't consider the delta as a destination.

Now, with the perspective of many years of oceanic cruising, if I was to cruise into the SF area, I'd hightail it to the delta. I've had all the strong wind, cold water and air sailing that I need, and the few anchorages within the Bay proper would get boring pretty quickly. The "real sailing" prospects in the delta are not so great, but the ambiance and exploration possibilities are attractive to a seasoned cruiser.

Interesting how one's priorities change...

Cheers,

Jim