COLDER, BUT
86 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JUNE 2019Like many families
with a boating heritage,
the White family passes
its passion for the Del-
ta’s culture—along with
secret spots and local
knowledge—from gener-
ation to generation. Phil,
the patriarch, grew up in
Stockton, on the banks of
the Delta’s easternmost
sloughs. I met Phil’s twin
sons, Dave and Mark,
when we were freshmen
in high school. Like my-
self, they had learned to
water-ski and wakeboard
on the Delta, thanks todads who were intent on
passing along traditions.
We bonded over hours,
days, weeks and months
of watersports shenani-
gans aboard our families’
boats. Now, years later,
the brothers—and grand-
dad—are sharing thosesame bits of watersports
fun with the next gen-
eration. So, last fall we set
out to explore some more
of the Delta we grew up
on, intent to have fun
much like we did when
we were younger—but
now with two wives and
four kids in tow.
As the saying goes,
never judge a book by its
cover. Once you get into
some of the details of
the Delta, it quickly be-
comes an area full of op-
portunity, convenience
and even charm. From
a waterway standpoint,
the Delta stands unique
because it is one of the
only inverted river del-
tas in the world. Most
deltas are created when a
single river fans out over
a fl oodplain and drains
into a larger body of wa-
ter. The California Deltaconsists of two main riv-
ers coming together—
the Sacramento and San
Joaquin—spreading out
over a wider area before
fl owing through a single
strait into the San Fran-
cisco Bay. From a boater’s
standpoint, this means
between San Francisco
and Sacramento there
lies close to 1,000 miles
of navigable waterwaysCOLDER, BUT
THAT DIDN’T
COLDER, BUT
STOP EITHER
DAVE OR
MARK FROM
HAVING A
LOT OF FUN.