Boating – June 2019

88 | BOATINGMAG.COM | JUNE 2019

sitting awkwardly like
fi sh out of water, left
for passersby to won-
der how they got there
and why. A couple of
miles south, we cruised
around Tinsley Island,
which if you didn’t know
about it, you’d pass right

by. Surrounded by lush

growth, there are only

two entrances into the

lagoon that encircles the

island and moors boats.

A satellite station of San

Francisco’s St. Fran-

cis Yacht Club, Tinsley

Island hosts members

year-round, whether

they cruise up from the

Bay itself or keep a boat

at a nearby marina. As

we made our way out

of the lagoon and back

onto the San Joaquin

River, we came upon

the biggest of the Delta’s

boats—a 738-foot ocean

freighter making its

way toward the Port

of Stockton. There is

something unbelievably

awkward about being

in a 21-foot wakeboat

next to a globe-trotting

monster in a slough

that is narrower than

the freighter is long, but

that’s also part of being

on the Delta and what

makes it so diff erent.

PAST, PRESENT,

FUTURE

The next morning, we

pulled the Centurion out

and trailered it north 20

miles to Walnut Grove,

one of the Delta’s more

historic areas, located

centrally on the Sacra-

mento River. Much of

the Delta exists thanks

in large part to the work

of Chinese immigrants

who, at the turn of the

TO A GLOBE-TROTTING

MONSTER IN A SLOUGH

THAT IS NARROWER THAN

THE FREIGHTER IS LONG,

BUT THAT’S ALSO PART

OF BEING ON THE DELTA

AND WHAT MAKES IT

SO DIFFERENT.