Sail - July 2018

San Francisco and the Delta provided some

enjoyable cruising during a two-week stopover

breeze, all of which contribute to make it a fairly rolly anchorage. As

compensation, the view is quite incredible; Sausalito, Alcatraz Island and

the Golden Gate Bridge are close by, with the San Francisco waterfront,

the Bay Bridge and Treasure Island in the background.

At er a week of sight-seeing in San Francisco we were satiated and

in need of a rest. One of the best ways to get away from it all in the Bay

Area is a cruise up “the Delta,” where the Sacramento and San Joachim

rivers drain into the northern end of San Francisco Bay forming a nest of

l at windswept islands and shallow muddy channels. With shit ing sand

bars and strong winds and tides, it helps to have some local knowledge.

We set of for a long weekend exploring the Delta, buddy-boating with

seasoned Bay sailors Sylvia and Barry on Iolani, a Hughes 48 yawl.

We anchored for the i rst night at China Camp, a cove on the

southwest side of San Pablo Bay that was settled by Chinese shrimp-

i shermen in the 1880s. Following the 1906 earthquake the population

swelled as residents from Chinatown l ed the devastation, but now the

settlement is uninhabited and is a national park. h e anchorage is shel-

tered from the strong tidal currents that sweep much of the Bay area,

but is exposed to the wind. During the night the breeze swung round

to the north, and in one particularly strong gust we dragged over 600t

before the anchor decided to reset. We were glad it was a wide shelf

with few other boats around!

Finding a balance between the wind and the tides for a passage up the

Sacramento River makes the dif erence between having a fantastic sail or

a slow bumpy ride. With a l ood tide and a 15 knot westerly wind we had

a fabulous sail through the Carquinez Strait and past the mouth of the

Napa River. We held our breath as we passed under the railway bridge

at Benicia (charted at 70t vertical clearance at HHW) and then entered

Suisun Bay where we sailed amongst the “mothball l eet,” a collection of

WWII warships that forms part of the National Defence Reserve Fleet.