Delta Rat Scrapbook – by Bill Wells

Marina West Yacht Club

Susan Cordes, M.D., the Marina West Yacht Club Fleet Surgeon fills us in on their Independence Day Parade.

In honor of Independence Day, Marina West Yacht Club hosted a pancake breakfast and boat parade at Ox Bow Marina on July 6. The clubhouse was decked out in red, white and blue decorations, and club members made pancakes and sausage for the more than 150 attendees. All proceeds from the event were donated to the Stockton Animal Shelter. Shelter personnel were on site with playful, adoptable dogs, and there was lots of tail wagging and cuddling. In addition to monetary donations, attendees donated pet food, blankets, towels, toys and more.

After the breakfast, the boat parade commenced. The Sacramento County Sheriff’s boat led the parade past the Ox Bow homes and then down the Georgiana Slough to the Mokelumne River. Boats and watercraft of all sizes put on a patriotic display of decorations while homeowners and guests enjoyed viewing the parade and cheering for the boats.

Marina West Yacht Club would like to thank Stockton Animal Shelter and Hard Luck Animal Welfare Advocates for partnering for this event. Appreciation also goes out to all those who came out on a hot day to support the shelter and the community, and to Ox Bow Marina for supporting the event. The shelter is always in need of donations. Monetary donations can be made at hardluckawa.org, and items can be donated in person or through the Stockton Animal Shelter Amazon wish list.

Runabouts On The River Redux

This was such a great show, and last month, I was right up against my deadline to get it in. There was plenty more going on, so here is another take. If you have any interest at all in classic boats, you need to attend this annual gathering. This show in Stockton certainly rivals the Concours d’Elegance at Obexer’s Boat Company in Lake Tahoe, which is sponsored by the Tahoe Yacht Club.

It was a hot day, but that did not lessen the enthusiasm. The parking lot of the Stockton Sailing Club was packed and cars were parked along the curb a few hundred yards up the street. The Sailing Club is a great venue for this event since it is right off of I-5 and easy access to folks from all over California. The San Joaquin River running in front of the club is an added benefit for showing vessels underway and even an impromptu race at times.

It was a fiesta of classic cars and boats. You saw the cover of the August Yachtsman with the beautiful blue-decked Chris Craft. In the 1920s, Chris Craft was billed as the “World’s Largest Builder of All Mahogany Runabouts”; they were beautiful. After World War II there was a shortage of mahogany and they started building boats out of cedar and other woods that did not lend themselves to a varnish finish, so they painted the boats for a few years until the supply of mahogany stabilized. The painted boats are beautiful in their own right. The owner of this beauty is Kerry Scott, who also owns Vallejo Marine Craft at the Vallejo Marina.

Here are a few more photos from the day. The 1957 Lincoln Continental Mark II is in my opinion one of the most beautiful cars ever made. Here is one with a custom paint job. The wheel covers are made from individual pieces, each vane is separate and bolted to the wheel cover, a painstaking job to build. Well, the entire car was handmade, a piece of kinetic art.

Congressman Jim Costa

Rusty and Julie Areias held an event for Congressman Costa at Orchard Gables. Rusty and Jim served together in the state legislature back in the 1970s and have been friends ever since; indeed they still work on projects together. I have met Jim several times and he is a charming fellow with a good sense of humor. Once again John Carlo created a gourmet dinner. Vern and Jenise Vierra supplied plenty of their excellent St. Jorge wines for everyone to enjoy. Vern and Jenise, as I have mentioned before, have a classic Stephens yacht in their backyard pond. Rina Dimare, who I work with sometimes judging boat parades was also there. Rusty as you know is involved in restoring and maintaining several Stephens yachts.

After eating, Jim took the podium and gave an update on all that was going on in Washington. He represents California’s 21st Congressional District, which includes parts of Fresno and Tulare counties. His grandparents came from the Azores and after working on valley dairy farms, they acquired their own and Jim worked there when he was growing up.

My Yacht Lamp

Did I ever tell you the saga of how I acquired my Stephens boat 30+ years ago? It all started in 1992, I had some business in Stockton and stopped into the West Marine store there. I was browsing around and found this beautiful Weems & Plath oil lantern. You have seen them; they are called yacht lamps and are modified miners’ lamps with no open flame for safety reasons. They look like a piece of military equipment. They don’t put out a lot of light, but it is really cool to have one on your saloon table while you are sitting around telling sea stories at night. Maybe you are also enjoying a dram of rum or in Pat Carson’s case, a glass of Port.

Anyway, I bought the lamp, took it home and put it on my dining table. After a while, I thought I needed a boat to go with it, preferably a classic looking boat with a traditional interior. I saw one listed at Edgewater Yacht Sales in Sausalito, but when I called they said it had been sold. The salesman Ted McKownve told me about another one they had so I drove down, took a look, and was interested. It took me a couple of months to decide, and my manager at work told me to quit talking about buying a boat and either buy one or not, but quit talking about it. So, on a rainy day in January of 1993, I stuffed my pockets with hundred-dollar bills and went back to Edgewater, and we made a deal acceptable to me and the owner. I did not even have to use all my hundred-dollar bills. I purchased a 36-foot 1937 Stephens Brothers with twin International Harvester gasoline engines. She was good looking; the previous owner was a furniture maker and the wood work looked great. Unfortunately, she was very hard to start and ran like crap. I have had some experience with older motors, so I went down with new spark plugs, ignition wiring harnesses, ignition points, condensers and distributor caps. After spending a day replacing all of those parts, she would start right up and run smoothly. I took her over to the fuel dock and filled her up with fresh gasoline and she ran even better. I assembled my crew: Max Tobias, and my cousins Gary Olson and Bill Tyson. Max’s daughter Peggy was my girlfriend when I was in college and she was in high school. She kindly drove us to Sausalito, arriving at the crack of dawn. We stopped for breakfast at a local café and got underway just as the sun was rising. The water was flat for the whole trip with nary a breath of wind. We caught the start of the flood tide and took off through Racoon Strait and up the river. We only had a couple of mishaps. As we were going through Suisun Bay the light fog took the colors out of our surroundings and I was following the buoys off to our starboard. It ended up that these were the green buoys and we were way out of the channel, I realized something was wrong when I saw birds standing in the water not too far from us. A quick course correction and we were back in the channel without running aground. Next, we made a fuel stop at Delta Marina in Rio Vista and I turned off the fuel to the motors. After refueling, we pulled away from the dock and the motors died about a minute later, when the carburetors went dry. Amazingly I figured out the problem in a few seconds, turned the fuel on and we were running again in a minute or two. We made it up to my homeport, Arrowhead Harbor with no further mishap.

So, that is the story of how I lit the cabin of my boat. Unfortunately, recently I dropped my precious lamp while I was cleaning it and broke the glass globe. They quit making this model a number of years ago and I have searched high and low for this particular part. Finally, I found an identical model online and took the glass out of it to replace mine. I saved the broken glass from my original lamp and superglued the pieces back together so, now I have a spare lamp for parts or until I can find another globe.

Independence Day

This has been a brutally hot summer; for Independence Day, we stayed home and tried to stay cool. The country club on the next block over from us put on a spectacular firework display rivaling the Mandeville festivities. We threw some hot dogs on the BBQ and enjoyed a cold drink or two. The hotline for the Delta Chambers received many calls from people inquiring about the Barron Hilton Mandeville display. Many were first timers that thought you could get there by car and many others that were venturing out from local marinas with no charts or navigational aids. I did not hear of any major mishaps luckily.

My seafaring reporter Daniel Witte, shared this report:

“Despite the heat, many boats showed up at Mandeville this year for the Fourth of July, including cabin cruisers and ski boats, along with the Sea Scouts aboard their boat Liberty and the retired Coast Guard tugboat named Bitt from Benicia. To refresh people’s memory, Bitt was built in 1965 and was number 13 of 15 of its style of tugboat. When I stopped by both the Sea Scout boat and Bitt, their crews remembered me from when I interviewed them in the past.

“The Sea Scouts still have the same captain, Jim West, and Bitt’s owners, Jason and Taryn Logur, are doing well. The Logurs are really nice folks so it was nice seeing them again. With the heat, there weren’t as many boats as usual, but there was still a pretty good turnout. It was nice to see Al Kroeger was out for the weekend aboard his boat Fly Wright. This was my first trip to Mandeville aboard our new boat Blue Skies. We had two other boats tied to us including Jim and Susan France from Korth’s, and also their friends. Susan and Jim are great people that hope to eventually join the Sacramento Bayliner Club.

“There were lots of activities at Mandeville over the course of the week including water skiing and swimming. In fact, Susan got up on a wakeboard for the first time and was very proud of herself. It was really cool having someone else to wakeboard with since I have been wakeboarding by myself lately.

“I was lucky enough to visit Geoff and Janice Simcoe at their new Ox Bow Marina home and they invited me to be the first to go down their new water slide. It is 30 feet long and a good fast one. With the heat, they had to hose down the steps of the ladder before each person went to keep them from melting. Besides their slide, the Simcoe’s have a nice house on the water.

“On July 4, we stopped in at the Rusty Porthole for lunch. As usual, the food was great and we also got to see our relatives Kim and Rob Brunham. They are doing well and it was great to see them.

“As the day progressed, many more boats came in for the Hilton Firework Show. At 2030 hours the show commenced. There were plenty of good booms which made for good shock waves. This is the first year that the fireworks didn’t whistle before exploding like they usually do. For me, the whistle is always exciting because it adds suspense before the big boom.

“As summer changes to fall and winter, there are plenty more activities on the Delta, including parades and parties. There are always events for everyone, so come on out and enjoy the fun.”

An American In Paris

My daughter Kim and her girlfriends spent much of the summer in Europe. They headed to France first and spent some time in Paris to start. Then they rented a car and drove all over the country with visits to Reims, Vichy, St. Maxine, Nice and San Tropez. They managed to find many champagne tasting rooms during their travels. They had to stop at Grasse, naturally. It is the perfume manufacturing capital of the world. They also paid a visit to Monte Carlo when they were in the area. In San Tropez they checked out the yacht harbor and went kayaking. In one town they were staying in, they looked out the hotel window and saw the Olympic torch go past.

For the France part of the trip, Kim was accompanied by her friend Jessica. They drove back to Paris for a couple of days, and Jessica had to fly back to the U.S. Kim caught a plane to Pisa, Italy and met up with Mia, her college roommate, whose husband is Italian. They cruised around the country and made a side trip to Sardinia, which Kim says is very beautiful, with some great beaches and more yacht harbors.

Kim says that everywhere she went in the Mediterranean the water was amazingly clear, like Hawaii at its best. Well, she is back now and ready to go again, standby.

Hal Schell Award

Once again it was time for the annual Hal Schell Award to be given to a person “who in their efforts continues to better the Delta.” We met for the Delta Chambers July mixer at Village West Marina & Resort. Tim Fontaine and the resort staff put together a great party. Food was provided by Garlic Brothers Restaurant and drinks were served by the Windmill Cove catering truck. It was a hot afternoon, but a tent kept the sun off of the attendees and Tim had strategically placed some industrial grade fans that did an excellent job supplementing the slight breeze out on the point.

After some other recognition and announcements, there was an award from the Delta Chambers to Colleen Kamerer for her many years of service as the recording secretary. Finally, Ty took the stage and, after listing some of her vast accomplishments during her life in the Delta, awarded Vickie Baumann the Hal Schell Award. Just in a nutshell, Vickie and Jim Baumann owned and operated Delta Marina and the excellent Point Waterfront Restaurant for many year. Then Vickie managed Willow Berm Marina before she went to work at Village West Marina & Resort when the Pellarin brothers purchased it. She helped them turn the marina into a world class resort. Vickie is truly a hero of the Delta, and she recognized her husband, Jim Baumann, for all the work he has done to better the Delta, too. Well, I am confident that the two of them will be in the region helping the community for many years to come.

Half Moon Bay

We decided to escape the heat up on the plains of Sacramento. My wife’s birthday is in July and I told her I would grant her one wish. Her wish was to go somewhere cool so we piled into the Jeep and headed for Half Moon Bay. It was amazing. The temperature was around 105 degrees in the valley and even as we got to San Francisco Bay it was around 100. As we started across the peninsula and crossed Silver Springs Reservoir, it started to get comfortable and by the time we arrived at Half Moon Bay it was 58 degrees. We got out of the car and inhaled the cool sea breeze, and after a few minutes we were compelled to put on jackets.

There is no shortage of excellent restaurants in the area, and we were famished after the drive; we headed to Sam’s Chowder House, an acclaimed restaurant all over the Bay Area. You can tell that this must be a fabulous restaurant as you approach. The large parking lot was packed with cars. We were lurking around, looking for a spot to open up. Both sides of the highway were packed with cars for maybe 200 yards in each direction. In an amazing stroke of luck, when we pulled into the lot there was a space just waving at me to enter and park. Sue had called to try to make a reservation and they said they were not taking any more reservations, but if we came in, we could get on the waiting list. Once on the list, we enjoyed a drink at the bar and met another couple that had driven all the way from Healdsburg to celebrate a birthday. The bartender, JT, has worked there for fifteen years. She has a great personality and kept everyone’s glasses full. We only had to wait about fifteen minutes until our table was ready.

Sue went all out and had a whole lobster with a starter cup of clam chowder. She says the meal was excellent. I had the seafood spaghetti. It was clams, mussels, lobster and salmon mixed with spaghetti in a marinara sauce. It was excellent, too. My favorite clam chowder is the red, tomato-based kind (Manhattan style), and Sam’s is one of the few places that serves it. Mine was delicious. I had a couple of glasses of Pinot Noir and we both had some fresh French bread to go with our meal.

The next morning, we went into downtown Half Moon Bay, and after a hearty breakfast of omelets, coffee, bacon, and toast, we wandered around the eclectic little shops. Each one is unique, and they have a lot of local arts and crafts for sale. After we had our fill of walking, we drove down to Pillar Point Harbor to watch the boats. It was a calm day, and most of the fishing boats seemed to be tied at their moorings.

This is a great harbor protected by two breakwaters. Although there are many commercial fishing boats there, they also welcome yachts. The harbor is a cruise destination for Delta area boats. The Ketch Restaurant is open again and serving great meals. Even Sam’s Chowder House is within walking distance of the harbor.

Locke

“Traces of our Roots” is a sound art walk that weaves together field recordings, music, poetry and soulful anecdotes from Locke artists and those who spent years in the historical landmark town of Locke. As we age, our memories trick us; some bad ones turn good, some obsessional ones fade away, and the greatest moments transform into bittersweet ones. We can’t argue too much over the sound of bees, the wind through bamboo, or a poem or tune that achieves greatness. In ‘Traces of our Roots,’ the artist Angie Eng creates a tapestry of sounds from nine months of field recordings, interviews, poetry and music from the historic town of Locke. This event should be a lot of fun, try to attend if you can.

Don’t miss the ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 21, at 1030 hours to 1100 hours at the Locke Boarding House Museum, 13916 Main Street, Locke. Opening Reception Sept 21, 1800 hours to 2000 hours at 1265 Main Street, Locke. Pop-up Exhibition Sept. 21-22, 1100 hours – 1800 hours at 1265 Main Street.

Eight Bells

Kerry Ramon Davis was born on Oct. 13, 1956 to James Davis of Alabama and Bessie Mae Davis (Colvin) of Louisiana at Letterman Hospital in San Francisco, CA. Kerry was an only child. His dad used to tell him, “He gave him everything he had.”

Kerry attended Lafayette Elementary, Presidio Jr. High and George Washington High School in San Francisco. During his high school years, he was a member of Junior Achievement and the Sea Scouts. After graduating from high school in 1974, he attended San Francisco City College, where he played football.

In 1976, Kerry and his best friend Anthony McPherson joined the U. S. Marines. While in the Marines, Kerry was promoted to Lance Corporal. He was a Rifle Expert, a Helo Mechanic and earned a Good Conduct Medal. Kerry received the Meritorious Mast which is awarded to enlisted personnel when personal performance is commendable beyond the usual requirements. Once he became a Marine, he was always a Marine. He always thanked veterans for their service, and when they wanted to “talk” he gave them the chance to do so. If he knew a person had served in the U.S. Marines, it was always “Semper Fi, Hoorah”!!

In 1982, Kerry joined the Ironworkers Union. In 1983 he was hired on to the Golden Gate Bridge project and then hired as a journeyman in 1984. After 32 years he retired in 2016. He remained a member of Ironworkers Union 377 in good standing till his passing. Throughout his career he received numerous awards for his outstanding performance.

Kerry was a loving and giving person. If anyone needed help with anything (a ride somewhere, help with relocating or just needed a HUG) he was there. He especially loved playing with his children and coaching them in various sports. He was also the ultimate gentleman. He opened doors for ladies, drove the car, carried the groceries and did the heavy lifting. Even though he was allergic to them, he loved his dogs including Tikka, Fred, Aria and Maggie.

Kerry loved to skate and ride his bike all over San Francisco. He loved cars and would see a car on the road and tell you the make, model and year. He loved to fish and to ride the Delta on Ms. Pankee Dee. Kerry was also known for his musical abilities (he could always name that tune). Kerry played numerous instruments, but his favorite was the trombone. He was a faithful and active member of the Ebony Boat Club. Kerry played with David Hardiman’s Big Band, Amnesia, 5.0, and the Legends of Motown.

Kerry was fortunate to have three loves in his life: his soulmate and lifetime partner Fabian, his second wife Aleta and his first wife Dawn. Kerry is survived by his four children, Tatum, Lindsay, Shea, Austin, his three stepchildren Ben, Justin and Amanda, his twelve grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Kerry also leaves behind his cousin Leonard Colvin of San Francisco with whom he shared a very close relationship, and a host of many other family and friends… All of whom will miss him dearly.

Thanks to Carol Whitehead of the Ebony Boat Club for this input.

Irish Pennants

John Paval has completed his journey east to west on Route 66; starting in Chicago and ending in Santa Monica. He even got a certificate for his accomplishment. I followed him on social media, it looks like it was mostly a culinary journey. He stopped at many famous and a few infamous spots along the way.

The Stockton Historical Maritime Museum has received a $950,000 grant from the Sacramento/San Joaquin Delta Conservancy. This will help bring the minesweeper USS Lucid to the downtown Stockton Waterfront and open her as a floating museum.

A lot of people have put a vast amount of effort into this project. Museum Commodore David Raj-kovich and Vice Commodore Don Reinhart have devoted their lives to this for the last decade and more. This will be a great addition to the Stockton Waterfront and should attract many visitors.

The Coast Guard has announced that they are discontinuing charts 18661 and 18662: “no new editions will be published.” These two charts cover most of the Delta. There are many more charts of the local area that are being discontinued also. I am a person that likes paper charts, I have a pretty good collection going back 50+ years since I lived in Hawaii. They are good to be able to show your crew the big picture of where you are headed to. I have a couple of copies of the Yachtsman Northern California Chart Book that I use to help me plan out a route or to refresh my memory about a local hazard. I think these booklets will still be available from Recreation Publications, check elsewhere in the magazine where to order.

The Rio Vista Bridge is still undergoing repairs; the Coast Guard advises: “Continuing rehabilitation of the bridge will require an advance notice from vessels for openings. Therefore, the lift span of the bridge will open on signal if at least 4-hour notice is given to the drawtender at 707-374-2134. For further information contact the Coast Guard Bridge Office at 510-437-3516 or D11Bridges@uscg.mil.” (The vertical clearance of the bridge is eighteen feet at high water.)

July 21 (Sue’s Birthday) was reportedly the hottest day ever recorded on the planet Earth. Lake Tahoe had its second-highest surface temperature recorded from the middle of the lake in the last 25 years on July 22, 75.7 degrees. The highest surface temperature at the lake in the last 25 years was on July 24, 2006, at 77.9 degrees. I remember Mimi Culbertson and me swimming in the lake when we were children. It was so cold we thought we would shake apart when we got out.

Contact me at 916-869-9141 or commodorewells@msn.com if you have anything to share or just want to talk about boats and the Delta.