Letters – by Our Readers
Hi Pat,
In the Yachtsman Magazine for September 2022 a person by the name of JK (John) sent a letter explaining about his issues/repair of his refrigerator. I also have a refrigerator (wine fridge) I am having trouble finding someone to work on. Can you either provide me with JK’s contact info or send my contact info to him. I would really like to get the name of the repair person.
By the way, my wife and I enjoy the magazine all the time. There is so much going on out here on the Delta.
Thank you for your time.
Best Regards,
John Therault
John,
Thank you for being a loyal reader of the Bay & Delta Yachtsman. I have forwarded your contact information on to John and I am sure he will share the mechanic’s information with you. As most of the area boat owners know, these past few years have been extremely busy for all of the repair mechanics and finding one that has time available has been very difficult.
Hope that all works out well.
Pat
Hi Jackie,
I was reading about your anchor woes, I had to laugh. Before you think I am boorish, let me fill you in.
Ruth and I decided to explore a new area in the Delta and you wrote about Miner Slough where we have never been. We decided to head there for a look and a few days of anchoring out.
All was going well as we searched for a good spot to anchor. We saw this strange red buoy which worried us and decided it must be marking a hazard to be avoided. But there was plenty of water to go around it, so we did. We were heading to the bridge over Miner Slough when we decided to turn around and anchor on the southern stretch of Miner Slough. About a mile south of Arrowhead Marina we found some good trees for shade.
We anchored on the west side to get the most shade in the heat of the day. We deployed our main anchor as well as the stern anchor to keep us from spinning on the current change. We had a lovely time swimming, reading and going for walks on the west levy. It was a great addition to our cruising world.
When we finally had to depart, we could not get our stern anchor up. We pulled from the opposite direction, pulled from the side, nothing. So, we gave it more power and finally the rode parted after 40 minutes of trying everything we knew to do. We lost all the chain and a nice Danforth anchor (could have been worse, it could have been a spade anchor.)
So, I planned to write you and let you know about our anchor woes, but you beat me to it.
Now, I am reading in “Chapman Piloting and Seamanship” on how to rig a retrieval line for my new anchor. This is the first time I got so snagged with an anchor. I have to say the water was really moving and must of really dug that anchor in and under something.
I thought you might get a chuckle out of this too. Good luck getting a diver to bring your anchor up (it won’t be me.)
Our boat is ORION. She is an Island Gypsy, single engine trawler 1999 and has served us well.
All the best.
Rick Peterson
Senior Broker, Oceanic Yachts
Hi Rick,
Thank you for your letter. I really enjoyed reading it.
A few weeks ago a new friend got a bee in his bonnet, said, “You losing that anchor? That’s a real shame. We’re gonna go get that anchor!” So, three of us met up at Korth’s Marina, got in his zoom zoom boat and we headed out from there, around the corner into and up the San Joaquin.
It’s a long way from Korth’s to Miner Slough, but we were all happy campers. It was a beautiful day. It also got hotter. We motored up to Three Mile Slough, under the bridge there then up the Deep Water Channel of the Sacramento. Turned to starboard into Miner Slough. That’s such a pretty slough, huh?
Did we find the anchor? No. We looked and looked. Then, BUMP!
We ran over something and bent the propeller on the zoom zoom boat. For a while we were unhappy campers. It began to be a sad day. Then we exited Miner Slough at its other end and ended up at the top of Steamboat Slough where it meets the Old Sacramento.
We turned off the engine on the zoom zoom boat, jumped in the water, floated down the Old Sacramento alongside the floating zoom zoom boat with the ebb. Climbed up on the zoom zoom boat, talked boats, jumped back into the water. Rinse, repeat. Talk boats. Rinse, repeat. Talk boats. It became a wonderful day. We were happy campers again.
People who live in the Delta? You all may have those days often. For me? A sailor from the Bay where we wear long sleeves all year long? It was magical.
Back to the anchors: yours and mine? They are probably still down there. In fact, your anchor might have snagged on my anchor! Or else they were gobbled up by the Miner Slough Kracken sea monster.
Your story is a reminder to us all that maybe Miner Slough wants to remain anonymous. Fat chance. I can hardly wait for next year. I’ll just use a cheaper anchor, that’s all.
Regards,
Jackie
Hi Bill,
I was just reading your latest October article. It sounds like the Taste of the Delta was fun. I want to get there sometime. This year, unfortunately, that was the weekend my daughter was out and the only time she could do an anchor-out on the Delta with us (and with our two big labs, ours and hers, no way to run over and check it out.) I had to chuckle when you talked about mimosas. I like mine with champagne only 🙂
I’m glad you got to see Tinsley and Delta Yacht Club. Discovery Bay Yacht Club went to Tinsley a few years ago (they returned last year, but we couldn’t make that one.) It’s a neat place. And we’ve been to Delta Yacht Club once or twice a year since we joined the DBYC. We had Pete & JoAnn Sustarich to dinner last night, coincidentally. She’s a past commodore there and Pete is some level of staff commodore now. I didn’t know Moises was retiring! He’s been an essential part of that island. I wonder how they’ll replace him.
Good write-up on the water fraud. Grrr.
Jan
Jan McCleery, Author from the Duck Pond books (available on Amazon)
http://www.fromtheDuckPond.com
janmccleery@yahoo.com
Jan,
Thank you very much for the note. Yes, the Taste of the Delta was great; we had a lot of positive feedback. Karen Mann did an excellent job representing the Save the California Delta Alliance and educating people about the Department of Water Resources’ plan to destroy the Delta.
It will be interesting to see who replaces Moises at the Delta Yacht Club. Those will be some big shoes to fill. That place is like a garden.
We will have to meet at Bob’s some time and each enjoy a straight champagne mimosa. Sue and Mike are invited too. Sue likes hers with orange juice only so it works pretty well between us.
Bill
Hi Pat,
Thank you for the very nice write up and acknowledgement of Gary’s life and passing. What a great guy. He will be sorely missed.
I appreciated the story you told. It optimizes Gary’s commitment to take care of his clients. Luckily Twin Rivers carries on.
Sincerely,
Rick Peterson
Senior Broker, Oceanic Yachts
Rick,
His loss has been felt by many of us and there is no replacing him.
Fair winds Gary.
Best regards,
Pat
Hello Jackie,
I enjoyed your article in the September 2022 issue of Bay & Delta Yachtsman. However, I am having problems trying to follow your route on my charts. Is it possible for you if you have the time, to simply write out directions to your final anchoring location? I would be coming from Stockton. Thank you ever so much.
Bob Read
Dear Mr. Read,
I am happy to give you directions to “my final anchoring location,” as you refer to it. It certainly was my anchor’s final location, but I am quite sure that submerged tree has dragged it waaaaay up or down Miner Slough by now.
I will be delighted if you are able to recover it. That anchor deserves a good home, maybe with someone who will not abandon it in the wilds of the Delta.
You don’t say whether you have a power or sailboat, nor if it is a GoFast boat or a RealSlow boat like mine. Regardless, here’s how I got to Miner Slough:
Pass Korth’s Marina to port, go under the Mokelumne Bridge, maybe stop off at B&W Resort, sit at the counter, swivel on the vinyl seat there and order up a soft serve. Vanilla, chocolate or mixed vanilla/chocolate. Turn to port just around the corner, continue on Georgiana Slough all the way and under two more bridges: the Tyler Island Bridge and the Georgiana Bridge, and there you will be in Walnut Grove!
You can either go up the Sacramento River or down: your choice. Let’s say you go down. Maybe stop off in Isleton, tie up at the really nice public dock there. When you get to the Deep Water Channel, turn to starboard and follow the Deep Water Channel up to where your chart reads Prospect Slough off to port, Miner Slough to starboard.
Turn into Miner Slough, wave to all the fishing people who might ignore you, but that’s okay. You tried.
Arrowhead Marina is approximately six nm in and there’s a 90-degree turn in the slough to starboard. The bridge is a bit further. I anchored just west of the bridge and got dragged by the tree in a ripping ebb almost all the way to the marina.
I hope you didn’t think this was going to be easy.
The anchor? Well, we went back a week ago to look for the floating fender but couldn’t find it. Maybe you have it already? That would be great. Congratulations. Even if you didn’t find it and even if you haven’t gone yet, it’s a lovely ride and I wish you a fine adventure. Take care and thanks for the letter.
Jackie
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