Runabout Reflections
What a treat is was to attend this first A.C.B.S. event of the year and finally have the weather cooperate. Has anyone noticed that we have enough water for boating this year? Even the non West System boat bottoms never had a chance to dry out this winter.
Lee and Sandy Chase organized the "Spring Fling" A.C.B.S. event with a nautical theme in a venue where we could park our cars and walk to all of the activities. The Monterey Peninsula is one of my favorite vacation spots and Cannery Row was the focus of our interest. The Otter Inn was our base of operations, which is located only two blocks from the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf and The Maritime Museum of Monterey.
Many of the fifty two members and guests arrived early on Friday and had a pleasant time walking around Cannery Row on their own. I always visit the Chocolate Factory for a treat for myself and a gift for my elderly mama back home in Marin County. Saturday morning dawned clear and bright and we all gathered in the court yard of the Otter Inn for a wonderful fresh fruit and sweet roll breakfast.
This was a fine time to renew old friendships and meet new boat enthusiasts. I think that the opportunity to meet people was greatly enhanced because of all of the activities that were organized for us by Lee and Sandy. People seemed to circulate around and as far as I could tell, no one was left out of the fun. And fun is what we had!
Saturday at 10:00 am, we all met at the Monterey Bay Aquarium for a private back stage tour of this marvelous facility. Mimi and I have been to the aquarium a number of times but this time was very special because of the information that was provided by our guide and the areas of the facility that we were able to visit.
Some of my personal highlights were being able to watch orphaned Sea Otter pups being cared for by scuba divers. These pups require 24-hour a day care until they are teenagers, at which time they are exposed to the open ocean adjacent to the aquarium and eventually released when they are able to fend for themselves. We watched one pup learning to eat a live crab, something a person never thinks about.
We also visited the aquarium's special exhibit, Poison Creatures of the Sea. Here you had the chance to see all of the creepy crawly animals that you would want to avoid. They were fascinating though and I enjoyed looking at them until I discovered that one of the creatures, a Cone Snail, which I had collected when we were on a sailing trip to Fiji in the South Pacific, was "deadly poisonous," according to the information posted on the display! Ignorance is bliss.
In the afternoon we were treated to a visit and lecture at the Maritime Museum of Monterey at Fisherman's Wharf. Donna Penwell, Director Museum, gave us a brief history of the museum and then explained her interest in our organization. As collectors of antique mahogany boats, we have a strong connection with maritime history that we rarely think about.
Ms. Penwell would like to enlist our cooperation in contributing information and artifacts to the museum, as well as occasionally displaying our boats there. Her suggestion was to arrange for a couple of our boats to be displayed in the lobby during the automobile Concourse D'Elegance at Pebble Beach. Cars would also be displayed in the parking lot in front of the museum. Lee Chase and Paul Mehus graciously offered to display their boats.
As far as the Maritime Museum is concerned, the consensus of opinion was that it was a jewel of a museum. My favorite display was the working lighthouse beacon from Point Sur. The Frisnell Lens and mechanical mechanism were marvelous to see close up. The ship models were exquisite!
Saturday night we all gathered at the Sardine Factory for a banquet in the Captain's Room. What a colorful Victorian setting with a maritime theme. The food was great and at a reasonable price too. Everyone appeared to enjoy the affair and each other. After dinner many of us went out on the town in Cannery Row to absorb some of the Stienbeck flavor. There are some real character places that recall some of the long history and color of this district.
Mimi and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing all of you and talking about our plans for this boating year. I was fortunate to meet a new friend, Dick Hartung, who is an avid sailor as well as a runabout boat owner. Sailing is also a passion of mine. Dick and I subsequently went sailing on San Francisco Bay onboard his 36 ft. Sabre sloop. I love the diversity of interests and backgrounds that people bring to this wonderful hobby.
This was a great first event of the wooden boating year. Thanks again Lee and Sandy for the fine planning and organization.
Somehow in all my fifty plus years of boating in California, I have never cruised the Sacramento Delta -- what a mistake! The October 16th, 1994 "Tinsley Island Cruise" has convinced me that this region is a boater's paradise (or a maze if you are not paying attention to a detailed chart as I was when we were planing along smoothly behind a line of gleaming mahogany runabouts).
Twenty four boats were launched by sixty eight enthusiastic owners and friends at B & W Marina, Isleton, CA, which is where our evening get togethers were held and where about half of the participants stayed during this event. B & W Marina Resort is an immaculately maintained established facility on the bank of the Mokelumne River.
Our Friday evening pot-luck dinner was festive and friendly, except for the "nosee'ms" and mosquitoes. All of the boats survived the night alone at their slips and everyone was ready to go by about 9:30 am, after a briefing on our cruising route by Bruce Sevier, our "experienced river guide." We were all given maps of the area, which everyone promptly stowed away when it became evident that all you had to do was follow the line of beautiful boats ahead of you.
The weather was "fair, shirt sleeve" and the water courses were flat and glassy. What a fantastic and dreamy experience it was for us to purr along serpentine sloughs behind such beautiful boats. We sure made waves for the hundreds of Stripped Bass fishermen in other boats and along the banks that morning! We also got lots of waves (hand) and "high" signs from them in return.
Then there was one memorable moment when Bruce made a 180 degree turn and headed back to a river "intersection," turned right and led us around a small island and the back down the same river along which we had been traveling. We thought that he was either trying to disorient us or give us the opportunity to wave three times to the same raft of fishermen that were anchored off the island!
We finally, and happily, arrived at tranquil and lush Tinsley Island, where we tied up along one single long dock in parade dress style. Years ago when my parents were active boaters with the Marin Yacht Club, they visited Tinsley Island as guests of St. Francis Yacht Club, and I recall their enthusiasm about this oasis in the Delta -- they were right! We picnicked, took walks, played volley ball (my team won) and of course talked boats. I discovered that my Chris-Craft Capri could use a higher pitch prop than the high altitude Lake Tahoe one that it now has -- accelerates like hell though! All of the boats seemed to run perfectly that morning.
The following awards were presented at the Tinsley Island picnic:
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Following the Awards Ceremony, many of us left for a short cruise down to Lost Island, a marina resort right out of a Third World Nation island in the Caribbean -- palm trees, sandy beach, thatched huts (bars) and abandoned machinery rusting in the sun!
Most of us anchored off the beach with a stern anchor and bow land line, only to find that on the other side of the island, just beyond the palm trees, was a first class marina with lots of empty slips -- good mooring practice though I guess. Mimi and I were the last to leave for home that late afternoon because we helped other members cast off their lines.
Of course I couldn't find the map that Bruce had given us, so we decided to motor sort of northwest, the general direction from which we thought we had come. All of the branches in the sloughs look pretty much alike, so it was not long before we were sure that we were lost. After forging on for some time until we were nearing "E" on our gas gauge and the sun was nearing the horizon, we stopped and stood up on the deck of our yacht to see if we could pick out a landmark beyond the ever present levees. Ah ha!, Tower Park's water tower, a structure that we passed earlier that day was on the north horizon.
Unfortunately, it was another matter of "not being able to get there from here," without abandoning our boat and walking across the farm lands in between. After some backtracking, we finally found a slough that led us to Tower Park, where we were able to buy gas and continue our voyage back to B & W. We motored into the marina at dusk and were the last ones "home" (no award for getting lost this time).
The next morning about half of our fleet motored out again into the maze of some 1,500 miles of interesting waterways that make up the Delta. Misty performed just great that weekend, which is more than I can say for my tow vehicle. A rear wheel bearing failed just as I was leaving our home for the weekend, which delayed us for half a day, and the carburetor float needle stuck open Saturday night in Rio Vista where Mimi and I were staying.
I had prepared my boat for the cruise and had left all of my tools in the boat at B & W Marina, so I was forced to borrow tools from anyone who had them. I was graciously helped out by a group of ten motorcyclists who were staying at our motel -- a neat bunch of folks from Bakersfield, CA. The Delta has many fans.
Thanks to Anne & Don Veihmeyer for planning this wonderful weekend! We enjoyed the people, their boats and the boating . I for one have my name in for a cabin at B & W Marina for next October 6-7, 1995. I understand that Anne is working hard to make next year's Delta Cruise an even better boat outing.