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| 'The Delta is a great place for sailing toys' |
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| 'The mud is as much fun as the sailing - native mud worshippers get religion' |
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| 'A Delta Sailstice raft up was home base for fun' |
Sarah Arndt:
I still remember my first year celebrating Summer Sailstice at Angel Island . My family and a few friends got together and had a barbeque. It has changed a lot since that first year. This year I was forced to wake up early Saturday and morning and get out on the Bay. Although, it was rather early for my sleepy self I was grateful for being awake when we got out on the water. It was gorgeous! As my family and I made are way over to Treasure Island to celebrate we participated in a SF Bay scavenger hunt, using our camera to document the “treasures”. We took pictures of certain landmarks, always with the wooden spoon of course! I also loved seeing all the boats start to appear on the bay as the day progressed. Around midday the water was covered in sailboats! The Treasure Island Sailing Center put on a fun-filled party Saturday night, and for most participants that was the end of celebrating the Sailstice.
But for my family it was only the beginning. Sunday morning was another early morning, but morning, I discovered, is one of the most beautiful times of day to sail. My family and I took our Ranger 33 for a 30 mile spinnaker run all the way to Benecia. The wind was perfect and the “kite” carried us along well. We met up with our friends on their boats at Benecia and the week of crazy kids, swimming and laughing began. Sunday was another long sail to Potato Slough and our boat was once again carried by the “kite” and created a perfect time for my sister Hannah and I to practice jibing the spinnaker. Later in the week, when the sloughs got narrower and we had to motor all of us kids got to be towed behind the boats on the multiple water toys we had packed for the trip.
There were inner tubes, surfboards and rafts covered with laughing kids, whether we were being towed or not there were kids on top of floating devices. My personal favorite stop was Georgiana Slough, where we were tucked in to a little spot along the river. Across the river, the shoreline was mud, perfect for covering ourselves in the slimy stuff and whipping it at other people. Even better, a magical trampoline appeared on the side of the river to jump and play on. The other side of the river even had a tree to jump off! When we were not in the water, all 9 girls were working on a dance we had created to perform on the “stage”.
The anchorage we stopped at in Georgiana was right against a tall riverbank, the parents all watched us perform from the boats as we danced on land. The Delta is mainly farmland so it was super cool that we got to have a tour of a pear farm! I look forward to the Delta every year and this year did not disappoint me. The week started off with sailing for the Sailstice and the sailing continued throughout the week, creating many fun filled memories.
Hannah Arndt:
My Summer Sailstice started out at the Treasure Island Sailing Center with morning of sailing around the bay and an evening of food, partying, and fun. But that was not the end of our Summer Sailstice Celebration, for me the fun of the Sailstice lasted a week. My family, me, and four other boats traveled up the Delta for a total of 9 days.
Lucky for me, there were nine kids, and all of them were girls! My favorite part was getting covered in mud at our favorite spot; Georgiana Slough. There was also a tree that somebody had tacked a board too, leaving a perfect spot for jumping into the water. Another thing that kept all the girls busy was our dances: we had split into two groups and we were each making up our dances that we preformed for the parents. Though the sloughs got skinnier and skinnier so eventually we couldn’t sail, on the first day and second days we had our spinnaker up the entire sail! I also liked stopping at a few places like Walnut Grove, Herman and Helens, or Benicia , were all nine kids would fill up on candy and ice cream!
One of the major pluses to the Delta is the water. Though it can sometimes be dirty, it is much warmer than the SF Bay, which is usually my only option for salt-water swimming. It seems like half the time we spend in the delta is spent in the water, swimming, jumping off rafts, sailing/capsizing our small boats, windsurfing, etc.
One of the very strange things about the delta is that the water is above the land. There are many levees that keep the water from flooding the crops and it is extremely weird to stand on top of the boats deck and look down and see land. The Delta is filled with farms and we got to go take a look at one of them, which sold Bartlett Pears. We got a little tour and it was really cool to see all the machinery!
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| 'Sailstice sailors and burgees cruise up the Delta' |
At some point the Delta gets so skinny you have to motor' |