ISSUE 1—2019 Inside this issue: Commodore’s Report 1 Dispatch from the Delta 3 PICYA Report 4 Current News of the Around the Bay 8 Northern California Fleet of the Classic Yacht Association Upcoming Events 11 Commodore’s Report-by Scott Andrews Ahoy members of the Stephen’s yachts, to be Northern California available for viewing at CYA Fleet! Rusty’s dock. Unfortu- It is my pleasure to nately, the needed re- serve this year as NC pairs and the govern- Fleet Commodore. As ment shutdown kept many of you know, I the Walnut Grove was recently relieved as bridge over the Geor- the 2018 Commodore gianna Slough closed, of the National CYA. so the group went out Since 2019 was the to view them on Geor- NCCYA fleet’s turn to gianna from the levee. host the CYA Change While many of the NC of Watch, we had two Fleet are familiar with separate events: The seeing our boats on NC Fleet Change of rivers, most of the out Watch, chaired by Ber- of town members were not, and found this to nadette Sweeney was Scott Andrews taking over as Commodore from Gerry Kamilos held at the Marin Yacht Club in November. Many of us honored Jim Sweeney by be a special treat! Fri- attending in formal attire! The Marin Yacht Club is al- day evening the group ways a great place for an event, and while the attendance enjoyed a wonderful was lower than expected, the food and company were cocktail reception at great! the historic Sutter Club, across the street THE CLASSIC YACHT from the state Capi- ASSOCIATION IS The NCCYA change of watch committee (Gerry Kamilos, tol. And, Saturday DEDICATED TO THE Bill Wells, Alan Almquist Cynthia McMillen, Tom and evening we held the PROMOTION, Nancy Clothier and Jonathan Arambel) also put together change of watch cere- PRESERVATION, a fabulous CYA event in Sacramento. The early arrivals mony and dinner at RESTORATION AND visited the Haggin Museum in Stockton, and were treated the Delta King float- MAINTENANCE OF FINE to a delightful luncheon at the historic riverfront home of ing hotel. The at- OLD PLEASURE CRAFT fleet member Rusty Arieas. Rusty, and William Parker had arranged for Miss 102 and Merganser, both pristine Continued on page 2 Commodore’s Report—continued from page 1 tendees all enjoyed discovering the delightful city of Sacramento, including a river cruise Saturday afternoon. One of my goals this year as Commodore is to en- ergize our cruising activities. As part of that, we have developed a fun and interesting cruising cal- endar for 2019. A first this year is a cruise-in to the San Francisco Yacht Club. David Cobb and Mel Owen have arranged a great agenda, and we are looking forward to a fine event. We cannot bring MAKOTO to that event since Susan will be graduat- ing with her Dr. of Education from U.C. Davis (!), but we as you can! plan to attend and stay at the lovely Tiburon Inn. I en- courage others who cannot attend by boat to do the same. As many of you know several NCCYA members are also members at Grindstone Joe’s. We had scheduled a cruise- In another first, Rear in at the island for May, but Commodore Rob due to some facilities renova- Sesar and I have set up tion work, this cruise will a mid-delta cruise in probably be moved to the August at the Pittsburg summer, or early fall. Grind- Yacht Club. They are stone’s was not the only place holding their casino in the delta undergoing some night on Saturday change. A major fire at Tower 8/17, so bring your Park marina destroyed a large best game! Kim Korth boathouse, and along with it has arranged a cruise-in took out West Coast Canvas. at Oxbow Marina in Curt at WCC had just recent- October, which is al- ly completed a really nice roll- ways a delightful time up shade for MAKOTO’s slip in the Delta. At this Makoto—owned by Scott Andrews and Susan Takami at Oxbow Marina. He tells us he event a few years ago, we had record visitor turnout. We will rebuild, and we are looking are also planning to attend the Stockton Classic Boat and forward to seeing his fine craftsmanship on more of MA- Car show in September, and the always fun Classics at the KOTO’s upholstery. I had the good fortune to engage Del- Corinthian. The calendar for these events is elsewhere in ta Boat Works as a newsletter advertiser following a mag- this newsletter, so plan to attend as many of these events nificent hull paint job they did on MAKOTO. Delta has two marine elevators, which are a godsend for our old boats. They also have very skilled staff with experience working on wooden boats. They took their time on MAKOTO, and her 90 year-old hull now looks virtually brand new! Our advertisers make the newsletter possi- ble, and I encourage everyone to patronize them, and let them know you are a CYA member. Wishing you all fair winds and calm seas in 2019. Page 2 Dispatch from the Delta — by Bill Wells Here we are well into another year. So far we have had me about running out of fuel in the Stockton Channel plenty of rain and a good snowpack which should help and finding a gallon of gasoline in a Briggs & Stratton flush many of the pesky invasive plants from the Delta portable pump aboard, enough to get a mile or so down- this season. In the Delta we are disheartened to see our stream to Stephens Landing where they got Theo to bring new governor is still planning to divert the Sacramento out five gallons and were able to make back to Lost Isle. River around the Delta. Hopefully he will work with us Bill said the Corliss engine had four Model T carburetors. and see the damage this plan would cause to the entire watershed. We have been fighting the water war for 12+ I gave a lot of material to Hal Schell, mostly old charts, years since Arnold Schwarzenegger declared it when he maps, and photos but unfortunately when he crossed over was governor. I was hoping for a break but it looks like the bar his collection of memorabilia disappeared. Since I it will go on. have been with the Delta Chambers and Yachtsman Mag- azine I have amassed my own col- When I was at the recent PI- lection of ephemera that folks have CYA awards dinner I met Ron sent me, sometimes anonymously. Young of the St. Francis Yacht I will use this along with my own Club. He is the recipient of the personal photos for the event in Lloyd Ryland Yachting Histori- late February. The Spaulding Ma- an of the Year Trophy for 2019. rine Center in Sausalito has also He has fourteen years of experi- asked me to do a presentation, this ence as Chairman of the will be on March 20 with the same Wednesday Yachting Lunch- material. If it is well received at eons at the club and has pro- both places I will see if I can get my duced over 700 presentations. resident videographer Gene Beley to record it for online viewing. What I have discovered while He contacted me and asked if I working on this is that we could would do a PowerPoint presen- produce volumes of history about tation about the history of Delta boating over the years. Just yachting in the California Del- the history of the Northern Cali- ta. I agreed to do it and relied fornia Fleet of the CYA is fascinat- on some of the information I ing. have gathered over the years. Back when I was a young lad and was a salesman at Stockdale Vicki Likes, the Port Captain of Marine in Sacramento at times Bill and Sue Wells enjoying the CYA COW Banquet the San Joaquin Yacht Club con- we would have people give us tacted me and asked if the CYA old books, maps, and memorabilia. We would also col- would come to their opening day parade. We had a lot of lect items left on boats and even clean out a storage fun there during the Mimi Miller years. I put her in locker in an estate sale from time to time. touch with our Commodore for future reference. Mel Owen is a fountain of interesting material, especial- The Taste of the Delta will be August 3rd this year at Vil- ly about Grindstone Joe’s. I have also spoken with Bill lage West Marina in Stockton. We won’t be having an Conner, a friend and the former owner of Lost Isle official CYA cruise in but I can get discount tickets for from the days of the monkeys, goats, and peacocks any CYA member that wants to attend. It looks like the roaming the island. Bill told me fascinating tales of the Sausalito Yacht Club is having a cruise in at the marina old Corps of Engineers boat Suisun renamed Virginia S. that weekend so dock space might be somewhat tight. and was a live aboard for Tom Case and his wife for decades, first at McLeod Lake then at Lost Isle. Bill told Page 3 PICYA Report—by Jim and Bernadette Sweeney As the new year rolls in, the PICYA is now ramping up uled for March 16th at the Martinez Y.C. for work on its list of activities for 2019.