Delta Doo Dah Lucky 13 Kicks Off Tuesday

Already tired of the San Francisco fog, and it’s not even May yet? Latitude 38’s Delta Bureau recorded a high temperature of 93° yesterday! Delta Doo Dah regular Dave Cowell sails out of Owl Harbor Marina in Isleton. He took his Islander 30 Mas Tiempo out for a little overnight cruise on Wednesday evening. “Although winds were light, there was quite a flood tide. I ended up over at the Bedrooms on Potato Slough. To my surprise there wasn’t another boat in sight! Calm this morning, and I motored back to Owl Harbor.” Dave plans to sail in the Delta Ditch Run from Richmond Yacht Club to Stockton Sailing Club. “If only I can find a crew. Unlike last year, I hope to use the boat a bit this summer.”

May 4 Kickoff

We created the Delta Doo Dah with the idea of getting sailors to use their boats and to visit the usually uncrowded waterways and destinations in the sunny Delta. Delta Doo Dah Lucky 13 has been accepting free online entries since St. Patrick’s Day, but this year’s rally will kick off for real (but virtually) on Tuesday, May 4. That’s when we’ll host (via Zoom) our Kickoff event. (It will be up to each of you in your respective homes or boats to make it a ‘party’).

The main feature of the evening will be Craig and Ann Perez’s Delta Cruising Seminar. Members of Richmond YC (Craig was commodore in 2015), the Perezes have been cruising the Delta for 20 years with their Express 34 Marrakesh.

Seminar Topics

• Planning Your Departure
• Length of Cruise
• Stopovers and Anchorages
• Inflatables and Small Engines
• Shade
• Ladders
• Cooking and Refrigeration
• Batteries
• Waste Water and Storage
• Pets
• Sleeping
• Water Toys
• Itineraries

This seminar will be especially useful to first-timers, but we encourage everyone to participate. We always pick up new tips and ideas, and cruisers with experience will be invited to share morsels of knowledge with the fleet. There’ll be time for questions too. We’ll also talk more about this year’s plans.

Guest experts will be on hand, including Bill Wells, commodore of the Delta Chambers and Delta scribe for Bay & Delta Yachtsman. And, what would a Doo Dah Kickoff be without door prizes? You must ‘attend’ the Kickoff for a chance to win a prize.

The official event will take place from 6 to 9 p.m., but we’ll begin checking in Doo Dah’ers as early as 5:30. If you check in before the seminar portion begins, we’ll invite you to introduce yourself and say a bit about your boat and your plans. But join in whenever you can — we realize that there are people out there who actually have to drive home from a workplace in order to begin their evenings!

To be invited to the Kickoff and receive your Zoom link, sign up for the Delta Doo Dah at www.deltadoodah.com before noon on Tuesday. You’ll also find more details about the rally there. As of this morning, 67 boats had entered.