Digging It in the Delta Ditch Run

If you ever had an itch to sail in a ditch, or if you ever hankered to sail next to a tanker, also include a chance for dance and even romance, well then, all righty!

The Stockton Sailing Club and Richmond Yacht Club team up each year for the Delta Ditch Run up the Sacramento River, from Point Molate to Stockton. Interestingly, this regatta started out as a feeder race to the South Tower Race. The South Tower regatta, June 14–15 this year, sends competitors down the river from Stockton, around the South Tower of the Golden Gate Bridge, and back up the Ditch to Stockton.

Ullman Sails provided a boatload of swag this year, and just about 100 vessels put their bows on the line to vie for the chance to take a dust collector home.

The cruisers took a two-hour head start and an allowance for a certain amount of motoring, but apparently, there was a little more in the sailing instructions that they either failed to understand, read, or remember. Now, any US Sailing official can tell you if ya wanna hide something from a sailor, put it in the sailing instructions: They will never find it there. Judging by the number of letters in the results rather than numbers, it appears this is true. Cleverly, the Idle Minds aboard Tim Callahan’s Catalina 38 were engrossed in the detailia and they were first on race day as they raced to their homeport at the Stockton Sailing Club. Chris Kramer proved that less is more in Sweet De and took Cruiser Division 2 as well as Cruiser overall.

This race requires some logistical strategy. Some folks simply sail their vessels to Stockton and leave them there for the season; others stage a truck and trailer. A few boats return down the river under their own steam on Sunday, some take a week. Benicia always seems to collect a few that think they can plow all the way back to the Bay in a day.

For the trailer gang, the Stockton Sailing Club has a cabal of dedicated volunteers who operate the single lift on Saturday night (sometimes into Sunday morning) and keep the stream of Moore 24s, Wabbits, Express 27s and the like flowing like a Christmas parade.

The SSC band kicks off when the first boat finishes, the rum punch flows like Niagara, and the ribs ‘n’ beans are not to be missed. This year (as is common for this regatta) saw a certain amount of carnage: at least three new members of the swim club, several groundings, and one less carbon spinnaker pole (ask me how I know). To be brief, the chase boats were busy, but no serious injuries were reported.

Local shipwright Rufus Sjoberg and his killer clowns aboard Rufless won by just shy of 15 minutes for the overall, again proving the Melges 24 is just pure sailing dynamite.

Who doesn’t like to see a trinity of women atop the class scoring highlights?

Congratulations go to Melinda Erkelens on her Moore 24 in the 38-boat-strong Moore division. and Julia Paxton in her Express 27, slaying nine other 27s. Lisa Wilson, maintaining a crew of 10 pirates aboard her Express 37 Spindrift V, represented the old-school racing warhorses, carrying away the booty in the Heavy 1 division.

Breakfast both Saturday and Sunday morning is provided, buses available for transportation options, and oh, yes, great Delta warm, windy sailing.

Complete results here. How was your run?