Smallest Entry Ever in Delta Doo Dah

Delta Doo Dah X (has it been 10 years already? No way!) had a ‘soft’ opening last week, and we invite you to sign up and sail to the California Delta this season. It’s free to register, and it’s a mostly do-it-yourself rally, so it’s totally flexible. We do organize some ‘official’ events, in order to help fleet members connect with one another. Those include participation in the Delta Ditch Run from Richmond Yacht Club to Stockton Sailing Club on June 2, a BBQ at Owl Harbor Marina on June 16, and, new this year, an overnight party at Bay View Boat Club’s site on Bradford Island the weekend of August 11-12.

Over the weekend, the smallest boat ever signed up. The 9-ft one-sail dinghy Oxalis is a roto-molded plastic Escape Solsa. (Oxalis, in case you’re not familiar with the word, is a wood sorrel. The leaves resemble clover leaves. A common species produces bright yellow flowers and runs wild in California in late winter and early spring. You may know it as ‘sourgrass’.)

Skipper Blake Wiers of San Francisco is planning to sail Oxalis to Sacramento or Stockton in May or June. "She’s a bit cramped for an overnight, but it can be done," he says. "I did some sailing up there last summer. I may or may not start from San Francisco; we’ll see. Last year I put in from Bethel Island and Antioch."

Blake wrote a sailing novel, Winter Sailor, which can be found on Amazon. We look forward to hearing about his sailing adventures this year, and reporting on them in Latitude 38.