"Delta Story "
by Dan Cole     12/30/07

   Before writing anything about my first trip to the delta, I think it's important for me to mention exactly how much hype I'd heard about this place. In my two seasons with the Lake Isabella Trailer Trash Windsurfing Association, I'd made countless happy hour comments on how much I enjoy windsurfing at Isabella. Almost without fail, some other wind junkie would interject something to the effect of "just wait until you sail the delta."

   So I did some casual research and read a bit about it, and saw a few pictures online, enough to recognize all the shots in windsurfing magazine of the delta. So I figured it had to be pretty good, maybe even REALLY good. I was completely wrong. The delta totally kicks ass.

   The weekend before my trip a warming trend associated with high pressure inland snapped and the delta cooled about 12 degrees in as many hours. Winds went off on that Friday (July 6, if you were there you probably remember it), gusting over 40 mph. I was starting to get excited, especially after reading the NWS discussion page for Sacramento and finding something to the effect of "increasing onshore flow and deepening marine layer all week." I figured I might get to sail as small as 6.0 a lot.

   Wouldn't THAT be cool!

   Before leaving I loaded everything into my trailer. Well almost everything.

I've never even had that 4.7 out of the bag, let alone the 4.0 that I got with a board a last year. And that extra 430 mast that I was planning to sell, I've already got a 430 in my trailer, and I've never really needed it before, why would I need a second 430? It can stay at home. right? Well, thankfully I remembered the second rule of Wind Junkie and threw the extra mast, and the two napkin-sized sails into my car since my trailer (and bedroom if you know me) was already full of gear.

   I took my windsurfing trailer to a gig on Sunday afternoon and was on the road to the delta within three minutes of playing the last note.

   I rolled onto Sherman Island road just before dark, with a light wind coming up the river. Nothing to write home about, but hey, it was wind, and I had my 7.9 and a 110 liter slalom board - I thought about trying to talk Larry into a sunset session as I drove past Rio Viento. After parking at the Sign I hiked over to Rio Viento and found the windjunkies "camping" in a style that would make a glass of champagne in a trailer on the beach at Isabella look like roughing it. Couches, a grill, a big table. This place was CUSH.

   Before turning in that night I got Larry to agree to sail the dawn patrol with me the following morning, and Spennie gave me some advice on getting out of the river on an ebb tide.

   The breeze built through the night, and between the sound of the wind whipping the trees, and my excitement to sail in the morning I didn't sleep much. OK, truth be told, I never sleep well my first night back in the trailer, but that's another story. At 5:30 I got up, hiked to the top of the levy and found a very different scene from the night before. Big swells rolled up the river, and there were solid white caps all the way to the other shore. The wind looked pretty good, so I rigged a 6.0 and went back to the levy where I could see both the water and keep an eye on Larry's van so he couldn't escape to the cabana to slowly wake up before coming out to sail. Well, at 5:50 he still wasn't up and I was feeling antsy so I went back to my trailer and threw a 5.4 onto a mast just in case.

   Back on the levy, the wind seemed to back down a little bit. When Larry finally came out of his van and saw me standing on the levy, he might have had had the first indication of what the week would hold, but that's for him to say.

   Larry came up the levy, and I told him I was thinking about a 6.0 and Larry told me he thought that I was nuts. On his advice I grabbed my 5.4, my 95 liter freestyle board and hopped into the water.

   There were lots of first in that session - my first time being overpowered on a 5.4, my first all-down-wind session on the ebb, my first time in big ramps, and the first dings in my new fin as I exited the river and got my sail caught in the ebbing river.

   The rest of the week was amazing. I sailed every ebb, and Larry was always ready for sailing with a little encouragement from "young guy". Some highlights of the week included an overpowered session on a 4.0, surfing swells on my 80 liter naish wave board, Spennie and my shared birthday party, Kevin's stand-up- paddle trip from the access to Rio Viento, Foster's big horn, Live Free or Die Hard, and a 30-mile flood tide upwinder with Spennie past the access and back to Rio Viento (next year I'll take slalom gear), and the great windjunkie hang / cookouts at the cabana.

   Many thanks to everyone at the delta that week, but especially Larry, Debi, Spennie, Kevin and Linda for the wonderful introduction to the delta. We're about to roll into a new year and I'm getting excited for another year of sailing. Gorge in '08.=