LightAirTIMES August 2007

Sailing Sherman Island By Chuck Markham

I have been going to Sherman Island in the Sacramento River Delta area for years. It offers warm fresh water and strong winds during the sailing season from May thru August. There is camping next to several sailing spots so you can leave sails rigged for your entire vacation.

The Sherman Island Sacramento County park is the most popular sailing site. It can handle the confident beginner learning to waterstart to the bump & jump advanced sailor. My most frequently used sails were 5.5 and 5.0. I sailed 90% of the days by bringing 4.0 to 7.0 sails with my 125, 101 and 85 liter boards. I use a short 2/1 wetsuit for the afternoon and a full 3/2 for the early morning or late evening. The wind usually blows hardest from early afternoon until midmorning the next day. Day pass: $4; annual pass: $40. Dry camping: $10/ day. Dry camping at Power Lines is free for members of Rio Vista Windsurfing Association and $25/week at The Sign. Camping is also available at the nearby Brannon Island State Park. Motels can be found in the nearest towns of Antioch and Rio Vista. Can you can sail 8-12 hours a day?

Tides are a factor in the main channel of the river. An ebb tide increases the river current which generally runs against the prevailing southwest wind. While this causes more chop for the bump and jump crowd, it also makes it easier to point up wind. A flood tide tends to flatten the water but makes upwind sailing more difficult because both the current and wind push the sailor upriver. When it is flooding, I use a larger sail. With an ebb current, I can go smaller.

I drive I-5 north to State 12 ( just north of Stockton). I turn left/west until State 160, I turn left/southwest until I turn right on Sherman Island Road. The Delta Windsurfing shop is on the right. The public road ends at the Sherman Island County Park after passing Power Lines, the Sign and the Access which are sailing sites maintained by the Rio Vista Windsurfing Association.

	Nine Days at Lopez by Dan Copper Another Terrific Vacation Wow! I'm not sure that says it all, but for me, that is what I think. My job doesn't give me a lot of time off without getting in serious trouble, so I have to blend a windsurfing trip with my son Dakota's summer with me. I'm not sure how fair it is to him, but he gets tons of vacations every year and I only get one, so windsurfing it is. Windsurfing destinations are pretty cool places anyway. As a new windsurfer, I haven't been to many places. Last year at Lopez Lake was the only place I have ever sailed except Hilton Point. This year, I have only added South Bay and the Bahia. But the point is that I got back to Lopez. Unlike San Diego, who has had a very weak Summer for wind, Lopez Lake is having a windy year, and I'm glad to be one who was there. My Lopez trip began in San Diego in an out of the ordinary fashion. We loaded up the motorhome, didn't forget too much, and we headed to Point Loma. I know it's a round about way to get started, but we slid a couple kayaks into the water, and with my friend, Sheila, Dakota and I paddled to Humphrey's By The Bay to see a concert (Dennis DeYoung played Styx music). It was awesome, we joined up with some other boats and made a small flotilla and watched the show. When the show was over, we paddled back, loaded up the kayaks, and left for Lopez about midnight. We made it to Lopez about 7:00 AM the next morning and took a four hour nap. At Lopez, I park the motorhome like I do at the Hilton, I get there early and park at the windsurfing site and go back to sleep. I love waking up and seeing whitecaps out the windows. We hooked up a Sony Play Station for my son which is his idea of a great vacation. After that I rigged my novice equipment. My first gear I bought from Peter Jones consisted of a beginners rig (7.5 M2 Ezzy Superlite, 25% carbon mast and inexpensive boom). That didn't carry me too far in San Diego, last year my most commonly used sail was a Gaastra 12.5 M2. Anyway, I rig my beginner rig as my regular rig at Lopez and I use my Hypersonic 125. For the life of me, I can't stay balanced on my Hypersonic unless I have some forward momentum, it sinks front to back, side to side, it doesn't care. It wants to turn into the wind terribly hard. People ask me how I like the board, I don't know any different except my GO board and my Formula, so I like it fine. It's just that I fall every time I jibe, at the beginning anyway
	Last year was a real awakening for me. I thought I was improving nicely in San Diego, with my big boards and all. Well, well, well! Try jibing a little board, one that sinks when you go slowly. Last year I made lots of improvement but the Hypersonic broke and I had to finish the vacation with my Go 180.	Amy and Donna out for a cruise at Lopez Lake photo by Don Ezernack
	This year, with my home made repairs on the Hypersonic, I got lots of use from the board. Like last year, I began the vacation wiping out at every turn (very apt description). By the end of that first day I was making about one of every four jibes. At least that gives me lots of practice water starting! The next day was windier and I rigged a 6.0 M2 Gaastra. What a great time I had. I felt an old pro at water starts. There were lots of people that I remembered from last year, People from the Central Coast Windsurfing Club and even met new people from San Diego. There was Jeff and a Jim from San Diego, whom I've never met before but are very nice. Like San Diego sailors, the windsurfers at Lopez were great fun to hang with. Jeff and Jane are the ones I remember best but there were Bob & Bob and so many others. Like all the Dave's in San Diego, there are half a zillion Bob's to the north. Peter Jones was there both weekends with Kate, Dave and Donna came up midweek, and Don and Amy arrived Friday at my last weekend (their vacation was cut short by Amy being hit by an out of control rig being carried by the wind from the beach almost to the picnic tables, she saw it coming in time to protect her bell from getting rung, but it stilled bowled her over like a truck. I felt bad about that, but all I could do was lend ice. Dave, Donna, Don, Amy, Dakota and myself had a great dinner the night before at F. McLintocks Restaurant, it was a great meal with good friends. My windsurfing skills really needed this vacation and on my third to last day, finally, and may never happen again, I made all my jibes in a session, except my last one. Now, I'm not saying they were pretty, but not falling goes a long way. The Camping was wonderful, Dakota and I went kayaking and biking also. We saw deer every single day, as well as wild turkeys and quail. The temperatures stayed moderate, the late nights were a little chilly, as was the water, but only just. I had nine straight days of sailing. One day I rigged a Neil Pryde 9.0 RS5 and with my Formula board I blasted for a few hours as the locals sat on the shore feeling skunked. My last day I tried again on my little yellow board (North Shore Maui 92 liter wave board) and I actually sailed it. I was a little under powered but I got it planing and pointed in the right direction and even made a few of the jibes. It was a blast, a great amount of fun, great company and terrific windsurfing. I already have reservations for next year July 10th through the 20th in the full hook up Eagle section. Any and all who think of going to Lopez, go there, we'll have a scheduled trip again next year the second and third weekend of July We made another late night trip to San Diego, missing Santa Barbara and Los Angeles traffic is quite a bonus. Instead of coming straight home we went by Mission Bay for a day and Yes, my son Dakota sailed and did quite well, and that pleases me too. Lopez Lake - photo by Dan Copper

	What do you sail? - photo by Dan Copper
	Sailing Sherman Island By Chuck Markham I have been going to Sherman Island in the Sacramento River Delta area for years. It offers warm fresh water and strong winds during the sailing season from May thru August. There is camping next to several sailing spots so you can leave sails rigged for your entire vacation. The Sherman Island Sacramento County park is the most popular sailing site. It can handle the confident beginner learning to waterstart to the bump & jump advanced sailor. My most frequently used sails were 5.5 and 5.0. I sailed 90% of the days by bringing 4.0 to 7.0 sails with my 125, 101 and 85 liter boards. I use a short 2/1 wetsuit for the afternoon and a full 3/2 for the early morning or late evening. The wind usually blows hardest from early afternoon until midmorning the next day. Day pass: $4; annual pass: $40. Dry camping: $10/ day. Dry camping at Power Lines is free for members of Rio Vista Windsurfing Association and $25/week at The Sign. Camping is also available at the nearby Brannon Island State Park. Motels can be found in the nearest towns of Antioch and Rio Vista. Can you can sail 8-12 hours a day? Tides are a factor in the main channel of the river. An ebb tide increases the river current which generally runs against the prevailing southwest wind. While this causes more chop for the bump and jump crowd, it also makes it easier to point up wind. A flood tide tends to flatten the water but makes upwind sailing more difficult because both the current and wind push the sailor upriver. When it is flooding, I use a larger sail. With an ebb current, I can go smaller. I drive I-5 north to State 12 ( just north of Stockton). I turn left/west until State 160, I turn left/southwest until I turn right on Sherman Island Road. The Delta Windsurfing shop is on the right. The public road ends at the Sherman Island County Park after passing Power Lines, the Sign and the Access which are sailing sites maintained by the Rio Vista Windsurfing Association.

	June Picnic by Dan Copper The picnics are a great idea and we all had a good time. As usual for this year, the sun wasn't out, and the wind was hiding, but there was still a lot of fun people. There were people I haven't seen since last year. Amy, Cynthia and Donna did a great job getting it together. Thanks Chuck, for collecting membership dues. Thanks all who joined this club. There was a scheduled formula race there that day and the race was postponed. The wind couldn't have been more than eight miles per hour, but there were still a bunch of formula racers out there showing that planing is possible in such mild conditions. We all look forward to the September picnic on the eighth at noon. Here are some pictures I took from the June picnic.

		Southwest Boardsports 1451-A Morena Blvd San Diego, CA 92110 Phone: (619) 276-4508 Email: pjones-swbs@sbcglobal.net
	Don’t forget that we have our own windsurfing guru. Peter Jones has the only windsurfing shop in San Diego. He can find you anything new and most for prices better than you can find elsewhere. He also has a large array of used equipment from boards and booms to sails and fins. Check out his shop, call first to get his business hours.