El Toro to Stockton

65 miles in an 8-footer

Text and photos by Paul Kamen

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Every year when I drive my son and his boat from the Richmond Yacht Club to the Stockton Sailing Club for Sail Camp, I can’t help but think that driving 65 miles downwind with a perfectly good sailboat on the roof makes no sense at all. The ‘Toro is eight-feet-long and perfectly capable of making the trip on its own.

2010 was a Pacific Cup year, but I was recovering from eye surgery and not allowed to be away from the eye doctor for the two-weeks race to Hawaii. So...what to do that would be just as stupid and dangerous as sailing a small boat to Hawaii? Sail a much smaller boat to Stockton! I had the time off, and my son needed his boat delivered from Richmond to Stockton. He would age-out of the program next year, so this was my last chance.

The trip took five days. I carried all my camping gear and nearly all of my provisions on board, adding another 50 pounds to my 180-pounds of live ballast. No sag wagon! No shoreside support! But we did take advantage of restaurants and on-shore hospitality, when available.

For some of my cohorts in Bay Access, a local advocacy group instrumental in designating our local San Francisco Bay Water Trail, the motto is “bring paddle and plastic” because these are adventurers who unashamedly make good use of restaurants and hotel rooms on week-long kayak trips.

My son’s El Toro is an older Sailnetics self-rescuing model, with a custom carbon mast made from an old windsurfer mast. A single deep reef point was added to the sail. I carried an anchor, GPS, VHF, and a chart. Three dry-bags and a watertight box held all the camping gear, electronics and provisions.

To race an El Toro effectively, it’s usually necessary to keep one’s center of gravity over the midships thwart. It’s a bit of a contortion. But with all the heavy gear forward, there was no need to keep live weight centered over the thwart and I could spread out in a kind of transverse lounge chair configuration in the back of the boat. The camping ground pad and a boat cushion made the back part of the cockpit very comfortable for long periods of time.

One other boat sailed the entire route with me: A Contender (16-foot trapeze singlehander) sailed by 17-year-old Cal Sailing Club member Auric Horneman. We were joined by two sea kayakers at Martinez: Fran Sticha and Bo Barnes, both active in the Bay Access organization. Due to vastly different performance characteristics, the different boat types split up for each leg. But we were in frequent VHF contact and met for overnight and lunch stops.

Day One: Departure delayed from 8:00 AM to 9:00 due to the usual miscellaneous tasks piling up, including giving a weather-briefing to some Pac Cup racers starting that day.

A strong but typical San Francisco Bay sea breeze was already powered up by 9:00, so I left Richmond with the reefed main. Thanks to the deep reef it was easy sailing out into the Bay, around Pt. Richmond and the Richmond Long Wharf, with a nice boost from the flood tide. I cleared Red Rock at 10:00, Pt. San Pablo at 10:40.

But I ran out of flood tide off Pt. Pinole. Steep chop and adverse current made for a very slow rounding of Pt. Pinole in somewhat dicey conditions, but no problem beaching the boat on the east side of Pt. Pinole near the group campsite, arriving at 12:00.

Beach-to-park access is not great, but there is a path near the bathrooms close to the fishing pier, and another path south of the fallen trees on the beach. Auric and I were joined by Jim McGrath and Penny Wells, who had put their kayaks in at Ferry Point and Point San Pablo, and by Bo Barnes and Fran Sticha by road. Also Grant Bennet and family by road, just for the camping.

The park is the former site of the Atlas Dynamite Co., and the group campsite is hidden in a crater-like bunker. It’s surrealistic.

Elapsed time from Richmond YC to Pinole: 3:00.

Day Two: I departed before the other boats at 0730. The wind stronger and the water rougher than anticipated at that early hour, so the reef stayed in.

The waves did not smooth out until under the Carquinez Bridge, in stronger flood current, at 9:40. It was pleasant sailing from there to the Martinez Marina, arriving at 10:30. Good train-spotting too, as the Amtrak main line runs right along the south shore of San Pablo Bay. Saw the Coast Starlight and the Capitol Corridor trains. I kept the reef in for the whole day.

At Martinez, we easily found SSS Sea Witch, the Sea Scout boat on which we had been promised overnight accommodations. But I had not received expected text message with the combination to cabin lock. No problem: We hacked the combo (using the “one-up, one-down” method for each tumbler of the sesame lock) and made ourselves at home. (Note to everyone who uses sesame type locks: If you leave the combo with just one tumbler just one number off, I can get into your boat...)

The marina is a short walk to town so we had lunch at Mexican place at Main and Ferry. Then had a very nice dinner at a Japanese restaurant on Main.

Elapsed time Pinole to Martinez: 3:00.

Day Three: We could not depart ‘till 8:40, when the Harbormaster’s office opened so we could return marina key. Wind and waves were up, steep chop despite the strong flood tide. I went north of Roe Island to make sure I stayed clear of the restricted area off the Naval Weapons Depot, then between Roe and Ryer islands. There was good wave protection between the islands, but it was very rough otherwise—I would have used a deeper reef if available. My GPS ground speed (speed filter set to 30 second average, so this is honest ground speed) peaked at 6.0 several times. Auric capsized and turtled his Contender but recovered without assistance.

I stopped at the Pittsburg Marina for lunch on the dock, arriving at 11:40, and was joined by Auric and the kayakers. We mistakenly declined an offer from a friendly powerboat owner to give us a ride to town in case we needed anything. We didn’t need anything, but we probably could have leveraged overnight berth space on his boat if we had engaged.

Day two, leaving Pt. Pinole Regional Park astern. Delta wildlife. The old Southampton Shoal lighthouse is now a pricey private hotel on Tinsley Island. Bo, Paul, Fran, and Auric.

There is an important lesson here: When cruising in a very small boat, never decline logistic assistance from a much larger boat, even if you don’t really need it. The relationship will almost always add value; They love to hear your sea stories, and you might get a comfy cabin to sleep in instead of a ground pad on some guest dock.

After lunch we departed Pittsburg at 1:00 pm, still finding very rough conditions out in the river. 30-second average ground speed on the GPS hit 6.1 on one occasion. I will add that nearly all boasting about “top speed on the GPS” is an artifact of GPS scatter. If it’s not averaged over 30 seconds or more, it doesn’t count. Then again, I probably had 1.5 knots of favorable flood current. But current is a fair contribution to ground speed.

We arrived at the Antioch Marina at 1:40.

There was mo activity at this marina, gates locked preventing exit. (We did not know about Humphry’s guest dock just outside of the harbor.) We departed Antioch Marina at 2:25, sailed on to Bridge Marina, conditions still rough.

The highest wave crests barely touched the horizon as observed while sitting on a boat cushion and ground pad in the bottom of the ‘Toro, making the waves about 2.4 feet high. Big seas for an eight foot sailing dinghy. We arrived at Holiday Harbor at 3:05.

We entered Holiday Harbor by mistake, no tie-up available, and I bent my masthead wind indicator on overhanging covered powerboat berth roof. It was a difficult exit from harbor, upwind in narrow channel that was almost too narrow to tack out of, even for an El Toro. We sailed a very short distance around to Bridge Marina.

While tying up at Bridge Marina YC, the masthead wind indicator fell into the boat. I dropped the mast to straighten and re-install it.

Bridge Marina Yacht Club was closed, but some members arrived for a board meeting and we were allowed to use the bathroom. We slept on the Bridge Marina YC guest dock that night.

The next morning we discovered the public pier and public bathrooms at Antioch/Oakley Regional Shoreline on the upstream side of the bridge. Group camping by special arrangement with EBRPD may be possible, so now we know for next time.

Elapsed time Martinez to Bridge Harbor, Antioch: 4:20.

Day Four: Depart Bridge Marina YC at 08:30. Still windy but wave condition is better with reduced fetch. I’m still reefed. Conditions improve dramatically at the turn-off into False River at 10:45. It was easy and pleasant sailing in False River.

But then, while eating lunch and following the shore of Bethel Island, I took wrong turn into the slough on south side of Little Frank’s Tract instead of passing on the north side of the tract. It turns out that the map database, already installed in my handheld GPS when I bought it, did not go very far up the delta.

I attempted to cross part of Frank’s Tract to return to the slough on north side of Tract. I encountered very thick vegetation and light wind, and capsized in light air (less than 10 knots) while leaning over the stern attempting to clear weeds from the rudder. The boat righted easily, no water in dry bags, no significant gear or supplies lost, only one small bag of trail mix drifted out of reach. I was joined by Auric in his Conte

nder after a scheduled VHF communication.

I finally shook out the reef, tacked up the narrow channel at the northwest corner of Frank’s Tract to return to the intended route. After re-joining the ship channel, I beached bow-in against the tules to lower the mast and clear remaining vegetation from the masthead and straighten out the wind indicator once again. It was pleasant sailing with the full main to Tinsley Island, arriving at 3:05. We made the Tinsley West Dock at 3:30.

Tinsley Island is the up-river cruising station of the prestigious St. Francis Yacht Club, and it’s a totally different world from the rest of the Delta. Accommodations had been arranged for one person, but were graciously extended for our party of four. All of us were assigned to the small room with two bunks between the Laser garages, intended for the live-in sailing instructors working the Junior Program. This room is so narrow, the ladder for the upper bunk is on the opposite wall. Bo slept out on the grass next to some dinghies ‘till the sprinklers came on at 3:00 AM.

Elapsed time, Bridge Harbor to Tinsley: 6:35.

Day Five: Depart Tinsley at 10:20.

It was a short upwind sail in light air to Little Venice Island for lunch. The kayakers get there first and are initially turned away, but were invited back after presenting a gift certificate for “mooring and hookup” acquired by a friend at last year’s Latitude 38 “Delta Doo-Dah.” Little Venice Island is private, but group camping is possible with reservations and reasonable fees. It’s probably the best alternative to Tinsley for people who don’t have a St. Francis Yacht Club connection.

We depart Little Venice at 12:45, passed Tinsley Island at 1:05, then easy sail to Stockton in less than 10 knots wind and flood current. All four boats were now traveling together. But it was Saturday, and all hell breaks loose on the Delta. The slough was thick with very loud and much-too-fast powerboat traffic. We made a short rest stop at Acker Island, then arrived at the Stockton Sailing Club at 4:50.

Elapsed time, Tinsley to Stockton: 3:45.

Total elapsed time en route, RYC to SSC: 20:40.

No, I did not sail the boat back to Richmond, 65 miles upwind. •SCA•

Paul Kamen is a forensic naval architect specializing in small craft accident reconstruction, high speed powerboats and sailing-related casualties. He studied at Webb Institute of Naval Architecture and University of California at Berkeley, and prowls San Francisco Bay in his Merit 25 Twilight Zone.Length: 7 ft 11in

First appeared in issue #117

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The El Toro

Length: 7 ft 11in

Beam: 3 ft 10 in

Weight: 60 lb (hull only), 80 lb (all up)

Sail Area: 49 sq. ft. approx.

Hull: Wood or fiberglass

Spars: Wood, aluminum or carbon fiber

The El Toro was conceived in “bull sessions” at the Richmond Yacht Club in 1936, and has become a recognized class of over 11,000 one-design yachts. It is the most popular dinghy on San Francisco Bay.

More than fifty years ago a need was recognized for a small, inexpensive sailboat which could serve as a yacht tender and training craft. The El Toro design was based on the MacGregor Sabot plans which appeared in The Rudder magazine in 1939. Today, the class has allowed new materials to be used with a considerable improvement in performance. The sassy El Toro now has many of the go-fasts of larger yachts adapted for lighter loads and the small rig. New El Toros are not as inexpensive as they once were, but the original design considerations have remained. Today’s yachts are satisfactory tenders and sprightly racers. A wonderful feature of the Toro is that it may be sailed competitively by 50-pound juniors and 200-pound adults providing lifelong memories between parents and kids on the race course.

Junior sailing programs at yacht clubs and municipal sailing classes have developed many fine young El Toro captains. High-quality racing programs at the Richmond, Santa Cruz and Stockton yacht clubs have kept the interest of these young sailors. Often sailors move up to larger yachts and are frequently recognized as champions. Many return to the lively tactical sailing situations provided by El Toro racing. The fleet junior and senior series now compete at terrific venues that include Kaneohe, Clearlake, Pinecrest Lake, Richmond Yacht Club and Lake Merit.

From the El Toro website with contributions from:

John Pacholski jpacholski@sbcglobal.net

Kimberly Paternoster kim@wickedcode.com

Fred Paxton fpaxton@chemicalcompounding.com

Gordie Nash ggcnjr@gmail.com

More information at www.eltoroyra.org

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How to Cruise in a Very Small Boat

1) Engage with the locals, especially locals with big boats. If they offer a ride into town, say “yes!” Even if you don’t need anything. Your new friend might offer you an overnight berth in a comfortable yacht cabin, or an invite to share dinner.

2) Sea Scout “ships” are a great resource, but you’ll usually have to arrange for overnighting on board in advance. A modest contribution to their diesel fuel fund will make a big difference.

3) Use your plastic! Break up your rough nights and camp-stove meals with hotels and restaurants, especially if this is a cruise through an urban shoreline. Sometimes a hotel courtyard or parking lot is the best place to leave a small boat overnight on a sketchy waterfront.

4) Carry a fancy membership card. You can print it up yourself. To be honest about this, it should be for a real organization that you actually belong to, with some sort of boating activity in its mission. But this can be as informal as the “Pileworm Beach Sailing Club” with just you and a few friends as “members.” Some yacht clubs insist on seeing this card before opening their doors to cruising guests, especially if you’re not from very far away. But they usually don’t look at it too closely, and usually don’t check to see if the card actually represents a club with which they have a formal reciprocity agreement. (Note that as the distance from home increases, the hospitality of yacht clubs seems to increase in proportion, especially at the second-tier or “not-so-snooty” clubs. They will look at your boat, see your home port, and say “you came all the way from there, in that? Come on in...”)

5) You might need to rescue yourself from a capsize, swamping, hard grounding, or other perils of the sea. There’s no crash boat. You might need to douse sail quickly in a thunderstorm. A boat with a luff pocket sail and no halyard can be especially hazardous in open water when a squall hits. Take the Sunfish instead of the Laser.

6) Bring a marine VHF radio and cellphone. Not just for another layer of safety, but to coordinate lunch stops and check progress with other boats traveling with you. It’s harder than you might think to stay together, especially if the boats are of different types.

7) Consider stopping at community sailing, rowing and paddling clubs. Sometimes they can extend a lot of hospitality, sometimes this includes secure overnight storage or permission to camp at their facility. You won’t get much from them in advance, but when you show up unannounced, late in the day, they will often bend the rules for you.

8) Support your local water access advocacy group or Water Trail project. It will open doors everywhere. —PK