There’s Always Excitement on the Delta Ditch Run

When we drove over the Richmond Bridge on Saturday morning for a sail out of Emeryville, we saw the fleet of Delta Ditch Run boats heading to Stockton in what looked like relatively benign conditions. And they were for much of the race, though that didn’t prevent some boats from finding some exciting moments along the way.

Despite the calm start and what looked like a comfortable ride down New York Slough, the Bay and Delta were up to their usual tricks, with blustery winds, puffs and shallows. Marcus Canestra returned to the Corinthian YC early with a broken mast on his Melges 20 Boomer. And Andrew Scott’s F-27 Papillon found a big puff that flipped the tri. Luckily, we understand the crew and boat are all OK.

Despite the fact that large tankers can make it all the way to Stockton just fine, sailboats in races tend to sail the edge to find the fastest way up there. Andy Schwenk’s new-to-him schooner Sir Edmund did the courteous thing and showed some competitors where the shallow spots were. They still managed to get second in class in Heavy 1 behind Craig Perez and his Express 34 Marrakesh.

We’ll share a more thorough report in the July issue. In the meantime, you can see the full results for the 94 boats that signed up for the 33rd annual Delta Ditch Run here.