delta cruising

Fourth of July Fireworks and Doin's

• Antioch — The Fireworks Spectacular barge moves down the San Joaquin River from downtown Antioch to the Antioch Marina. Don't miss the hometown parade, classic car show, and other entertainment. Info, (925) 757-1800. • Benicia — Picnic in the Park with food and live music, 12-7 p.m., ending with a fireworks display. Info, (707) 745-9791. • Lodi — Start the day with a pancake breakfast, move on to an Americana festival, and end the day with a fireworks spectacular at Lodi Lake. Info, www.visitlodi.com. • Mandeville Tip — The massive Hilton Fireworks Extravaganza is now staged in honor of Barron Hilton, who passed away in 2004. This popular show attracts over 5,000 boats and is the largest boat-in event in the Delta. • Pittsburg — Fireworks are usually shot from either an offshore barge near the waterfront, or from shoreside. Info, (925) 432-7301. • Suisun City — A signature family event with great food, rock climbing, pony rides, arts & crafts, free live music, and 'Sky Concert' fireworks over the harbor, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m.. Info, www.suisun.com.

Other Doin's to Mark On Your Calendar

• June 6 — Al the Wop's Annual Chili CookOff in Locke. Chili and beer seem strangely at home in this tiny historic Chinese town. Starts at 11 a.m. Info, www.locketown.com. • June 19-21 — Whether you call 'em crawdads, crawfish or crayfish, these little bugs sure are tasty! Eat your fill at the wildly popular Isleton Crawdad Festival, www.crawdadfestival.org. • July 12-Aug. 27 — Suisun City's Sunday Waterfront Jazz Series. Concerts from 3-6 p.m. every Sunday on the Harbor Plaza. Info, (707) 421-7309 or www.suisun.com. • July 11 — Taste of the Delta. Wine and food from Delta restaurants and wineries, live and silent auctions, and live music. Held at KOA's Tower Park Resort in Lodi, 1-4 p.m. Info, www.tasteofthedelta.com.

• July 25-26 — On your way up to or back from the Delta, stop by the Benicia Fine Art, Wine and Jazz Festival. Info, (707) 745-9791. • July 26 — Courtland Pear Fair. If you like pears, you'll love all the pear-oriented food & drink. Info, www.pearfair.com. • Aug. 11 — Petaluma Waterfront Jazz Festival. Spend the day enjoying jazz and fine wine. Info, www.petalumachamber.com. • Sept. 12-13— Pittsburg Seafood Festival at Pittsburg Marina. Sample tasty treats from over 40 vendors while listening to live music. Info, www.pittsburgseafoodfestival.com. • Sept. 17-20 — Lodi Grape Festival & Harvest Fair. Celebrate everything grape as they've done since 1907. Info, www.grapefestival.com. • Sept. 19 — Delta Blues Festival, 12-7:30 p.m. on the Antioch waterfront, free. Great boatin venue! Info, www.deltabluesfestival.net. • October 3 — Suisun City Waterfront Festival at Harbor Plaza, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Info, www. suisun.com.

But the most important item to pack is your sense of adventure.

There are more ways to enjoy the Delta than there are pages in this magazine. You just have to get up there to discover them. And if you see a big raft-up of sailboats flying bright yellow burgees, c'mon over and say 'hi'. Who knows — next year you might be flying your own yellow burgee. — latitude/ladonna

WHAT'S DOIN' IN THE DELTA

Check out www.californiadelta.org for more on Delta events throughout the year.

OWL HARBOR MARINA

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HOME OF THE ANDREAS COVE YACHT CLUB • 30'-50' deep draft berths @$5.50 per foot • Dry and open storage • Extra wide berths for multihulls • Home of Club Rio Sailing School

Welcome Delta Doo Dah Sailors!

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email: tom@csmarine.com www.owlharbor.com 1550 W. TWITCHELL ISLAND RD. ISLETON, CA 95641

Peter Carr is a modern day vagabond. Even though he's 70 years old, he just keeps moving on. And ironically, for

LATITUDE/RICHARD

One if by land, two if by sea, Peter Carr may be 70 years old, but he likes to just keep adventuring.

that era. Barrows surprised everyone by coming back into money just a few years later. In fact, enough money to order a big powerboat from the famous Stephens Brothers yard in Stockton. He also bought the Six-Metre that had belonged to racing legend Briggs Cunningham. But even that wasn't enough. In '39, he went to the East Coast and bought the proper yacht Mañana, a 100ft John Alden schooner. After starting out for the Canal and the West Coast with her, Barrows learned that the Canal had been closed to yachts because of the war. Mañana ended up somewhere in South America, where she was sold. But Barrows wasn't to be denied his yachting fix. Later in '39 he acquired the 70-ft motorsailor that once belonged to Cliff Mallory, "the dean of yachting on the East Coast." After being taken over by the navy for World War II, she was lost on the rocks near Monterey. Long before the war, one of Barrows' two lovely daughters married Dr. Jessie Carr, who would eventually become the head of the San Francisco Health Department. Like his father-in-law, Dr. Carr was a sailing enthusiast. In '37, he built the first Farallon Clipper, which he christened Pattita II. He would own a man who grew up not liking sailing, her for 20 years, and in '46 she became he spends six months a year traveling the flagship of the St. Francis YC. Dr. around North America with and aboard Carr had two sons. The first was Larry, Kai Lani, his F-31 folding trimaran. Al- now 77, who was a very active racer in though he's no longer a kid, he's more the '60s and '70s with Lightning, a 57-ft into adventure than luxury. S&S design that was built by Stephens During his youth, Carr grew to dis- Brothers, and later the Swan 44 Bandit. like sailing as a result of overexposure. The other son was Peter Carr, Larry's A little family history will help explain younger brother. why. Carr's grandfather was Stanley Bar- "I was born in San Francisco," says rows, who moved out to the West Coast Peter, "and because both my father and from Chicago and, according to Northern grandfather were big sailors, I had to go California yachting historian R.C. Keefe, sailing way more often than I wanted to. was very much "a mystery man." Bar- In fact, it seemed like every weekend. I rows made a lot of money, lost a lot of was seven when my dad launched Patmoney, then made a lot of money again. tita, and he and his friends would take But nobody could figure out how or why. me out with them. And when they raced, According to Keefe, in 1930, at the height they raced hard. In all the years he sailed of the Depression — "and it was a real on the windy Bay — he didn't sail outside depression, the Gate — he not what we're never reefed. having now" "Because both my father and grand- Not once! — Barrows purchased the father were sailors, I had to go There were times we'd be 66-ft ketch sailing more often than I wanted." knocked over Dragoon. This so far that the was a big deal, water would because the economy was so far down pour down the companionway and into the toilet that there wasn't much yacht- the cabin. But he still wouldn't reef. But ing going on. But by '36 Barrows was he eventually added some lead ingots to broke, and was forced to sell Dragoon the bilge to keep from rounding up so to Ronald Coleman, a famous actor of often." Sailors were a heartier breed back in the '30s, '40s and '50s, not having all the comforts we have today. "All I had to wear when my dad used to drag me out sailing every weekend was a T-shirt and a pair of pants," Carr remembers. "And since I was just a kid, I'd often end up on the cockpit cabin sole, with the rest of the crew's legs over my head. I have many memories of lying in that cockpit, half-filled with water, soaked and freezing to death. When we got back to the dock, we'd change our clothes and put our wet clothes in the sail drying room, have dinner at the club, then go home. Then we'd do it the next weekend and the next weekend and the next weekend." When Peter was finally old enough to leave home, he moved inland. "I'd watched a lot of cowboy movies during my youth, and it looked like a great life to me. So like my friend Barry Stephens, of the famed Stephens Bros. yard, who would later own the famous Rhodes 55 Rowena, I went to northeast California

LATITUDE/RICHARD

Sandy and Peter aboard 'Kai Lani' in La Paz in early April. They were each singlehanding up in British Columbia when they met.

and bought a ranch. Barry and I had some fun times up there. He was a wild guy. He used to ride his mule into the bar in Haden and get into fights just for the fun of it. But he was a great guy." Carr quickly learned that the cowboy life wasn't as it was portrayed in the movies, and that he couldn't make any money raising cows. "So I started buying beat up ranches in Sutter and Butte counties," he remembers. "Back in the early '60s you could buy 200 acres on a trout stream for $25,000. I fixed up my first ranch property and sold it nine months later for twice what I'd paid for it. Then I got into almonds and stuff like that."

The funny thing about kids who hate sailing because their parents drag them out on the water every weekend is that many of them later develop a strong desire to go sailing again. Peter was one of these. "At age 35, I really started to want to have a boat of my own, but I couldn't afford one. I had to settle for reading about sailing in Latitude 38. But I eventually managed to buy a Hobie 16, and a few years later I moved up to a Hobie 18. But the big change in my life came in the early '91, when I bought the F-27 folding trimaran Trust Me."

Beginning in '91, Carr started trailering his F-27 to Mexico for six weeks in the winter. In fact, he's sailed in the Sea of Cortez almost every winter for the last 18 years. When the six weeks were over, he'd trailer the tri home, work for awhile, then trailer Trust Me somewhere for the month of July. Many times it was to the waters of British Columbia. "I know every nook and cranny up there."

Another big milestone in his life occurred in '98, as he retired, and turned to what he calls the "gypsy life" full-time. Before long, Susan, then Peter's wife, grew tired of all the travelling and they separated. But Peter got into the life even deeper. In order to keeping traveling when he wasn't sailing, he plunked down $120,000 for a 35-ft RV "with all the trimmings." Originally, he was going to tow the F-27 with the RV, but that turned out not to be practical. "I figured I would use the RV for two years, by which time I would have had my fill," he says. "But I've still got it, and she's now got 120,000 miles on her. It works out that I travel almost all the time, about six months of it with my boat, and about six months of it with my RV."

"It doesn't have to be an expensive way of life if you don't spend money on things you don't need," Carr maintains. "Over the years, I figure I've pulled my trimarans — he now owns the F-31 Kai Lani — tens of thousands of miles. "I tow my current boat with a Tahoe pickup, and get about eight miles to the gallon. But if you're towing a boat to use the boat somewhere for months, I've found that gas just isn't that big an expense. And in all these miles, I've only stayed in a motel three nights. I usually stay in a Wal-Mart parking lot, or pay $20 for a space in an RV park, or just pull off the side of the road. In Alaska, Canada and many other rural places, you can just pull off the road and nobody cares. The only incident I ever had was in the mountains of Mexico. I heard a noise and thought it was my ladyfriend getting

This F-31 is Chuck and Elaine VanderBoom's 'Boomerang', a near sistership to Carr's 'Kai Lani'.