2013 Jetski and Delta Boating Day
(8/18/2013)
2013 Jetski and Delta Boating Day(8/18/2013)
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On August 18th, 2013 Will MacDonald invited us along to Bethel Island, California ("the delta") to go boating. Below are a few pictures, click on any picture for the highest quality "original".
Below is the main point of the day for me, which is to ride a Jetski (ok, so it is technically a "WaveRunner") for the very first time. Below is me (Brian Wilson) on the Waverunner as we first go out to our main "camp base platform" for the day. Picture by Will MacDonald? I rented the wave runner for the day from "Delta Watercraft" which is located at 3025 Gateway Rd, Bethel Island, CA. I showed up at about 9:30am, the friendly guy (Jeff) gave me some instructions (5 minutes), and Jeff towed it over to the Bethel Harbor Marina (3 minute drive). The workers at the marina drop it in the water for you, and pull it out at the end of the day (the dock closes at 6pm, so be home by then!), you don't have to touch anything. A really nice experience, highly recommend it!
Another picture of me getting used to the waverunner. It is super fun, very maneuverable. Not like a motorcycle AT ALL in that you cannot counter steer. Instead, you muscle the steering in the direction you want to go and the waverunner is well designed to tip and shoot that direction perfectly.
Below is the "platform" we hang out on. Will's ski boat is tied up to the platform.
Below is a panorama of the floating dock platform we hang out on during the day when we're not out water skiing.
Same picture, zoomed back so you can see the surrounding delta atmosphere.
This is a map from my GPS of points where we spent the day. In the upper left is "Bethel Harbor" which is where we dropped the boat and jetski in the water, and in the lower right is the platform seen in these pictures.
Standing on the platform, a picture of the ski boat. Notice the various wakeboards and toys strapped to racks on the sides.
Below is the red jetski (Waverunner) I rented for the day from "Delta Watercraft". Friendly guys, they dropped it in the water for me, and after a bit of instruction let me rip around all day on it unsupervised. At the end of the day they pull it out of the water for you.
Here I'm taking Katherine Chung for a ride on the back of the WaveRunner. I'm missing my sunglasses at this point because I fell off the thing at one point (hey, I'm still learning!) and the sunglasses were lost to the delta. :-)
Kendall sitting on the wave runner about to go for a drive. Mitchell and Fiona watching.
Below is a picture of Lia MacDonald waterskiing.
A two minute long movie of dragging various things behind the ski boat, like the hydrofoil seat (the product is called an Air Chair). Click here for a very high quality QuickTime Version (probably will not play on a Windows computer)!
The picture below shows Kendall on the "Hydrofoil Chair" (Air Chair) towed behind the boat. When she goes fast enough, she rises up on the hydrofoil.
A close up of Kendall on the hydrofoil.
Will getting the hydrofoil chair (Air Chair) ready.
Will strapping Kendall into the hydrofoil chair (Air Chair).
Kendall and Mitchell on the jetski.
Dragging toys behind the ski boat.
An ultralight sea plane cruised on by.
On our lunch run to SugarBarge. From left to right is: Will MacDonald, Brian Musgrove (white hat), Kendall MacDonald, Fiona (barely visible), Lia MacDonald (pink hat), Mitchell (leaning forward with coke), Katherine Chung (facing away) and me (Brian Wilson).
Kendall just barely barely up on the hydrofoil (Air Chair) .
This is not for you! Stop reading! I'm old, I forget things, this helps me remember for next time.
That's it!