Best Bay area wakeboarding spots?

Hi Everyone,

Just got my first boat about a month ago. I live Near San Mateo and my boat is stored in Redwood City. I'm looking for the best places to go. I've heard of the San Mateo Lagoon and of course the delta. Any advice on the best spots? I've only been out about 5 times, so I am pretty much a newbie and want to go somewhere low key where I won't get in anybody's way. The closer the better of course. Thanks in advance for your input!

I hear the Farallon Islands are not too busy this time of year, fairly close to San Mateo (25 miles or so)

dude, san mateo lagoon if you wanan flush your boat out everytime you use it. Go to lakes, Berryessa, Camanche, up in the Lodi Stockton area, nice weather, nice water, don pedro, new melones.

Craig,
Email me. I live in San Mateo, I'll clue you in to some tight spots in the area.
Alan Bogdanoff
www.awakesurf.com

Hi Alan - Sent you a mail - Thanks!

Mike - I don't think my boat (88 Mastercraft PS 190) will make it 30 miles out into the Pacific. Interesting though. I didn't even know those islands existed...

Corey - I'm not too excited about the salt water thing either. Any other good suggestions? Anything you can recommend in the Delta? How about Sonoma or Berryessa? I've never been to either.

Thanks!

It was all in good fun, I'm glad your not harshed out by it. That place has a very sorted past....Navy toxic waste dump in the 40's and 50's, smorgashboard for Great Whites feasting on the seals.... don't fall!!!
If you want a tour of the delta sometime just hit me up. Late

I'm in the north bay............Lake Sonoma, Clear Lake, Mendicino, Lake Berryessa

Craig, San Mateo lagoon is salt water and flush after each use. Not a problem if you live on the lagoon, but it is the closet spot you can get to. I would recommend San Luis Resevoir near Gilroy. Huge area and you don't need to make reservations like Anderson.

Drop me an email if you want to try out San Mateo Lagoon. All you need is your own equipment and my buddies usually chip in $10 a run for gas, we usually get 2 runs or $20. Cool.

Deltas the only way to go. Discovery Bay a little over an hour, hour and a half from u. Best conditions u can get.

berryessa is about a 2 to 2 1/2 hour drive up north to napa, the drive seems WAY shorter if you just blast some music. Scenery on the way up is nice, and hey, WINE TASTING? j/k, but berryessa gets breezy, real breezy, but when you are there on a good day, its like no wind and damn near 110 degrees, but over all, my favorite. lots of little coves that turn into big coves with nobody in them, you just gotta find them. choppy as crap in the middle of the lake when people who party to the bridge are coming back to camp to set up dinner. Overall, my favorite lake.

There are a lot of good areas around the bay, but the delta is hands down the best.

How about some specifics about the Delta? Best/closest places for me to launch where there won't be too many people?

Wilson - What about San Luis. That seems pretty close and pretty big. I heard it is pretty windy there? Is that true? Where is the best place to launch there? I noticed there are a few different reservoirs right there (Oniell forebay and Los Banos Reservoir). Which one is best?

Thanks again everyone!

San Luis does get windy at times which is why we call the weather service before heading out. We haven't run into a bad day yet, good size water and areas where it is pretty glassy. There is only one place to launch at San Luis. Hope that helps.

Chavez already mentioned a delta launch.....and at thirty bucks a launch, your sure to not have crowds. Try Orwood Resort, 3 miles North of Dizco and go under the pipelne....if you dare!!! remember the tide.....

Lake Merritt

Ummm as far as I know they don't let motor boats on Lake Merritt. Maybe you can rent one of the pedal boats and pedal real fast for me so I can wakeboard behind it?

I use to live on the lagoon and moved away because of the smell. We use to hit the delta and the launch we used was either Lazy M or Dells. Great water anytime near these launch ramps.

I can see Lake Merritt from my office window. Its glass most of the time.No motor boats.Every day I think about just dropping the boat in, blast the tower speakers and making a pass.I could get at least 15 minutes of ride time before they took me to jail.....M.

Craig -

Discovery Bay is good but pricey ($20), but the drive over is (relatively) easy. Lots of good water nearby. Check which way the wind is blowing and find a canal that runs perpendicular to the wind for the best conditions. When you exit from the marina go east to the T-intersection at Old River and then go either north or south from there. North is usually less crowded, south has longer straight-line runs. If you are going to tow any tubers, PLEASE don't go south and especially stay out of the twin sloughs that go to ski beach!!!

Orwood Resort has much lower launch fees and a nice restaurant. If you put in at Orwood, you don't need to go under the pipes to the north if you don't want to. Go south towards Discovery Bay and turn east when you reach the 100-yard no-wake zone at the entrance to Discovery Bay houses. Once out of the no-wake zone, skirt around the north side of Discovery Bay and you will pass the entrance to the Discovery Bay marina on your right, and then go on from there.

BTW, if you decide to launch at Discovery Bay, check out Discovery Bay Motorsports on the Marina Boardwalk. They have a great selection of Oakley sunglasses and clothing, Ogio gear bags, and Tommy Bahama!

And don't forget to buy a map of the Delta --- it's easy to get lost when you first come out! (Hal Schell's map is good and cheap, too).

Craig,how is the pole workin out for ya?

Dizco,if your gonna go,bring someone who knows their way around.
Berryessa,party lake in the summer,better during the off season,or during the week.
Sonoma,hit me up,if I can't go,I know someone that will.
Pillsbury,better have a long weekend for this,and a good boat cover for the road.The road to butter.
Mendo
is real shallow right now,so I'd stay away from there.

Rich out........

Thanks for the details Arnie. I may go out there this coming weekend - don't worry - no tubers are allowed on my boat.

Rich - the pole is great - wish I would have bought the racks from ya though. Hopefully I'll find some for sale somewhere soon.

By the way, we tried to head down to San Luis reservoir this weekend. Got up nice and early and drove down to find out the lake is closed to boating. Would have been nice if they had told me that Friday when I called them. We ended up heading to Don Pedro after that but it was too late to get any good boarding in - very choppy. I did find a descent little cove where it was bearable and there weren't too many people. Hopefully I'll have better luck next weekend.

(Message edited by imracerx on August 16, 2004)

Craig, that sucks San Luis was closed. Anderson or Calero would be closer than Don Pedro.

Good luck next weekend

Ya, I thought about heading to Anderson, but it was too early in the morning. You need reservations there if you want to launch before noon. We went there a couple weeks ago and by about 10AM there were so many people there you could barely move and the water was horrible. Now they are also letting PWC's on the lake so it is probably even worse. I think I have given up on Anderson unless it is for a weekday morning trip.