Georgiana Slough no wake zone

C

cdemke

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Dec 20, 2006
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24616
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I spent lots of time this summer on the Georgiana Slough, mostly anchored or beached up in the long 5 mph/no wake zone just south of where the Georgiana splits off from the Sacramento River. What is the reason for this long 'no wake' zone? I don't mind it being there as it typically keeps this part of the delta quiet and slow. However, I have noticed lately that the majority of boaters do not obey the no wake zone and speed right through, including an occasional water skier! I was there last weekend for a brief stop and of the 5 boats that went by only 1 was obeying the law...

-chris
 
Begins in the south at the Mokelumne near B&W Resort and goes north to the Sacramento and its all 5 mph to my knowledge and is one of the few sloughs that does not have an army corps of engineers rock levee on it and therefore the no wake zone which will damage slough banks.

DBH
 
At least it is one of the prettiest sloughs; I always tried to include it in any extended Delta cruise. My issue was more with guys anchored in the middle of the channel fishing. I'd suspect we'll see a lot more No Wake zones in the name of levee protection.
 
I recall when it wasn't there.

I believe it was implemented in '79 or '80???

We had friends that kept their boat at OxBow and we used to go for "sunset cruises" up the Georgiana at 1500 rpm's or so. It made for an awesome ride!

And then they made it into law!!!

OK, you can blame us!!! [}}:-|>>]
 
The signs toward Walnut Grove state you can't create a wake that has white wash on the shore or something to that effect. So I would guess the rule is there to protect the shoreline. In the dink I can go 20 + through there with hardly any wake at all and no breaking on the shore. In the ski boat it would be pretty much no wake/5 mph. The rest of the stretch is 5 mph anywhere there are docks but no skiing the entire length of the slough but you can go fast.

I have passed a couple of large cruisers (40+) feet through there that seemed to think it is just fine to not slow down when passing by you. Nothing like negotiating a 5 foot wall of water when you are 20 feet from the shore while passing them because they don't want to slow down for about 30 seconds.
 
I thought the 5 mph zone ended past Oxbow and then there were a few houses along the way where you had to slow down and then again as you neared Walnut Grove. I didn't know the whole thing was 5 mph. I guess I was wrong to go blasting through that area at WOT, then.
 
IMO the signage is confusing and sometime hard to notice. And the only enforcement now is the folks who live along there on hailers......
 
Yes sir indeedee, that has been a contention for decades. We used to take an annual late spring run with a large group of boats from Sacramento to Stockton to the Holiday Inn, and we always went down Georgianna.
One year we rafted three abreast, and four rows deep. Obviosuly we weren't leaving a wake but it really aggrevated some skiers. Of course in the 70s they were really in the minority but we did get a local sheriff involved. I don't really remember the outcome but we continued the raft up until we go to the river.
 
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