Info request: San Diego area boaters

[h2oedits]

If anyone can tell me what boating is like at San Vicente and/or El Capitan, I would greatly appreciate it...all details on what they are like (how restrictive, speed limits, any private coves, traffic patterns, how crowded, any scenery, best times to go etc.) would be helpful.
I'm also curious about Yuma area of The River. Is it pretty much jets only if you don't know the river? Are there a lot of places to ski? Is the water pretty cold, or is it comparable to Parker area? Where do all the performance boaters hang out, if there is one central place/time? How are launch facilities, and where are the best ones?
Thanks in advance
Kevin Spaise

[Buff]

H2Oedits - Can't help you on the San Diego places but I have over the years spent a few great summer weekdays down at Yuma on the river. We found a place called Senator Wash which was a basin large enough to ski on (Very warm water and dawn to 10 AM glass. - of course we never shared the place with so much as one other boat.) Minutes away on the River one can boat right up to the edge of Imperial Dam and look over the edge from your boat! We stayed in Yuma at one of the many motels. Shallow - yes. But no rocks - just sand. So even though I stuck my prop a time or two - no damage save for some paint off the Hallett's skag. If you knew a local who boated there I'm sure you could get some good advice as far as the correct position in
the channel and etc. Like I said we have only been there on weekdays and didn't see a hardly any one else. It was kinda spooky having so much of the river to ourselves but fun. I am sure the weekends are a different story. I can't wait for next summer to go back. -Buff

[Froggystyle]

San Diego spots are restrictive, but available. The speed limits on San Vincente and El Capitan are 35 max, but there are spots on El Cap (towards the rear) that closely replicate a nice little dragstrip, and the po po pretty much shine on the area for the most part. They idle back nice and slow and let everyone know they are coming... then we all sit around and pretend we are fishing or something... ;) That is where you will find all of the hot lake hardware in the county anchored bow out waiting for a pass. Someone inevitably has a "humbler" (radar gun) for keeping tabs on top speeds, which I have seen go into the late teens. (past the bill)
Water temp is usually pretty good, in the 70's and the water is nice and clear.
As far as watersports on San Vincente there is only one good time to go if you want to ski/wakeboard and that is first thing in the morning, on weekdays. The 100 boat limit on the lake is about 80 to many for any real watersports to take place, and short of the San Diego bay, where I usually go waterskiing, it is the only water in the area as you are not able to ski on El Cap.
Yuma is another situation altogether. I will need to have another cup of coffee before I tackle it.

[cheezpanel]

I don't boat too much on SanV. It's been a long time since El Cap. As far as the lower river goes, we're there all year. Martinez Lake, Fisher's Landing, and Hidden Shores RV park are all just out of Yuma. Squaw Lake/Senator's Wash is just north of Imperial Dam. Water levels fluctuate regularly and sometimes sandbars are visible, other times they're not. As far as boats go, I'd say that there are certainly a lot of OBs and IOs to match the number of jets. And more and more people are buying wakeboard boats it seems. Didn't use to see those. We usually drive up past the big sandbars just north of Martinez (where EVERYBODY seems be) to Picacho (about a 15 minute ride) and find a quieter sandbar. We just got home from there about an hour ago...we really only saw fishing boats on the water and basically had the water to ourselves. A bit chilly to be IN the water, but not on the boat. I'd say if you don't know the river you should be really careful, but I've seen many jets hit sandbars too, so in my opinion a jetboat isn't a huge advantage down there. :cool:

[cheezpanel]

Sorry Kevin, I just reread your questions....Hidden Shores is the nicest place, but the most expensive and has the worst launch ramps. It's right near the dam. Squaw Lake has a big nice ramp with overnight camping available. Martinez and Fisher's aren't quite as nice, but Fisher's by far in my opinion has the best ramp. There's a no ski zone that starts a couple of miles above Martinez that goes for quite a while. We either stay below Fishers for watersports or go up to Picacho if it's a busy weekend because there aren't as many people up there.

[h2oedits]

Thank you for the ifo, all....

[Ziggy]

God, I used to frequent Senator Wash for many years in my standup jetski days.
A great place for that purpose but not very boat worthy as far as size...if you got any size of boat you'll run out of lake before you get up to speed.
River in Yuma is shallow in many places and locals will know the best route to follow....Buff described it pretty well.
Don't know aboutthe SD area lakes, haven't tried them.