California Community Commemorates September 11 With Boat Rides For Veterans

Set on the shores of the San Joaquin/Sacramento River Delta, Discovery Bay, Calif., has the finest concentration of exotic powerboats from the likes of Cigarette Racing Team, DCB Performance Boats, Skater Powerboats and more in the state. And last Saturday, members of that community and beyond put those boats to good—make that excellent—use giving rides to veterans out of Discovery Bay Marina during the annual Veterans Day On The Delta event.

Though this year’s Veterans Day On The Delta turnout was smaller than the others, the passion of the organizers, powerboat owners and veterans involved was a big as it ever gets.

The event was founded in 2013 by Discovery Bay’s Dale Razor. The following year, it was adopted by Some Gave All—The Joey Graves Foundation—a nonprofit coalition of Gold Star families—and it’s been going strong ever since. That this year’s happening fell on the 20th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack made it particularly poignant for everyone involved.

Rayzor, who was joined by his longtime girlfriend Lisa Molls, gave rides to veterans in his recently updated 36-foot catamaran.

“We had a lighter turnout of vets and boats than normal,” said Rayzor. “Typically, we get 70 or so vets but for this run we only had about 45. The boat count was down also from 25 or so to about 15. All in all, though, it was a great day though with beautiful, smoke-free blue skies and temps in the low 90s.”

The day’s fleet did not lack for high-quality hardware.

Participating powerboat owners included Karl Koster in Special K, a 42-foot Cigarette center console; Gary Colledge in Colledgewood, a 40-foot Skater catamaran; Rob Storelee in Aftermath, his 36-foot Skater; Todd Welling in Stray Cat, another 36-foot Skater, Bill Lyons in Disruptor, a 40-foot Skater; Mark Cooper in Hot Wired, a 32-foot DCB catamaran; Jeff Murray, in Outlaw, a 34-foot DCB; and Bob McKenna in Irish Exit, an MTI 340X cat.

“We ran a loop of the Delta that was right about 80 miles so the vets had some good time on the water,” said Rayzor. “The group of the bigger and faster cats ran a nice pace of 100 to 120 mph, for the day, so they also got their fill of going fast.

“Everybody wore PFDs and there were no incidents,” he added. “It was a great day on the water, and we’re especially grateful to the folks at Discovery Bay Marina for hosting this event once again. We couldn’t do it with their help.”

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