FLEET 20 NEWSLETTER
May 2000

Catalina 22 - Fleet 20, Portland, OR

From the Captain
By Dale Mack

April was a busy month for many in Fleet 20. For the 25% of us who race our boats, that meant going out and doing battle with the 2.2 knot current on the Columbia River while also dodging logs, trees, and other debris as it floated on by. Racing this spring has been plagued with a lack of wind.  We have yet to complete a race.

Thanks to those who came out on April 25th and served on the Race Committee. While I spent the day worrying about the weather, we actually had very good sailing conditions, with only a short five-minute shower once the race was underway.

This month is the Lemon Island Rendezvous (May 13, the day before Mother's Day). Details of the raft-up can be found below. Fleet 20 members Dave and Linda Harcombe are trailering their boat (Shearwater, #13741) from Pendleton, OR to participate in the rendezvous.

Thanks for the kind comments I've received about the newsletter. Please feel free to submit articles to me. As you can see, with or without article submissions, I typically find something to write about;-)

 

Membership
By Dale Mack

I'd like to welcome the following new members to Fleet 20:

  • Raul Cardoza,  #14278
  • Russell & Maureen Lippert, Windrider, #12982
  • Jim Martin & Matt Thierfelder, #2522

The newest member of the Fleet 20 family was born to Don and Carolyn Bateson on April 13, 2000. Claire Olivia Bateson was born at 11:58 a.m. (9 pounds 6 ounces, 21.5 inches).  Congratulations!!

Terry & Kathie Annis now own two Catalinas, a C22 and a C25. Their plans are to have the C25 ready for our trip to the San Juan's this July.

Dan & Cynthia Higgins have sold Dalliance (#766) to Ted and Bev Jackson, who are experienced sailors and told Dan they might be interested in racing. Dan & Cynthia will be focusing on completing their Cascade 29.

Jim Martin has sold Hurricane (#9413) to someone in eastern Washington. Jim has purchased a Catalina 25 berthed at Tomahawk Bay Moorage.

Membership Renewal.  For those who haven't yet renewed their membership to Fleet 20 or for those contemplating joining, please consider filling out the Fleet 20 Membership Application and sending it along with $10 to the Fleet Captain's address listed on the application. The application form is available online here.

 

Lemon Island Rendezvous, May 13
By  Dale Mack

Fleet 20 will be holding its annual Lemon Island Rendezvous on Saturday, May 13th (Mother's Day is May 14).  If we get rained out, the alternate day is Saturday, May 20th.

We'll informally rendezvous near buoy "14" at 1:30pm, and then head upstream to the north side of Lemon Island where we'll raft-up and share snacks.  If you miss us at buoy "14", just head to Lemon Island at your leisure.  I'll be monitoring channel 16 on the VHF radio if you want to get hold of me once we are on the water.  Let's use channel 72 as a working channel once we establish contact on 16.

Depending on the water level in the river, we'll try to raft-up in the backwater between Lemon Island and Government Island, in order to stay out of the current.  If that doesn't work out, we'll anchor on the north side of Lemon Island, just off the beach.

I was recently in the cove and found it to have 8-10 feet of water.  Since the river fluctuates in height, you need to know what stage the river was at for my depth readings to have any meaning.  The river near the I-205 bridge was between stages 9 and 10 based on the River Stages graph I checked on the Internet.  Aerial photos of Lemon Island are available on the Internet at Microsoft's TerraServer.

Entering the cove is not tricky, but you need to be mindful of the submerged sand bar to the south.  I found the deepest water near the downstream tip of Government Island.  Once near the tip I headed south to get around the tip and stayed at least twenty (20) feet off the bank.  I observed some partially visible/submerged pilings or tree stumps about fifteen feet off the bank.  Since the wind can sometimes come out of the northwest, I'm planning to set both a bow and stern anchor, and point my bow to the northwest.  Once I'm set, other boats can come along side and tie up.

What to bring?  Mostly just fend for yourself, but if you'd like to bring some snacks to share that would be great.  Once rafted up, we'll break out the goodies and  enjoy the afternoon together.  On Harmony, that will probably include inflating the raft so that Sean, my 11-year old son, can row around.

Let's do Breakfast.  If you and your family would like to include breakfast out as part of the day's activities, consider joining a group of us meeting at Elmer's near West Marine at 9:30am for breakfast.  If you plan on attending, please email me with a head-count so that I can call ahead to Elmer's.

 

Planning the Itinerary for the San Juan's Cruise
By  Dale Mack

San Juan Islands July 28 - August 6.  So far seven boats have indicated an interest in cruising the San Juan's as a group:

  • Nate & Margaret Hanson (Yacht-A-Fun, Catalina 22)
  • Mike & Debbie Hibbs (Dream A Little Dream, Catalina 22)
  • Dave & Linda Harcombe (Shearwater, Catalina 22)
  • Dale & Laura Mack (Harmony, Catalina 22)
  • Dennis & Sandy Thomas (WindChaser, Catalina 22)
  • Terry & Kathie Annis (Catalina 25)
  • Bob Gales & Gail O'Neill (Catalina 30)

In addition to Fleet 20 members and friends, I've been contacted by a half-dozen Catalina 22 owners in California, Oregon, and Washington who are interested in tagging along for part or all of the cruise.

We will launch the boats at Cap Sante in Anacortes, WA, and get underway on Saturday, July 29th.  We will return to Anacortes on Sunday, August 6th.  Some folks are planning to drive up and launch their boats on Friday, July 28th and stay in the marina overnight.

Between our rendezvous in May, racing, email, and phone calls, I'm hoping to nail down a first draft of the itinerary for the cruise.  Stay tuned and watch your email.

 

Tiller Tamer
By Dale Mack

One of the first things I added to my boat back in 1987 was a "Tiller Tamer" from Davis.  It has allowed me brief moments of hands free operation.  The Tiller Tamer is very simple in design.  A piece of 1/4" line runs into the device, around a sheave, and out of the device.  A knob on top allows one to adjust how much clamping action is applied to the line.

I debated whether to install the device on top or underneath the tiller.  I choose the on top location for ergonomic reasons, and while the mainsheet does occasionally hang up on the knob, it hasn't been the fouling problem I had feared.  Installation was pretty straight forward.  The Tiller Tamer mounts to the tiller with two long stainless steel screws.  I took advantage of two stanchions of my stern rail to route the end of the line around and then down to two jam-cleats I installed.  

 

Mast Gates
By Dale Mack

I added single line reefing to my boat several years ago, and highly recommend it to anyone looking to simplify this task.  One of the problems that still existed, however, was the need to go to the mast to unscrew the mast-slot stop, remove one of the sail-slugs, and then tighten the mast-slot stop.

Last December, Terry Annis presented me a gift of mast gates at our Fleet 20 holiday party.  While the gates themselves appear rather plain, one has to see them perform on the boat to really appreciate what a wonderful gift they were.

Unlike the mast gates that fill in the widened slot, these mast gates simply cover it.  Some time ago, Terry came to possess a length of aluminum pipe which he found had an inside diameter curve that matched the curve of the mast near the slot.  By cutting two strips out of the pipe, Terry was able to produce the basic form of the mast gates.

I ran my buffing wheel over Terry's gift and then installed it on the boat.  The installation involved temporarily mounting the mast gates to the mast with duct tape after aligning them with the mast slot.  I then drilled four small pilot holes for four #10-24 stainless steel machine screws.  I drilled the mast gates to accept the screws, and then drilled and threaded the mast to accept the screws.  Once everything was screwed into place, I noticed that when raising the sail, the sail slugs were occasionally binding at the bottom of the mast gates and near the top where the widened slot ended.  I removed the mast gates and filed a bevel at the bottom of the mast gates where the sail slugs make first contact.  I also filed away the sharp corner at the top of the widened slot where it transitioned back to the narrow slot.  I didn't have to remove much material before the sail slugs starting moving smoothly.

Reefing has been a breeze since installing the mast gates.  I highly recommend this upgrade.

 

How was Race Committee Duty?
By Dale Mack

April 25th was the first of our two Race Committee assignments this year (the next one is June 27th). Unlike the Thursday night races that have suffered due to a lack of wind, the SYSCO Spring Series has been great for the big boats that race on Tuesday evenings.

I want to thank the following folks who came out and served on the Race Committee:

  • Bill Sanborn (served as the Principal Race Officer)
  • Bob Gales & Gail O'Neill (owners of Imagine, the Catalina 30 we used as our RC boat for the evening)
  • Mike Hibbs
  • Dale Mack
  • Ron Paulsen (colleague of Dale's from HP)
  • Stephen Smith (colleague of Dale's from HP and Dale's crew)
  • Paul Varieur (SYSCO newsletter editor)

The Race Committee boat changed since the April newsletter announcement.  Instead of using Bill Sanborn's Kalik 30 Upstart, we ended up using Bob Gales' & Gail O'Neill's Catalina 30 Imagine.  Despite the change in RC boats, Bill Sanborn still served as our Principal Race Officer (PRO) for the night. 

At 4:30pm, Ron, Paul, and I met  at Tomahawk Bay Moorage and readied Pancho, the SYSCO mark- setting boat.  Paul had joined us so he could take pictures of the race for a future issue of the SYSCO newsletter.  The outboard engine turned out to be more of a challenge than any of us had anticipated.  None of us had ever operated the boat before, so we started with the basics like ' fuel line attached, check, main power switch on, check.' Then we had a discussion about how the combination throttle/shifter worked, since it had an additional metal lever and we could not figure out its intended function.  The boat's battery was really low, so after trying to start the engine without the fuel line attached (oops) a couple of times there wasn't much juice left.  We gave up on the battery (actually it gave up on us) and decided to pull- start the engine.  After wearing out two people and still not getting the engine started, it then occurred to me that pull- starting the engine might still require the ignition key to be in the ON position.  Well, sure enough, once the ignition was ON, the next pull on the starter rope brought the engine to life at 4:52pm.

While three of us acted out a Laurel & Hardy bit trying to get Pancho started, the balance of the Race Committee met at McCuddy's Marina on Marine Drive and readied Bob & Gail's Catalina 30, Imagine.  With Pancho finally running, Ron, Paul, and I rendezvoused with the rest of the team at McCuddy's and transferred the race flags, committee paperwork, and Ron.  At 5:15pm, Imagine left the dock and headed for one end of the starting line while Pancho set the marks at the locations that Bill Sanborn had identified based on the wind conditions.

About halfway across the river to mark "R" near the ramps at Marine Park in Vancouver, Imagine's engine started making a loud noise, so Bob shut it down.  On Pancho, we were just finishing the anchoring of mark "R" when we got the call from Imagine that they were adrift and needed a tow to the committee boat end of the line.  Despite my concerns about towing a thirty-footer with the diminutive Pancho, everything went fine.  I positioned Pancho just forward of Imagine's bow, and Paul caught the towline and attached it to the stern.  We then towed Imagine to a point where they could anchor.

Despite having trouble getting Pancho started and having to tow the committee boat into position, we still got the first warning signal up on time at 6:30pm.  I was impressed will how unflappable everyone was. 

Paul and I spent the evening following the boats around the course so that Paul could take pictures.  The best seat in the house was definitely aboard Pancho.  With Pancho positioned near the marks, it was great getting to watch all the mark- rounding action.

The racing completed a little after 8pm, so after the marks were retrieved, Pancho towed Imagine back to McCuddy's.

For those interested in more information on what a race committee does and how racing is conducted on the Columbia River, please refer to the following links:

 

 

Racing with No Wind
By  Dale Mack

Race #1.  The first race of the SYSCO Spring Series was April 20, and as you can tell by the picture, we sat around tethered to each other waiting for the wind.  Five boat showed up to race.  The participants were:

  • Terry Annis (Lematike)
  • Mike Hibbs (Dream A Little Dream)
  • Dan Higgins (Dalliance)
  • Dale Mack (Harmony)
  • Dennis Thomas (WindChaser)

Other Fleet 20 members either helping or learning as crew included Jim Martin crewing aboard Lematike, and Bob Gales crewing aboard WindChaser.  After an hour of no wind, the Race Committee cancelled the race.  Although we didn't get to race, it was enjoyable being out on the water together and checking out how each of us has our boats rigged.

Race #2.  The second race in the Spring Series took place on April 27th in conditions that appeared very promising.  It had been raining and blowing all day, so we were all prepared for a wet evening of racing.  When I arrived at the boat at 5pm, the wind was blowing strong enough for me to consider putting in the reef before going out.  By 5:45pm, Steven and I were underway.  The wind strength had diminished enough that  we decided to go with a full main and our 150 genoa.

Once near the starting line, which had been positioned adjacent to the ramp at Marine Park in Vancouver, Steven and I started testing the conditions by sailing back and forth near the line.  A large wind shift that moved from the southwest to the south forced the Race Committee to postpone the start so that they could alter the course in order to place the first mark straight upwind and directly south across the river.

By the time we started, the wind was dying fast.  To reach the first mark everyone sailed a southeast course upstream, and then had to guess the best time to tack over to reach the mark.  One by one, I watched boats tack over and miss the mark because the river's current had carried them downstream.  Based on our observations, Steven and I didn't tack over until we had nearly closed the southern distance to the mark.  As it was, we still ended up four boat lengths downstream of the mark.

With the diminished wind came another 45 degree wind shift that left the wind coming at us from the southeast.  For the next hour, most of us passed the mark, only to drift back behind it as we fought to make progress against the current.  We, like others, anchored a half dozen times during the race in order to maintain position.  It wasn't until about 8:25pm that we started to get a breeze out of the southeast with enough force to allow us to make progress toward the upstream race mark.

A particularly interesting sight was Terry Annis on Lematike drafting on a J/24 in the light conditions.  Like most of us, Terry was having trouble maintaining the shape of his sails.  When a J/24 passed him close by upwind, Terry's sails suddenly filled and he was being pulled along by the J/24.  Terry went from being in third place, to suddenly being twenty boats length in the lead.  It was definitely a curious sight to see.

We never finished the race.  At 8:50pm the Race Committee abandoned the race for those that hadn't finished (which was about half of those racing that evening). 

SYSCO Spring Regatta

Terry Annis and I entered our boats in the Spring Regatta (April 29-30) and raced PHRF because we didn't have the minimum three boats to qualify for a One-Design start.  As it turned out, we were assigned to the fourth start, so in effect we had a one-design start.  (Note:  PHRF is a handicapping system that allows boats of different performance characteristics to race against one another.)

Aboard Harmony, I had Fleet 20 member Dave Harcombe from Pendleton crewing for me, and on Lematike, Terry had Paul Varieur (SYSCO newsletter editor) on Saturday, and his wife, Kathie Annis, on Sunday.

We actually managed to get in two races on Saturday and two races on Sunday.  The wind on Saturday was very light.  So light, in fact, that the upstream start looked liked Terry and I were going to drift over the line early until I shouted to Terry to drop his anchor.  Lematike managed to stop before crossing the line, but Harmony didn't.  A minute later when the red start flag was raised, Terry pulled up his anchor and proceed to sail/drift to the next mark, while I remained anchored in hopes some wind would arrive.  After about two minutes of waiting, a voice came from the Race Committee boat advising me to motor upstream of the starting line and shut the motor off for five minutes before properly starting the race.  Dave and I pulled up the anchor, repositioned Harmony upstream of the line, anchored the boat, and shut off the engine.  Five minutes later, we pulled up the anchor and headed for the next mark.

Our late start gave us one big advantage.  We could see that nearly everyone was anchored near the next mark, including the big boats.  Those who had anchored late were way downstream of the mark.  Dave and I headed straight for the mark and were only three boats lengths downstream of it when the anchor finally set.

Terry and a Cal 20 were a couple hundred yards downstream of us, but they didn't seem to be anchored.  Terry raised his cruising spinnaker and used his whisker pole to configure Lematike for a wing-and-wing sail to the finish.  Aboard Harmony, we watched as Lematike slowly closed the distance.  As the boats around me started to pull up their anchors and proceed to the finish line using their spinnakers, Dave and I started contemplating whether we should raise my cruising spinnaker.  With Lematike having already cut the separation in half, Dave and I decided to go for it since the wind was so light.  With the spinnaker up, we began to make progress against the current immediately.  Terry continued to close the distance, and although I crossed the line first, neither of us completed the race before the time limit had expired.

Conditions on Sunday were only marginally better.  We would get brief periods of wind followed by gaps that would force us to anchor.  Even when the wind was blowing, we had to pay attention to the surface of the water because the wind wasn't the same everywhere.  With the wind oscillating from the southwest to the southeast, the Race Committee mercifully set a simple upstream mark rounding and downstream finish for the small boats.  The wind died at that start of the first race on Sunday, so everyone anchored.  When the wind finally arrived, it was a struggle to get to the first mark.  I was last to round the mark, and the wind was starting to fade again.  One hundred feet from the finish line I was sure I was going to drift across backwards, when suddenly there was just enough of a puff of wind to allow me to point the bow downstream.

It wasn't a great weekend for sailing, but I still had a great time.  I enjoyed sailing with Dave Harcombe and hearing about Dave and Linda's adventures on their Catalina 22.  The opportunity to practice with the spinnaker was also an unexpected benefit.

 

Upcoming Events
By Dale Mack

May 4. Spring Series, Race #3

May 13. Lemon Island Rendezvous (Saturday)

May 18. Spring Series, Race #4

May 20. Lemon Island Rendezvous make-up day if rained out on May 13 (Saturday)

May 20. Marine Swap Meet at Tomahawk Bay Moorage.

May 25. Spring Series, Race #5 (last race of series)

 

June 15. Summer Series, Race #1

June 22. Summer Series, Race #2

June 24. Catalina 22 Sails Across America (Saturday)

June 27.  Fleet 20 Race Committee (Tuesday)

June 29. Summer Series, Race #3 

The Fleet 20 newsletter is published online once a month. Articles are the opinions of the authors and don't necessarily represent the consensus of Fleet 20.