FLEET 20 NEWSLETTER
October 2001
Catalina 22 - Fleet 20, Portland, OR
From
the Captain
By Dennis Thomas
Birthdays
Bill Hayden, Happy Birthday, October 22nd
Old Sailing Ship
On Saturday, October 6th Sandy and I shared a rare opportunity with Terry and Kathy Annis and some fellow sailor from the Portland area and some as far as Spokane Washington, we took a cruise on an 89 foot yawl rigged yacht named Odyssey, built in 1938. The ship, I guess I can call it a ship, is owned by the Boy Scouts and finds its home in the Tacoma area. It is used extensively for the Sea Scouts in the Puget Sound and the San Juan Islands. It is also available for chartering for three hour cruises on weekday evenings and four to five hour cruises on the weekends. The three hour cruises cost $15 per person and the four to five hour cruises cost $18 per person. There is a minimum requirement of 20 people per group and a maximum of 35 with the minimum cost of $300. Also, no alcohol allowed.
We sailed out of Tacoma and spent about 4 hours in Commencement Bay (in Tacoma) raising (hoisting) sails and enjoying a good steady breeze cruising between 4 to 6 knots. With all sails up there is 3453 square feet, yes that’s feet of cloth in the wind. A new set of sails cost $20,000. The main sail alone is 1872 square feet. That took a bit for 6 to 8 middle aged over weight men huffing and puffing to yard up while attempting to conceal the fact that they were out of shape and to convince on lookers that yes they are real sailors. Terry and I planned ahead, we took our gloves, it made the difference, that and the fact that we were the only two almost middle aged men that were in fine physical condition in the group. The halyards and sheets ranged from ¾ to 1 inch in diameter. When we tacked or jibed the head sail sheets whipped about violently, everyone had to make sure you were out of their range for fear of getting flogged by them.
Being that almost all the passengers on board were sailboat sailors, it was with great disappointment that some of us were obligated to take our turn at the wheel;-) Next months newsletter we should have some photos to prove it. Terry and I had agreed if they did not let us have a turn at the wheel we would be forced to do none other than, yes that’s right, pirate the ship. Fortunately for them they weren’t stingy. Actually anyone who wanted to could take a turn at the wheel, it wasn’t that we radiated that we were skipper material. It was quite exhilarating steering something that big, feeling the pressure on the rudder and 3453 square feet of wind filled sails with the ship actually heeling over maybe 6 degrees or so. While at the wheel I got to steer it into a jibe. It is amazing how long it takes for it to come around even with steady wind. Sandy even had a few minutes at the wheel, she could see were she was steering to but did not hit any rocks.
As we head into winter it may not be the best time to think about it but may be in the spring if there are enough folks interested we could get a group together and charter it for a 4 to 5 hour cruise on a weekend. They fed us too so that could be a motivator.
November Tropical Party
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Fleet
20 Holiday Awards Party
By Dale Mack
December 8. Watch your email for an announcement regarding details of the Fleet 20 Holiday Awards Party in December. We still need to pick a location for the event.
This very popular event typically starts off with a potluck dinner, followed by a presentation of the fleet's awards for Fleet Champion and Most Improved Sailor, and finishes with a White Elephant Gift Exchange.
2nd
Annual Sail for the Cure
Tops Last Year's Success
By Erika Packer
September 22. A fleet of sailboats assembled on the Columbia River, embarking on an all-out mission to beat a common enemy -- the disease of breast cancer.
Sail for the Cure, created, organized and hosted by the Oregon Women's Sailing Association (OWSA), is a benefit for the Oregon & SW Washington Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
The morning check-in saw 205 participants from 39 boats coming by to pick up shirts, drop off pledges and enjoy bagels, granola bars and beverages -- all donated by local businesses.
The family event this year was a rousing round of bingo. Numbers were placed on marks set on the Columbia and posted around the area at various marinas and yacht clubs.
The fun started at 2:00 pm where boats were given a choice of moving up river or down. Bite Me chose to go up river and zigged and zagged with her rookie crew trimming the chute like seasoned experts.
After rounding all the marks, the crew headed in not having achieved Bingo, despite being given two cards by mistake.
While the participants were out enjoying another sunny day on the river, volunteers were hard at work on shore setting up a BBQ for the hoards of hungry sailors.
New this year was a silent auction with theme baskets and various other donated items. Along with pledges, memorial flag sales, donations and participant fee, the gross receipts were close to $10,000. Preliminary numbers look like OWSA will be able to donate $8,000 to Susan G. Komen -- double last year's donation!
Thanks to all the volunteers, donors and participants who helped make this year's Sail for the Cure an even bigger success than the last one.
Your help is needed to make next year even better! To volunteer, contact Erika Packer at 503-735-0982 or erika@creativeabandon.com.
Catalina 22 National Sailing Association
Recognizes Fleet 20 with Awards
By Dale Mack
Imagine my surprise and delight to receive an email informing me that Fleet 20 had been awarded the 2001 Newsletter of the Year and that the Fleet's sponsorship of the 2000 San Juan Islands cruise and 2000 St. Helens cruise had also been recognized. I was further surprised to learn that the Sean, Laura, and I had been awarded the 2001 Cruising Family of the Year award, Wow!
The awards were announced at the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association's annual National Regatta, held this year in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Pictures of the regatta are available on the C22NSA website at www.catalina22.org.
| Fleet Newsletter of
the Year
Award
This award is given in recognition of the fleet and editor who produced the best C-22 newsletter during the past year. Criteria: In order to be considered for this award, a newsletter must be sent to the MainBrace editor for at least six months prior to the award presentation at the Nationals. The MainBrace editor serves as the judge for the newsletter award and he or she will be looking for the following:
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| Cruise Host Award
Recognition of Fleet's sponsorship of a cruise which encouraged participation by C-22 owners beyond the Fleet's membership. |
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| Cruising Family of the
Year Award
This award is given in recognition of a family who consistently participates in C-22 class-sanctioned and non-sanctioned events, and who, as a family sailing team, races with only immediate family members on board. Criteria: Families must be nominated by a C-22 fleet or person(s) who are members of the C22NSA. All nominations should include the following:
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I want to thank those fleet members who have put up with my picture taking in order to produce the Fleet 20 newsletter. As Fleet Captain last year, I also want to again thank those that participated and helped put on such a successful cruising year in 2000.
| Cruising |
San
Juan Island Memories
By Dale Mack
Photos by Terry Annis
Even in a year when the San Juan Island's cruise was a little cooler and wetter than normal, the pictures that are trickling in still make you wish you were there.
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St. Helens Cruise
By Dale Mack
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Nate and Margaret Hanson aboard Leucothea |
September 15-16. This was my fourth cruise to St. Helens, but my first without my own boat. Terry Annis was gracious enough to invite me along to crew aboard Lematike, which I happily accepted. Predictions about iffy weather proved false. Once the morning marine layer burned off, we were more interested in where the sun screen was than where we'd stashed our foul weather gear.
We arrived at buoy "47", near the mouth of the Willamette River, just shortly before the 11am start of the race. Although started like a race, the annual Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon's (SYSCO) St. Helens Cruise/Fun Race, is more cruise than race. Fleet 20 has traditionally timed our September cruise to coincide with SYSCO's event because many of the fleet's racing members are also members of SYSCO.
The Catalina's were given the first start and by 11:15 a.m. we were off in very light conditions. The sailing was a little quirky this year. From a nearly no wind start, the breeze slowly grew in velocity until we reached the halfway point to St. Helens where it died. For the next hour we chased any puff that blew our way until the wind finally filled in again. The hour of slow sailing delayed our arrival, so we eventually dropped the sails and motored the remaining distance.
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Don & Diana McGee's boat #5853 |
Between Fleet 20 and SYSCO, some twenty boats made the trip to St. Helens. The award for the family traveling the furthest goes to the McGee's. While many of us had about eighteen nautical miles to cover in order to reach St. Helens, the McGee's had about thirty-one nautical miles since they launched their boat in Washougal, WA.
Once we were tied up to the free city docks at the foot of the courthouse, several crews disappeared into St. Helens to stretch their legs. Shortly after the shore side adventures, snacks started emerging from the boats, as everyone began preparing their potluck offering.
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| The Mountford family aboard Little Hector, #5720. |
The Fleet 20 potluck dinner was nothing short of awesome. There was lots to eat and lots of variety. From the shrimp off the Mountford's grill to Terry Annis' casserole, there was so much to sample.
We awoke on Sunday to a thick marine layer of clouds that burned off by midday. As is typical with this September cruise, there was a good breeze in the morning for those wishing to fly spinnakers or run wing-and-wing back to Portland. Terry and I enjoyed a great spinnaker run all the way back to Portland (incredible) before finally dropping the sails near the previous day's starting line.
I want to thank Terry Annis for letting me spend a pleasant weekend aboard Lematike as his crew. I also want to thank the leadership of SYSCO for their continuing hospitality as Fleet 20 tags along on their cruise.
For those of you who didn't make this year's cruise, please consider it for next year. This annual September event is a great opportunity to explore a little more of the river than just what's between the I-5 and I-205 bridges.
| Upcoming Events |
November 17 (sa). (OCSA) Annual Tropical Party
December 8. Fleet 20 Holiday Party
January 5-13. Portland Boat Show, Portland Expo Center, Portland
January 11-20. Seattle Boat Show, Stadium Exhibition Center, Seattle
January 11-20. Lake Union Boats Afloat Show, Chandler's Cove, Seattle
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.