From the Afterguard
By Dale Mack

September was great for sailing.  With one of the best Indian Summers on record in recent memory, it was a wonderful blend of clear skies, cooler temperatures, and balmy nights.

While the Catalina 22's didn't race into September, several of their crews did.  I had the pleasure of racing with Terry & Kathie Annis, and Don Bateson aboard Lematike, as we competed in the Portland Yacht Club's Fall Regatta.  This was a Saturday only regatta, and it was the first time we had participated in the event.  We had a lot of fun, so I suspect it won't be our last appearance.

I wasn't able to attend the annual SYSCO Cruise/Race to St. Helens that Fleet 20 has traditionally joined.  From the Annis' and Hanson's, it sounds like it was a fun event, but unfortunately the much anticipated great sail from Portland to St. Helens turned into a drifter as the wind never showed up.

Several current and former members of Fleet 20 participated in the Third Annual Columbia River All Catalina Rendezvous, hosted by the Columbia River All Catalina Association (CRACA).  The event  this year was held at the Sand Island east docks across from St. Helens.  Unlike the SYSCO St. Helens cruise the previous weekend, the rendezvous had plenty of wind for a fabulous sail on Saturday.

I suspect that the warm Fall weather will see an extended sailing season for some this year, with several boats staying in the water until November, before being pulled to over winter at home sitting on their trailers.  Lets keep hoping for a warm October and sunny skies.  For those hardy souls in the group willing to cruise in November, CRACA has invited Fleet 20 members to join them the weekend of November 23-24 for an overnight cruise to the Government Island east docks. 

There are still lots of activities both on and off the water you can attend in the coming weeks.  In November, the annual Tropical Party at the Portland Yacht Club will offer you dinner and dancing to live music for the low price of $20 per person.  In December, besides viewing the Christmas Ships Parade, Fleet 20 will hold its Holiday Party at Chris & Ebie Mountford's home.

Here's a glimpse of what's coming:

• Thanksgiving Cruise to Government Island (November 23-24)
• Fleet 20 Holiday Party (December 8)
• Portland Boat Show (January 4-12)
• Seattle Boat Show (January 11-19)
• St. Valentine's Day Cruise to Government Island - East Dock (February 15-16)

Annual Tropical Party at the
Portland Yacht Club
By Dale Mack

November 16.  Come join your fellow Fleet 20 members  as we attend the Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association's (OCSA) Tropical Party at the Portland Yacht Club.  This event is open to all sailors (not just OCSA members).

The Tropical Party is one of the great end of year events for Columbia River racers and cruisers.  Cocktails start at 6 PM, dinner begins by 7 PM, followed by a short but very humorous OCSA Awards presentation of awards such as the "Sandbox" to the person with the most time spent on a sandbar, a Silent Auction, Door Prizes, Costume Contest, and Dancing 'til Midnight to the live music of Windy River.

The dress is Tropical & Casual, and it's all offered for just $20 per person.  If you're interested you need to reserve your seats by November 9th.  Click here for a registration form.

Catalina 22 National Sailing Association
Newsletter/Website of the Year goes to Fleet 20
By Dale Mack

Laura handed me a box and said this came for you in the mail today.  I couldn't recall ordering any new toys for the boat, so I had no idea what to expect.  With the box open, I could see the back of a plaque, and my first thoughts were "no way".  I turned the plaque face up and to my amazement Fleet 20 had been awarded the 2002  Catalina 22 National Sailing Association Newsletter/Website of the Year.

This award is given in recognition of the fleet and editor who produced the best C-22 newsletter/website 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:

1. General appearance - attractive design and layout.
2. Regular publication schedule - published at least bi-monthly, preferably monthly.
3. Content - contains a wide variety of articles, such as post-event pieces describing fleet activities, how-to articles, descriptions and results of races, member profiles, etc., as well as a schedule of events.
4. Competent editing - for language basics and style.
5. Use of paid advertisements for fleet revenue - optional.

I want to thank our current and past  fleet captains, Mike Hibbs and Dennis Thomas, respectively, for responding to my monthly pestering for a fleet captain's article.  I also want to thank everyone who invited me along to crew, or let me take pictures of their boat over the past year as I collected material for the newsletter.  And lastly, I'd like to thank the C22NSA for bestowing this award on Fleet 20.

Late Night Excitement at Evening Cove
By Gail O'Neill

It was one of the prettiest little coves of all those we had discovered in our seven years of sailing in the San Juan’s, Southern Gulf, and Inside Passage islands. Evening Cove is just southeast of Ladysmith Harbor, on the east side of Vancouver Island. The landscape is typical of the region with lush fir forests edging sandy beaches punctuated with smooth sandstone ridges of rock that slide from the shore into the shallows and beyond. The sandstone rock is ubiquitous to the islands and requires mariners to pay close attention to their charts when sailing these waters. Being close to the town of Ladysmith, Evening Cove is populated with homes along both sides of the cove, partially hidden among the trees.

We had been invited here by our sailing friends Terry & Kathie Annis who were making their annual visit to old friends Bill & Donna, residents of the cove. They have built a stunning nature-friendly home at the head of the cove and installed a mooring buoy (in fifteen feet of water at low tide). We had agreed to meet the Annis’ there, in the evening (what better time?) and share the buoy along with other sailing friends Mike and Debbie Hibbs on their chartered Catalina 28. We spent the beautiful, quite balmy day sailing north from Saltspring Island stopping at Wallace Island for lunch on the almost (believe it or not) empty Conover Cove dock. After gourmet grilled hot dogs prepared by the Hibbs and five year old daughter Rachel, we walked up to the picnic shelter on lovely Wallace Island to see if the sign we’d made two years earlier was still hanging on the wall. It’s become an apparent tradition for boats to make driftwood identity signs for the shelter. The walls and ceiling are covered with hundreds of them, including our Catalina 30 Imagine sign!

As the sun was falling lower behind Vancouver Island, we entered Evening Cove on the starboard side as recommended in the Waggoner’s cruising guide. Radio conversation ensued between the three boats and Bill on shore. We felt three boats might be more than the buoy could handle if wind came up and decided to anchor. The Annis’ tied up to the buoy on their Catalina 25 Lematike along with the Hibbs. Bill rowed out to assure us that the gravel bottom was good holding and graciously welcomed us to his home. After setting the anchor with three to one scope, we started the BarB to grill salmon steaks not realizing we’d been invited to dinner at Bill & Donna’s. We said we would dinghy in for dessert instead, and we proceeded to enjoy a quiet dinner surrounded by the beauty of the cove. After an hour or so we prepared to dinghy ashore. I recommended that we turn on our anchor light since we were not in a chart-designated anchorage. Bob hesitated but gave in to my insistence, and later he was very glad that he did.

To cut to the chase, we noticed a wind had come up and shifted while we were inside feasting on Donna’s homemade apple cobbler, though we didn’t worry. At about 10:30 we extended thanks and goodbyes to our hosts. As we were getting into the dinghy to motor back to Imagine, Bob noticed the anchor light looked far more distant than where we had left the boat. I said maybe he was exaggerating ….and let’s just get going since rain sprinkles were falling and it was very dark and I was cold!

We were giving Terry’s son Matt, a lift to Lematike and the closer we got the more Bob exclaimed that Imagine’s anchor light was much further out than where we had anchored her. At the same time, the three of us were awestruck by the beautiful phosphorescence that was illuminating the wake of the dinghy’s motor. As Bob again exclaimed that Imagine must have slipped her moorings, I said, “Let’s just drop Matt at Lematike and then chase down our boat”, which was obviously drifting. With the dinghy at top speed it still seemed like forever until we caught up with Imagine, but was, in fact, less than 5 minutes. All kinds of thoughts and possibilities raced through our minds but as we came alongside her, all was well. I had never anthropomorphized my boat before, but at that moment she seemed like a mischievous child gone astray!

We climbed aboard, I started the engine, and Bob hauled in the anchor, which had drifted along with the boat. With Bob at the helm we slowly made our way back to the other boats guided by their flashlights through the dark, but not stormy, night! We felt a little sheepish as we tied up to the Hibbs boat, knowing our anchoring faux pas could become the sailing blooper of the season. But our good friends said not to worry, they wouldn’t tell. It was only later that Mike Hibbs relentlessly pursued us to tell the story for the Catalina Newsletter!

Obvious conclusion: It may be a good idea to always turn the anchor light on, designated anchorage or not.

My First Columbia River All Catalina Rendezvous
By Dale Mack

The McGee family aboard their new Catalina 250.

September 21-22.  This was the third year the All Catalina Rendezvous had been held on the Columbia River.  The 2000 and 2001 rendezvous' took place in Hayden Bay as a large raft up.  The 2002 rendezvous had moved to Sand Island in order to provide participants more sailing opportunities.

Despite being a CRACA member since 1999, I still hadn't been to a rendezvous.  Other commitments had prevented me from attending the previous events, so I was excited about going this year.  The only obstacle I had to overcome was crew since Laura was going to be in California visiting her sister the same weekend.  My problem was solved when Catalina 22 Fleet 20 Captain Mike Hibbs offered to crew and invite his friend Wally, and Wally's ten year old son Nick along.  With myself and my thirteen year old son Sean, that brought the total onboard to five for the weekend.

Picnic structure built for the general public by the Columbia River Yachting Association (CRYA).

From the time we hoisted the sails at the mouth of the Willamette River until we dropped them at our destination, the sailing was great.  Apart from a small wind hole we encountered about midway to Sand Island, we had comfortable sailing conditions and wind velocities that allowed us to sail at hull speed.

We completed the last hour of the trip in the company of Imagine, Bob  Gales and Gail O'Neill's Catalina 30.  Bob and Gail spent six weeks in the San Juan's aboard Imagine this year and brought it back to the Columbia River in August.

The rendezvous was held at the east docks on Sand Island.  I had never visited the island before, although I had seen it from the St. Helens' city docks on previous SYSCO/Fleet 20 cruises to St. Helens.  The docks are really nice.  They are concrete, about 8-10 wide, with steel pilings .  Sand Island is an Oregon marine park, so ashore are campsites, picnic tables, fire pits, a self-composting restroom, and a covered picnic structure that can easily accommodate 4-6 picnic tables.

Gail O'Neill collects her door prize.

It wasn't long after our arrival at Sand Island, that Sean and Nick were off scaling the tall sand mound located and couple hundred yards down the beach.  As for Mike, Wally, and myself, we busied ourselves chit chatting with others and touring the various Catalina models.  Over twenty Catalina's attended the event from C22's to C42's so there was lots to see.

Saturday's dinner was a potluck affair served up on two large folding tables provided by Sailboats of Oregon, who brought them to the rendezvous onboard a brand new Catalina 42 just in case anyone was boat shopping.

Each boat that attended the rendezvous received a canvas tool bag, two rendezvous t-shirts, two baseball caps courtesy Sailboats of Oregon, a key float courtesy Boater's World, a 10% off coupon for all rigging services from BB Marine L.L.C, a coupon for the Beach Cafe, a 10% off coupon for work at Hayden Island Canvas, and a 10% off coupon for vinyl boat lettering at Pro-Motion Signs & Graphics.

Gail O'Neill, Kathie Annis, Bob Gales, and Terry Annis.

After dessert, CRACA awarded door prizes to rendezvous participates.  From sailing gloves and jackets, to pillows and baseball caps, the prizes were great.

As the sun went down, a number of crews moved the activities shore side to the picnic area were a campfire was started.  For those of us tired from a day of sailing, we turned in early. 

Sunday breakfast was a potluck affair on the dock.  Like Saturday's dinner, there was lots of food and great conversation.  By 10 am, many crews were starting to make preparations for heading home.

We managed to sail upriver for the first hour, but eventually gave up as the wind slowly died.  We had a great time just chatting away in the cockpit as the boys took turns at the helm.

Planning for Next Year

I want to encourage you to attend the rendezvous next year (location TBD).  It's a great weekend socializing with other sailors.  This year's participants ranged from day sailors and racers, to serious coastal cruisers who spent several weeks up north every year.

Hope to see you next year.

Hammocks for V-Berth Storage
By Dale Mack

Like many, I found my family had more stuff to stow than I had space to store it.  A solution I found that worked very well in the v-berth was to install two net hammocks, one port and one starboard.

The hammocks were purchased from West Marine, and were held in place by two cup hooks screwed into the teak trim used to hide the hull and deck seam.  I found I could adjust the length and the tension of the hammocks by shortening or lengthening the loops at the ends of the hammocks.  

The hammocks have been a great addition to the boat.  Not only have they provided additional storage space, but they accomplished it in a way that doesn't diminish the useable size of the v-berth.

October

• 12,  SYSCO Fall Awards Banquet

November

• 16, Annual Tropical Party @ PYC (open to all sailors)
• 23-24, Government Island Cruise (East docks)

December

• 15, Holiday Party and election of new officers

See the calendar

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.