From the Afterguard
By Dale Mack

Nate and Margaret Hanson open their gift during the white elephant gift exchange at the Fleet's Holiday Party.  Outgoing Fleet Captain Mike Hibbs looks on.

The fleet's Holiday Party at Chris and Ebie Mountford's was wonderful, and the views overlooking the Columbia River from their balcony were great.  Although the weather outside was cold and rainy, the fireplace inside warmed the soul and leant to the delightful ambience of a home decorated for the holidays.

The potluck dinner was delicious as always with everyone contributing a great variety of eatable treats to tempt even the pickiest of palates.  

We had a lot of fun with the White Elephant Gift Exchange.  The items being unwrapped actually turned out to be quite useful.  In some cases very sought after gifts passed through several hands before reaching their third and final owner.  One of the notable gifts was the gift bag full of what looked like 4-5 years worth of White Elephant Gift items someone decided to part with (name withheld to protect the guilty) ;-))

Rotten Tiller Award

For those of us that race as members of the Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO), we are eligible for recognition via SYSCO's annual Rotten Tiller Award.  No one actually competes for this award, in fact, we all spend the sailing season trying to avoid even being nominated.  The tiller with its shiny brass name plaques identifying previous winners, is awarded by SYSCO to one of its members whose misfortune put a smile on our faces and left the rest of us saying, "Boy I'm glad that wasn't me."

The 2002 SYSCO Rotten Tiller Award went to Blaine Dickason who joined and raced with Fleet 20 in 2002.  Blaine wasn't at SYSCO's October Awards Banquet to accept the award, so Terry Annis accepted it in Blaine's behalf, and then presented it to Blaine during the Fleet's holiday party.

So how did Blaine win this most coveted award?  The event took place on Thursday, July 11th during the fourth race of the SYSCO Summer Series.  Returning from our first windward leg, we spied Blaine on Gromit drifting in the light chop.  SYSCO's Boston Whaler, used for setting marks, was maneuvering around Gromit, and finally attached a towline.  Apparently on the windward leg, Gromit's rudder broken off at the waterline just below the pintle (checkout Skip Meisch's story later about this problem on his boat).  Normally you'd think you could just steer the boat back to the dock using the outboard motor, but in Blaine's case the friction adjustment for the pivot had been locked down tight, so he had no steerage.  I heard that towing the boat without the rudder in the chop and wind turned out to be quite a chore, but eventually they got the boat back to its slip. 

2002 Fleet Champion

Don and Carolyn Bateson share a moment of surprise as Don wins both the Fleet Champion and Most Improved Sailor awards.

The fleet annually presents a perpetual plaque to the Fleet 20 member who achieves the best racing record over the past year.  The races we count include the five Thursday evening Spring Series, five Thursday evening Summer Series, and the two day One-Design Regatta in August (which no one raced in this year).

For the 2002 season, the Fleet Champion Award went to Don Bateson, who sails Crocus, #4248.  In accepting the award, Don very graciously acknowledged the crew work and advice he had benefited from during the season.

2002 Most Improved Sailor

The fleet also annually presents a perpetual plaque to the Fleet 20 member whose racing performance has improved the most over the past year.  In the 2002 season,  we had three new boats come to the line:  Don Bateson on Crocus, Blaine Dickason on Gromit, and Vernon Hollins on Zephyr.   

For the 2002 season, the Most Improved Racer award went to Don Bateson.  While Don credits fine crew work for his success, ultimately the person holding the tiller selects the tactics and steers the course, and in 2002 Don did a pretty good job.  I had the pleasure of crewing for Don on several occasions, and Don's just the nicest guy you could ever want to meet.

Congratulations Don for all your success in 2002.

New Officers for 2003

The Fleet's annual Holiday Party is also when we thank our outgoing officers and elect a new group for the coming season.  Much to the relief of outgoing Fleet Captain Mike Hibbs, our new Fleet Captain is Blaine Dickason.  Please join me in thanking Blaine for stepping forward to fill this important role.  The new officers for 2003 are:

Thank You Mike

Thank you Mike Hibbs for serving as the Fleet Captain in 2002.  From organizing the Spring and Winter meetings to making sure Fleet 20 showed up with a boat and sufficient people to serve as the Race Committee twice during the 2002 season, Mike worked behind the scenes to keep Fleet 20 moving.

Notes from the Secretary/Treasurer
By Dale Mack

I'd like to make you aware of one of the great resources for Catalina 22 owners. The MainBrace is the official magazine of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association (www.catalina22.org) and has been in continuous publication since 1972.

The MainBrace is mailed to Association members six times a year (January, March, May, July, September, and November).   The magazine contains articles about cruising, technical tips, family activities aboard C-22's, racing, regatta notices, and news from more than sixty Catalina 22 Fleets spread across the country who conduct many local activities.  I really look forward to the arrival my copy every two months and particularly enjoy the technical tips, cruising stories, and reading about the adventures of other Catalina 22 Fleets.  Information on how to join the Association and get the magazine is available at www.catalina22.org  .

Welcome Aboard

As we close out 2002 and prepare to head into 2003, Fleet 20 is already attracting new members.  Our newest members are:

William Ohle of Portland, Oregon

Catalina 22, #932 - Brave Utensil - is at Columbia Ridge Marina

William is interested in cruising.

Forrest and Lael Seitz of Beaverton, Oregon

Catalina 22 - << no name yet >> 

Forrest is the new owner of a 1986 C22, and he is interested in cruising and racing

 Welcome aboard from all the members in Fleet 20.

Become a Member of Fleet 20
By Dale Mack

It's that time of year to renew your Fleet 20 membership or to join for the first time if you're one of the many local C22 owners who have thought about joining but just haven't taken that first step yet.  The 2003 season promises to be a lot of fun, and I look forward to working with our new Fleet Captain as we plan a few non-race related activities.

The Fleet 20 Membership Application is available online here.  Simply print it off, fill it out, and sending it along with $10 to the address listed on the application.

Come this Spring, we'll probably organize another walk the docks and drop off brochures event at several of the local marinas.  We'll also have photos and brochures at the Portland Boat Show as part of the Columbia River All Catalina Association's booth.  The boat show gives us an opportunity to gain some visibility will local Catalina 22 sailors.  If anyone is interested in working the CRACA booth during the show let me know.

If you plan on racing in 2003, you might consider joining the Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO).  Although a SYSCO membership isn't required to race, SYSCO members do benefit from having their race entry fees for SYSCO sponsored events automatically covered by their membership dues.  More information about SYSCO and other Portland/Vancouver sailing organizations can be found at:

www.sailpdx.com

Searching for a Catalina 22
By Dale Mack

What do you do after you've sold your Catalina 22?  Go looking for another one of course.  As strange as that sounds that is exactly what Mike Hibbs and I are doing.  I sold my boat midway through the 2001 season and Mike sold his boat this year.  We both kept our sailing appetite satisfied by crewing for others, although I guess there is that Catalina 30 Laura and I purchased in February 2002.

Mike and I are looking for an older boat that we can race together.  Something requiring some TLC is OK, it just has to be sound, have a decent sail inventory, have a trailer, and not be missing any significant parts.

We missed out on a couple of good boats below $2,500 already so we know there are good boats out there somewhere.  Our biggest problem to date is that we hear about the boats too late.  So, here's where you come in.  If you hear of a Catalina 22 for sale, feel free to pass that information along to either Mike or myself.   Mike and I are also open to the possibility of adding a third partner should someone be interested.

Portland Boat Show
By Dale Mack

January 4-12.  The Portland Boat Show is less than a month away.  Laura and I are manning the CRACA promotional booth located next to the Sailboats of Oregon display on Saturday, January 4, from 11am to 2 pm.

Is anyone interested in hitting Elmer's for breakfast at 9 am, followed by a quick trip to West Marine, and then onto the boat show when it opens at 11 am?  Let me know if you are interested.

Seattle Boat Shows
By Dale Mack

January 17-26.  The annual Seattle Boat Show, and Lake Union Boats Afloat Show will be held January 17-26.  The Seattle Boat Show takes place at the Seahawks Stadium and Exhibition Center across the street from Safeco Field, and it features lots of marine equipment booths, powerboats, and a few sailboats.  To see sailboats, you will want to go to the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show.  A free shuttle bus  operates between the Seattle Boat Show and the Boats Afloat Show.

Cruising the San Juan Islands in 2003
By Dale Mack

Laura and I are planning to take our Catalina 30 north next summer to spent four weeks cruising the San Juan and Canadian Gulf Islands.  Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill (Catalina 30, Imagine) have made this trip, so we've been asking them lots of questions about how to prepare, what to take, when to go, and places to visit.  We've cruised the islands twice before in our Catalina 22, so we are excited about visiting some of our old haunts while discovering some new ones.

Have you started thinking about whether you want to cruise the San Juan's in 2003?  It might be fun to rendezvous somewhere if our schedules overlap.  Laura and I haven't even put together a wish list of places to visit, so we are pretty flexible.  Bob and Gail are thinking about buddy boating up the coast with us if their summer plans include taking their boat north in 2003.

Tentatively we are thinking about starting the cruise mid-July and running through mid-August.  As for getting Celtic Myst north, ideally I'd like to do it after the June 16-19 Catalina 22 National Regatta in Idaho.  Ultimately, weather and the availability of crew will dictate the departure date from Astoria.  Laura said she'd help me get the boat to and from Astoria, but going up and down the coast she's going to pass on, so I'm going to have to find crew to help.

Editor's Note:  In 2003, the Catalina 22 National Regatta will be held on Cascade Lake, Idaho, just north of Boise (June 16-19)  What follows is the second in a series of reprints of articles from the 1991 National Regatta which was also held on Cascade Lake.  Since nearly a hundred Northwest Catalina 22 owners read the Fleet 20 newsletter each month, we're hoping these reprints generate some Northwest interest in attending the 2003 National Regatta either as a racer, crew or as a cruiser/spectator.

Hermitically Sealed Sails Into a Cold "Spud"
By Scott Seale, Phoenix, AZ
Reprinted from Mainsheet, November 1991, pg. 77.

This was our fifth national C-22 regatta and this year it was held at Cascade Lake, about 70 miles north of Boise at 5000 feet. After 2 1/2 days of driving through Utah and Idaho, we finally arrived and couldn't believe our eyes. A beautiful lake about 3 miles wide by 30 miles long nestled between two mountain ranges still covered with snow. The hills were covered with pine trees and the lake was covered with sailboats. WOW, this is gonna be great. After scrubbing the road grime off the bottom, tuning and rigging, we launched Hermetically and ended up anchoring near a grassy shoreline. Our theme this year was "camp on the boat" for the entire week and rely on our new solar shower bags for bathing. Much to our surprise, Sunday evening, we ended up eating dinner with fellow C-22ers from Oregon, Loal and Richard Scofield and Aubrey Nash, brother of the famous writer and poet, Ogden Nash. We heard about Vicky Boyce (ex-Fleet 14) sailing with Loal every day for a week in an All Female Racing Clinic while Bill babysat the kids. We also quickly discovered how C-22ers from Washington, Oregon, and Idaho who showed up to race, always talked about their first love, cruising in God's country.

Monday was sort of a lay day with no practice race scheduled. We took Hermetically Sealed out and ended up sailing with our foul weather gear (foulies) on, due to the light drizzle. It was beautiful watching the other C-22s tune up in the scattered sunlight and watching eagles and osprey work the lake for a fish. We finally got the feel of the boat back after tacking, gybing, pointing, and running and decided to head in and relax. We played cards "down below" and then it started lightning and thundering along with about two inches of hail. After the storm passed by, it looked like it had snowed and we began wondering how well our solar showers were going to work. We decided to eat onboard that night and ended up getting naked in the cockpit for our evening showers. Two five gallon solar shower bags were strapped to the boom. Go for it! It was very refreshing to induce such large goosebumps.

Hermetically Sealed, #12060

Tuesday was our first race day. In race #1 we got a great start and quickly got confused about the race course. We came in about twentieth and during the race met another couple named Gail and Doug Philaja on LaToy who hailed from Portland. [ Editor's Note:  Gail and Doug are former members and Fleet Captain's of Fleet 20].  She was a cute redhead who always had a smile on her face when she was at the helm while her husband did all the trimming and foredeck work, just the opposite of us. Anyway, they had just gotten married two months earlier and guess where their wedding ceremony was held, on their C-22. In the next race, we finally got the lake figured out, but still we did not have good boat speed while pointing. During the last windward leg, Joyce adjusted the sheeting angle and let the genoa out and we knew we had our boat speed back. We came in about tenth place and had her "dialed in." Can't wait till tomorrow.

Wednesday, after it had rained all night, we woke up with moisture in the boat and were freezing cold. I unloaded our camping equipment and the solar showers off of the boat and was the laughing stock of the parking lot as they watched me put the solar showers on the hood of the Suburban. We headed out for the race course. Joyce was shaking uncontrollably from the cold so we didn't start the third race and decided to drop out until we could get warm. We ended up driving north to a beautiful little town called McCall, so we could buy neoprene surfer socks. It's ridiculous to have great foulies and no foot protection. When we got back, we found out that we got a DNS in the third race and that the fourth race was thrown out due to rain and no wind. 

That night, at the C-22 banquet, we feasted on salmon, salad, and Idaho "spud" potatoes that were huge. We had a great time and got to watch Joyce give her treasurer's report for her first year as the C-22 National Secretary/Treasurer. We topped off the evening by going to a local KOA and all of us taking hot showers for $5.00. It felt great and we were still wondering when it was going to quit raining. 

On Thursday, we woke up to a light drizzle and felt good after our hot showers and a good night's rest. We got our into our foulies and were real excited about our neoprene socks. We were ready for racing. In the fifth race, we intentionally crossed the start line about five seconds late on starboard and then immediately tacked to port for clean air. This trick works great in heavy traffic and it paid off. We rounded the weather mark in third place right behind David Hayslip. We made very few mistakes during this twice around triangle course and ended up in sixth place, just being beat by Hayslip, ex-national champ, and beating Joe Becker, twice national champ. Wow, what a great feeling all three of us had. In the sixth and final race, the winds became shifty and very light, they put up a twice around and my crew was starting to fade. We ended up finishing in twentieth place overall out of 26 boats and were proud of our accomplishments. Had we not missed the third race, we would have finished overall in about tenth place.

That evening, we attended the awards banquet and ate trout, spud potatoes, and lots of salad and watched David Hayslip of Dallas accept the National Championship trophy for the second time. We had a wonderful time and sincerely enjoyed meeting fellow C-22ers of the Pacific Northwest.

COMMENTS, IDEAS, LESSONS LEARNED IN A POTATO SHELL:

1. Ullman sails win C-22 nationals. 
2. Solar showers do not work in Idaho. 
3. C-22 wing keel finishes third at the Nationals, keep crew weight abeam or forward of the mast at all times.
4. If you get chilled with your foulies on, get out of them and then crawl into a sleeping bag or something warm. If you buy foul weather gear, buy some type of foot protection.
5. Try a telltale on the leech of your genoa. This helps you set the sheeting angle and how far off the spreader boot you trim the sail.
6. Smiles from the skipper induce crew work. 
7. Large goosebumps, card games, friendly people can sure round out a great sailing vacation. 

Editor's Note:  The following has been reprinted with permission from a Catalina 22 email thread discussion that started on 12/14/2002, when Skip Meisch described his recent adventure.  Several of us in Fleet 20 met Skip during the 1999 San Juan Island's cruise when our paths crossed at Deer Harbor.

Broken Rudder
By Skip Meisch, C22 #6850, Slow Flight
Fleet 6, Seattle, WA

If you want to know if something on your boat is getting ready to fail, take the boat out in bad weather and find out. $hit is always more likely to happen in severe conditions.

Last Thursday I thought I would tempt fate by sailing north 28 miles to attend a sailing club's Christmas party. The party was scheduled to begin at 5pm. I left Everett at 9:23 am. That would be plenty of time to sail downwind 28 miles in GALE force winds. No problem! Just hank on the storm jib, reef the main and enjoy the ride. I'd get there in plenty of time to shower and change clothes.

Well, I still got there in time but I was pretty tired. Less than three hours into the trip I felt a cracking feeling in the tiller. I figured the tiller was getting ready to break so I started working on a plan to jury rig the tiller. Less than an hour later the rudder finished its life with Slow Flight.

Did you know that a C22 without a rudder is impossible to sail? Trust me, it is! I knew ahead of time that the boat could not be sailed without a rudder because I had tried it before. I have pulled up the rudder and tried steering with sail trim just as I had been told you could do. Yeah right!

At about 16 miles into the trip my rudder snapped off at the lower pintle (snapped off completely and disappeared into the rough sea). I quickly dropped the jib and main and started the outboard. I briefly toyed with the idea of heading back for home and just drive up for the party (almost a two hour drive). But I decided that I wouldn't be able to get there in time. Motoring against gale force wind with only the outboard for steerage is almost impossible. Each wave forced the bow hard over faster than my 5 horsepower outboard could keep it on track, so I turned the boat back to my original destination now 12 miles away. This approach still wasn't working too well. Each wave that caught the stern slightly askew would tend to turn the boat around until it was abeam to the wind. I was constantly turning 100 degrees or more to starboard to straightened it out followed by a 100 degrees turn to port. A small sea anchor might have been nice to drag from the stern (too bad it was in my garage). The boat just doesn't steer well in rough sea and high wind without a rudder. I kept up this zigzag course until I got to the relatively sheltered waters inside Oak Harbor. Avoiding drifting logs and other junk was a real challenge too. I had to be real careful about not allowing the boat to round up into floating debris. A holed hull would have ruined an otherwise great experience.

I now have to buy a new rudder from Catalina Direct. The top of the broken rudder revealed some rotten wood at the rubber pintle. Water had entered through the bolt holes and rotted the wood. I always keep my rudder in the cabin when I leave the boat after a weekend of sailing, and the original owner always trailer sailed, so I figured my rudder had a dry core.  When I get my new rudder, I will drill out the pintle bolt holes oversize and fill them with epoxy then re-drill then to the correct size. That will seal the core from water intrusion. Why didn't Catalina Yachts do that?

A friend at the Christmas party invited me over to his garage after the party and we fashioned a temporary rudder out of a piece of fir 2x12.  I decided not to motor home until the winds subsided below gale force. When my wife picked me up today at Oak Harbor, the barometer was reading 29.09 and was still going down. The harbor master said he had never seen it that low before.  The winds really start increasing once the barometer starts climbing.  That's why I decided not to motor home yet.

Thoughts on Steering with No Rudder

The only way I was able to get to my intended destination was to use the outboard to push the stern in the right direction. But going downwind, the waves were almost always going faster than the boat so the motor had little effect. The outboard just allowed me to maneuver in a general direction. My shoulder was very tired after three hours of constantly pumping the outboard tiller back and forth.   It wasn’t until I got to the relatively protected waters near the marina that I had good control. I might have had better luck with the keel raised. That would have given me a wider (although shorter) keel and might have given the boat more tracking ability. But with the pitching I was getting I wanted the keel fully down.

Docking was a pain because the only steerage came from the push from the outboard.  Once I shut off or shifted to neutral I had NO steerage. Fortunately, there was an extra hand at the dock to help me.

Sailing in Gale Force Winds, What Was I Thinking

I was thinking, "Downwind all the way for a change!" My normal trip to Oak Harbor seems to always be against the wind both ways. I've been single handing in gale force conditions a number of times including a 32 mile race against much larger and well crewed boats (I won). It is the best way to learn how to handle the boat in those conditions. If I only go out when the wind is below 20, I will never learn how to handle the higher conditions. Sailing downwind in high winds is a LOT easier than sailing upwind in the same conditions. It was really easy until the rudder broke. Then it was just a matter of letting the wind have its way with me. What could be more fun?  By the way, I had all the hatches and hatch boards in place and secured, plus, I was wearing my life jacket and I was tethered to the boat.

Remember, when the going gets rough, the weak parts will break, so be ready to take action. I will now carry a spare rudder onboard if I expect rough conditions or a long trip. I might even add an extra offset set of gudgeons for mounting the spare rudder in case the current gudgeons fail.

January

• 4-12, Portland Boat Show
• 17-26, Seattle Boat Show
• 17-26, Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

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.