From the Afterguard
By Dale Mack

Ah, Spring is in the air and the marina is filled with the sounds of power washers.  Funny how the northwest climate turns the north side of your boat into a science project (no this picture isn't my boat ). 

A very wet March and April made it a challenge to finish those pre-season maintenance projects.  It always seemed to be sunny when I as at work, and raining on the weekends.  The wet weather has suppressed our cruising schedule, so lets hope things get better in May.  April also saw several of us dusting off our racing skills in the SYSCO Thursday evening Spring Series.

Don't forget to get your current registration stickers on the boat.  The sheriffs department has been authorized to walk the docks at marinas and cite boats with expired registration.  The citation will cost you $175.

The Columbia River All Catalina Association has invited us to attend their May general membership meeting at the Rose City Yacht Club (see below for more details).  The meeting is planned as a BBQ social where you bring your own food to barbeque and RCYC provides the grills.  Our Vice Commodore, Todd Bellamy, has arranged to have a speaker from Schooner Creek Boat Works come and talk about their services.

Parking Lot Swap Meets

The West Marine sponsored swap meet on April 24th turned out to have some great stuff for those that arrived early.  I ran into several Fleet 20 members while I picked up a few bargains.

The Tomahawk Bay Sway Meet is Saturday May 17 at 8 am.  For those of us who's wives have taken the boat on the Ladies Cruise that same weekend, here's another reason to hang around boats and possibly pick up a bargain or two.

Bob Gales, Terry Annis, and I are going to selling stuff, so you are welcome to join us.

Fleet 20 Spring Meeting Was Great!

The fleet's Spring meeting was held at Fleet Captain Blaine Dickason's and Cindy Moreno's home on Sunday, April 6th.  The potluck brunch was awesome, and the meeting was well attended.

Volunteer for the May 20th Race Committee
By Dale Mack 

As Race Captain this year, Don Bateson needs to recruit you to serve with him as part of the Race Committee for May 20th (Tuesday).  Since the thought of being on a Race Committee might scare off some for fear that they need to know something about sailing or racing, I want to assure you that you don't need to know anything!  All the race committee positions are very easy and can be picked up after about 5-10 minutes of demonstration.  The Principal Race Officer (PRO) for the night directs the whole thing, a little bit like a symphony conductor, so as a race committee member you take all your queues from the PRO.

In addition to the Principal Race Officer, we need to fill the following five (5) other race committee positions:

• Spotter/Recorder - Identifies and records all boats starting and finishing, including competitors who do not complete the race.
• Timer - Calls the time sequence aloud so the start and finish can be properly run.
• Sounder - In charge of the sound signals
• Signaler - Handles the flags
• Line Sighter - Sights starting line to identify boats "on the course side" (OCS, over early) and tracks boats returning to start.  Sights finish line to determine order and moment of finish.
• Mark Boat Operator - Set the racing marks.  Usually two people who can also have other race committee roles.

As the race committee (RC) boat gets itself anchored, two of the race committee members will use SYSCO's mark setting boat "Pancho", a Boston Whaler, to anchor race markers at locations identified by the the Principal Race Officer.  For insurance reasons, one of the folks aboard Pancho must be a SYSCO member.  Pancho is kept at Tomahawk Bay Moorage, where several Fleet 20 members also keep their boats.

The first warning signal goes up at 6:30 pm, so most of the pre-race setup like anchoring the committee boat and setting the marks needs to be completed at least thirty (30) minutes before the first signal.  Fleet 20 will be using Terry Annis' Catalina 25 as the race committee boat.  Dinner will be a potluck affair with everyone contributing something to munch on.  Lematike has life jackets, but you may want to bring your own for comfort reasons.

Typical pre-race activities include:

• 4:45 pm - Transfer Race Committee (RC) equipment from Pancho to RC boat
• 4:45 pm - Race Committee volunteers arrive at RC boat
• 5:00 pm - RC boat gets underway
• 5:30 pm - RC boat anchored at starting line
• 5:30 pm - Remaining Race Committee volunteers arrive a Pancho
• 5:35 pm - Pancho gets underway
• 5:40 pm - Principal Race Officer (PRO) decides which race course(s) to set
• 5:45 pm - Pancho setting marks
• 6:00 pm - Course board up, "Come Within Hail" signal up
• 6:00 pm - Recorder ready to identify and record boats as they pass by
• 6:15 pm - Pancho tied astern of RC boat
• 6:15 pm - PRO walks the team through the starting sequence one more time
• 6:29 pm - "Come Within Hail" flag comes down
• 6:30 pm - First Class Flag goes up (we are now five minutes before the first start)

We are still looking for volunteers, so please call Blaine Dickason (503-460-3711) or Don Bateson (503-460-3452) if you can help out.

Catalina Mainsheet Magazine
By Dale Mack

The Catalina Mainsheet magazine is published quarterly (Feb, May, Aug, Nov).  Targeted as a Catalina, Capri, and Morgan owners magazine, Mainsheet draws much of its contents from submissions made by members of the One-Design and All Catalina associations.

The magazine contains articles about cruising, technical tips, family activities aboard Catalina Yachts, racing results, regatta notices, and news from One-Design fleets and All Catalina Associations across the country who conduct many local activities.

Organized by Catalina model, the magazine makes it easy to find information about your boat.  The Technical Notes section is great for reading about other owners' experiences in maintaining and enhancing their boats.

The Mainsheet is available for $10/year.  Click here to learn how to subscribe.

BBQ Planned for May's General Membership Meeting
By Todd Bellamy (Vice Commodore), C27 Sail La Vie
Columbia River All Catalina Association

Ladies Cruise 2003
By Dale Mack

We are counting down to the start of the 2003 Ladies Cruise.  Three crews from Fleet 20 are planning to attend the event.  This cruise is sponsored by the Oregon Women's Sailing Association (you don't have to be a member to attend).  The OWSA website has more information about the organization.

Ladies Cruise 2003 Island Getaway Held at the PYC Outstation May 16,17,18   This year's event will be at PYC Outstation on the Columbia River.  All Women Sail and Power Boaters are invited to join us for this, the 18th annual event. SKIPPER AND CREW COORDINATION MEETING TUESDAY MARCH 25, AT 7PM Please come join us at the Rose City Yacht Club. 3737 NE Marine Dr. The gate will be opened at 6:30pm ¨For information call or e-mail: Your Cruise Captains: Sue Johnson, lspbj@comcast.net , 503-661-7199 Sheila Drews, Sheila.drews@saiemail.com Cheri Tuma, svabsolut@cs.com

Weather Challenges Racers
By Dale Mack

The 2003 racing season for Fleet 20 began on Thursday, April 17th.  The first race had everything, sunny skies, clouds, hail, light wind, and too much wind.  Trying to guess how to setup the boat was a crap shoot.  At one moment we are reefing the main and thinking about switching to the 110, and the next we are shaking out the reef and trimming the boat for light air.  The rain managed to hold off until after the race, although the hail storm heading back into the marina capped off an interesting evening.  Like many that first night, our racing skills aboard Crocus were pretty rusty.  We seemed to lose too much speed in tacks, and my own personal lack of coordination left my shins and knees bruised the next morning.  I find it always takes me a couple of races to rediscover the the sharp corners on the boat before I can start moving around freely without running into something.

Four boats showed up to the starting line for the SYSCO Spring Evening Race Series:

• Crocus, Don Bateson
• Gromit, Blaine Dickason
• Solus, Mike McGrath
• << no name yet >>, Forrest Seitz

There is actually a fifth boat racing (David Paligo's Ranger 20, Polaris) that SYSCO has chosen to race with the Catalina 22's because there aren't any other Ranger 20's racing. 

The most memorial event from the first race has to be seeing Gromit drop out when the crew lost the jib halyard to the top of the mast. 

The second race on April 24th was cancelled due to a lack of wind.

Oregon Boater Education Sample Questions

This type of PFD is designed to be thrown to someone in trouble in the water.

See the calendar

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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.