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| www.c22pdx.org |
April 2004 |
From the Captain
By Don Bateson
As I was pondering what to write for this newsletter I thought I would log on and take a gander at the writings of past Fleet Captains for some inspiration. I was pleasantly surprised and somewhat embarrassed (ok profoundly embarrassed) to see that Dale had once again created a great newsletter, excellent prose, great design, and impeccable organization. I would like to thank Dale for acting as Fleet Captain in everything but name these past three months; I really needed the help and he was there 110%.
The Technical session that Dale and Laura hosted this last month was incredibly informative and fun and made me realize that Fleet 20 is like the Elephant in the story about the blind men and the Elephant. Since my focus has always been club racing with SYSCO I saw the fleet as a racing organization and felt that if the racing were to taper off the fleet would “die”. Well it turns out that the fleet is an Elephant, not a snake or a tree, and is nowhere near it’s end, but you already knew that.
There are lots of choices for fleet activities coming up, both on the water and off. The fleet has one official obligation in two parts this year, and that is serving as Race Committee for the SYSCO Spring and Summer series. If you have never done this before I highly recommend it. You get box seats to watch some very impressive boats and crew go through their paces. We also have the benefit of being directed by very organized and seasoned Principal Race Officer. Dale has included the details for the first evening below and I will be working with the race captain, Blaine Dickason, to make sure the roster is filled.
I would like to concentrate on activities that Fleet Members are most interested in and want to avoid planning activities that don’t work for folks. Dale has laid out an interesting smorgasbord of things to do in the weeks ahead and made a few suggestions. I would love to hear from any and all of you if there is something that you would like to do as a fleet or in small groups. Some suggestions:
1. An overnight cruise later in the year as fleet 20 to Bartlett Landing (see below).
2. Ad-hoc and planned day sails between the I-5 and I-205.
3. A “on the water” tech session or sessions as suggested below.
Please feel free to contact me by e-mail at donbateson@yahoo.com.
From
the Afterguard
By Dale Mack
It must be April because the calendar is full of sailing activities. The improving weather and rising temperatures has me looking forward to getting out on the boat. It's time to ignore all those winter boating projects that didn't get finished and just enjoy the boat.
Swap Meet
Fleet 20 starts the month off with a land cruise to the West Marine Swap Meet on Saturday, April 17. The swap meet runs from 7 am - noon, but savvy shoppers know to show up between 6:30 and 7:00 to find the "good stuff". After the swap meet we usually head over to Elmer's restaurant for breakfast. Look for more details later in the newsletter.
No Catalina 22 One-Design Racing in 2004?
As mentioned in our January newsletter, Catalina 25 Fleet 94 of Portland won the honor of hosting the Catalina 25/250 National Association's championship regatta July 14 - 17. One side effect of preparing for the regatta is that two of our Catalina 22s may not be racing the Spring Series and possibly the Summer Series because their Skippers or crews are crewing for the Catalina 25 fleet. Read more about this later in the newsletter.
Race Committee Duty
Fleet 20 is serving as the Race Committee on Tuesday, April 27. Don Bateson will be calling around looking for an additional 4-5 volunteers to help run the race. If you are interested, please contact Don at donbateson@yahoo.com. More details regarding the race committee duty can be found later in the newsletter.
April Cruise to Bartlett Landing
Although I'll be off racing in the SYSCO Spring Regatta April 24-25, that same weekend there is a Columbia River All Catalina Association cruise to Bartlett Landing (a.k.a. Government Island, East Dock). The cruise is open to all owners of Catalina Yachts. See below for more details.
Catalina Night at North Sails Oregon
I've arranged for a presentation by Kerry Poe of North Sails Oregon. The event is open to all Catalina Yacht owners and will be held at the North Sails loft. See below for more details.
Do You Need Help?
I've benefited a lot from timely advice from other Catalina 22 sailors. From how to start my Honda outboard motor on the second pull, to raising the mast and rigging the boat, I've always appreciated the willingness of people to help. It is in that spirit I encourage you to ask questions when you need advice, and seek assistance when a short demonstration will help get you going. From rigging and launching, to sailing and upgrades, I've answered questions via the phone and email, and provided demonstrations when there really was no substitute to just going out and doing it with fellow Catalina 22 sailors. Don't hesitate to ask for help or advice because one of the benefits of owning such a popular boat is being able to tap into a wealth of local knowledge and experience.
West
Marine Swap Meet & Sail
By Dale Mack
April 17, Saturday, 7am - noon. The West Marine Swap Meet is always a fun way to kickoff April, and a good excuse for Catalina 22 sailors to mingle. The swap meet is held in the parking lot in front of West Marine at Delta Park (1176 N Hayden Meadows Dr, Portland, OR 97217, 503-289-9822). If you have items to sell, you can arrange with West Marine to rent a parking lot space for a small fee. Space rental fees are donated to the Sea Scouts.
Gear tends to trickle in to the swap meeting between 6:30 am and 8:00 am. I can definitely recommend getting there early because I purchased a genuine Bruce anchor last year for $100 less than what West Marine wanted for the exact same anchor.
Breakfast. Sometime around "9-ish" a group of us are going to head over to Elmer's for breakfast (9848 N. Whitaker Road, Portland, OR 97217, 503-289-9848). This has become something of tradition after the swap meet, because we always find so much to talk about when we get together (boats, kids, vacation plans, you name it).
Daysail. If the weather is nice, then after breakfast I'd like to encourage everyone to rendezvous on the river near buoy "14" for a daysail. Crocus won't be in the water yet so I'll be aboard my Catalina 30 Celtic Myst. See you on the water.
Opening Day Parade - Columbia River
By Dale Mack
May 1. Portland's 2004 boating season kicks off with a colorful opening day parade on the Columbia River organized by the Columbia River Yachting Association (CRYA). More than 300 boats from 15 local yacht clubs will parade through the review area starting at 12:30 p.m. Boats, in formation, will stretch out for more than two miles as they pass the review vessels anchored at the 42nd street boat ramp.
Fleet
20 Membership
By Dale Mack
Please join me in welcoming our newest members.
Ed & Jean Delaney of Boise
C22, Clunker, #129, sailed on Payette Lake.
Dan & Julie Dugan of Vancouver
C22, Harmony, #14286, berthed at Columbia West
The Fleet 20 Membership Application is available online at www.c22pdx.org/docs. Simply print it off, fill it out, and sending it in along with $10 to the address listed on the application.
| Meetings |
Technical Workshop Draws Interested C22 Sailors
By Dale Mack
The Fleet 20 Spring meeting tried something different from past years. In addition to providing an opportunity to get together over brunch and meet new members and renew past friendships, this year's meeting featured a Technical Workshop. Laura and I hosted the meeting at our home in Vancouver, WA.
Folks started showing up at 9:30 am, and we kicked things off with a potluck brunch. Several of us hadn't met before other than trading emails, so it was nice to meet face to face and get to know one another. After brunch we migrated out to the RV pad on the side of the house where Crocus sat on its trailer with the mast raised and the boom mounted. Some of the topics and upgrades discussed included:
- Tuning the rig
- Double Ended Mainsheet
- Mast Gates Fleet 20 style
- A couple of methods for rigging single line reefing
- Adjustable backstay
- Replace bow eye with the U-bolt style version and replace backing block
- Reinforcement forestay by tying the deck fitting to the bow eye with a turnbuckle
- New motor mount
It was clear from the questions being asked that we could have spent all day going over the boat, instead of wrapping things up at 1 pm. I'm thinking it might be nice to have an on the water workshop where we take out a couple of boats and demonstrate some of the upgrades in action and examine some of the fundamentals of Catalina 22 sailing.
Those attending the brunch and workshop included:
- Doug Alexander
- Terry Annis
- Don Bateson (Fleet Captain)
- Dale & Laura Mack
- Paul Maier
- Jim Martin
- Mark Nelson
- Bill Ohle
- Mike and Pat Stenbak
I want to thank everyone for their generosity, the potluck brunch was great.
Catalina Night @ North Sails Oregon
By Dale Mack
I'd like to encourage my fellow Catalina 22 sailors to attend this event. Kerry of North Sails always makes this an interesting presentation, and its a great opportunity to get some of your questions answered by an expert.
| What |
 General Membership
MeetingFleet 20 will join members of the Columbia River All
Catalina Association (CRACA) at the North Sails loft.
After CRACA holds a brief business meeting to elect their new officers, sail loft
owner Kerry Poe will discuss sail trim and sail care. For those who
don't have time to eat before the meeting, Kerry has offered to setup a BBQ if
you'd like to bring something to cook, or you're welcome to bring something
ready to eat. |
| Where | North Sails Oregon www.northsailsoregon.com 7911 NE 33rd Dr. Portland, OR 97211 503-282-4282 |
| When | Wednesday,
April 28th
|
| Program |
Sails Sail trim, care, and selection. Kerry said he'll pull together something targeted at Catalina owners. |
| Cruising |
Bartlett Landing Cruise
By Dale Mack
April 24-25. Most of us know Bartlett Landing as Government Island, East Dock. During the same weekend as the SYSCO Spring Regatta, several local Catalina Yachts owners are holding a Catalina cruise to Bartlett Landing.
All the old wood pilings, docks, and ramp have been replaced by a beautiful new facility with metal pilings, concrete docks, and an aluminum ramp. A pair of parallel docks replaces the old arrangement. The outer dock is twelve feet wide, and the inner dock nearest the shore is ten feet wide. The new configuration should provide the inner berths with good protection of passing wakes.
Ashore you'll find fire pits, BBQ stands, and picnic tables sprinkled about various campsite. A large covered picnic structure is located near the ramp. The sandy beaches are great for walks, and the abundance of trees provides lots of shade in the summer.
The two new composting toilets located at the landing set the standard by which similar facilities should be judged. They are well lit by way of translucent roof panels, and very clean (at least when I visited).
Bartlett Landing is less than a two hour motor upriver from the I-5 bridge, so mark your calendar.
Ladies Cruise 2004
By OWSA
This cruise is sponsored by the Oregon Women's Sailing Association (you don't have to be a member to attend), and it always receives very high marks from the participants. The OWSA website has more information about the organization.
SKIPPER AND CREW COORDINATION MEETING TUESDAY April 13, at 6:30 PM Please come join us at the Rose City Yacht Club. The gate will be opened at 6:00pm ¨For information call or e-mail: Your Cruise Captains: Sue Johnson, lspbj@comcast.net , 503-735-2624 Sheila Drews, Sheila.drews@saiemail.com Vicki Sanborn,
upstart@teleport.com |
Martin
Island Cruise
By Dale Mack
May 29 - 31. Here's an early look at the Martin Island Cruise in May. Watch next month's newsletter for more details.
Fleet 20's Spring trek to the lagoon at Martin Island is scheduled for Memorial Weekend. We'll be joining several other clubs who make this popular anchorage an annual event. Click here to read about last year's cruise.
| Racing |
Racing
Rules Class offered by CYC
By
Susan Coulson, CYC
The Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC)
will sponsor a two-night discussion of racing rules on consecutive Thursdays, April 8th and 15th, 6-9:00 PM, at the Portland Yacht Club. CYC Commodore, Karl Kuzis, is organizing this pre-season program for ALL sailors who wish to attend.If you want pizza and pop (for a small donation), please RSVP to Nancy Rander at NancyR@schoonercreek.com as she will need a head count.
Bring your crew and tell your friends. It's time for "SPRING TRAINING."
Race Committee Volunteers Needed
By Dale Mack
Fleet
20 is serving as the Race Committee for
April 27th
(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.
- 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 over early. 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.
I have volunteered to serve as the Principal Race Officer and to use my Catalina 30 (www.Celtic-Myst.net) as the race committee boat. Dinner will be a potluck affair with everyone contributing something to munch on. Celtic Myst 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 on 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 if you can help out please call:
Blaine Dickason (503-460-3711) blainedickason@hotmail.com
or
Don Bateson (503-460-3452) donbateson@yahoo.com
Catalina 22 Racing in 2004?
By Dale Mack
The desire of several Catalina 22 skippers and crews to help make the C25/250 National Regatta a success has left us short the minimum number of boats to race One-Design this year unless some new Catalina 22 skippers step forward to race. The C25s race the same evening as the C22s and folks can't be in two places at once.
Should a minimum of three C22s fail to race the Spring Series and the Summer Series, then Fleet 20 would simply not award a Fleet Champion and Most Improved Sailor plaque for 2004.
At this time I know that Solus and Crocus will not be racing in the Spring Series. Without a minimum of three boats, any Catalina 22s that do come out to race will have to race level against non-C22s racing as part of SYSCO's "H" fleet. If you want to race your Catalina 22, please contact our Race Captain Blaine Dickason (Gromit, #12286), blainedickason@hotmail.com, so he can determine if we'll get enough boats to race One-Design. The first race is Thursday, April 22, so don't wait, contact Blaine now.
Here are the dates for racing this season.
Spring Series (Thursday evenings)
April 22, 29, and May 6, 20, 27
Summer Series (Thursday evenings)
June 17, 21, and July 1, 8, 15
August 14 - 15
Fleet 20 Race Committee Duty
As in past years, Fleet 20 will serve as the race committee for two of the Tuesday evening races. Our dates are:
- April 27, Tuesday
- June 22, Tuesday
| Technical Tips |
Bow Eye and Stem Fitting Upgrade
By Dale Mack
The following stem fitting reinforcement project wasn't difficult. I fabricated the stainless steel backing plate and L-shaped brackets from stainless steel I picked up for $2 at the local marine consignment store. While I contemplated using a harder wood than cedar used in the boat's original backing block for the bow eye, I eventually went with cedar. I figured if the original worked for twenty-six years, then the new block with my improved load spreading stainless steel plate ought to last at least that long.
If you have a new style boat (1985-1995) or a MKII, you don't need to consider this project because Catalina Yachts tied the stem fitting to the hull.
| Stem Fitting Lifting As shown in the photo at the right, old style Catalina 22s (1970 - 1985) sometimes experience the stem fitting lifting from the deck overtime as tension is applied to the forestay. (photo of a C22 at Folsom Lake, CA) |
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| Loose Bow Eye Old style Catalina 22s experience the bow eye becoming loose either because the nut backs off or the wooden backing block compresses or cracks. Eventually the block splits and falls away. The boat's owner continues to tighten the nut so all the load is focused on the washer which eventually pulls through. (photo of a C22 at Folsom Lake, CA) |
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| If It Ain't Broke... Aside from the cracked silicone caulk, the bow eye on Crocus (#4248) appeared to be sound, and it wasn't loose. |
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| A Look Inside Although the bow eye from the outside seemed solid, an inspection from inside the hull revealed a different story. The block had split, and the washer and nut had already compressed the block 1/2" from over tightening. |
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| Old Style Bow Eye Crocus' (#4248) bow eye was a single threaded rod style with two spiked points to keep the bow eye from rotating. |
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| The New Bow Eye A U-bolt style bow eye was installed by drilling a second through hole below the original bow eye's entry point. The hole above the bow eye is from one of the spikes from the previous hardware. A gel coat repair will eventually hide the hole. |
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| Backing Block The old backing block was used as a pattern for the new block. Tight grain cedar was used for the block and it matches the type of wood used in the old block. Instead of washers, a stainless steel plate was used to spread the load over a larger area. This should discourage splitting of the block. |
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| Stem Fitting Reinforcement The stainless steel plate on the backing block is connected to the stem fitting using a turnbuckle. The bow eye and the backing block are bedded in Boatlife Life-Calk. With everything in place, the load of the forestay is now transferred to the hull instead of just to the deck. |
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| Stem Fitting Connection The turnbuckle connects to the forward two bolts of the stem fitting using an L-shaped pieces of stainless steel (the photo only shows one of the two L-shaped brackets in place), Next year's project will be to replace the plywood backing plate. |
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| Scuttlebutt |
Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest
By Dale Mack
Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:
Columbia River All Catalina Association (CRACA)
Catalina 25 Fleet 94 of Portland
Catalina Association of Tacoma and South South (CATSS)
Catalina Association of Puget South (CAPS out of Seattle)
Small Yacht Sailing club of Oregon (SYSCO)
Sail Portland
| Upcoming Events |
April
- 1-2, SYSCO Race Clinic
- 7, CYC Racing Rules Class @ PYC
- 15, CYC Racing Rules Class @ PYC
- 17, West Marine Swap Meet
- 17, Daysail after swap meet
- 24-25, Bartlett Landing Cruise (Government Island, East Dock)
- 27, Race Committee Duty
- 28, Catalina Night @ North Sails Oregon
May
- 15, Tomahawk Bay Yacht Club swap meet
- 15, Daysail: After swap meet
- 21-23, Ladies Cruise: Coon Island - East Dock
- 29-31, Cruise to Martin Island
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.