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September 2004
 

From the Afterguard
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

September is always a transitional month.  While we enter the waning months of the sailing season with still many opportunities ahead of us, thoughts of when to pull the boat start creeping in.  I've been fortunate to be out on the water a lot this year with practicing for and racing in the Catalina 25/250 Nationals aboard Terry Annis' C25 Lematike, and racing and sailing my own boat.  Throughout the season I sighted many a Fleet 20 sail number plying the waters between the bridges.

The trip to Beacon Rock was beautiful as always, and it was nice meeting one of our newest members Joseph Bruining and Molly aboard Wingman, #3109.  You can read more about the cruise later in the newsletter.

I and fellow C22 skipper Mike Hibbs crewed aboard Terry Annis' Catalina 25 Lematike in the last beer can race of the season on September 3rd and had a great time.  The race started at 6:30 pm in very light air coming out of the northeast.  We managed to make it across the starting line and to anchor on the Washington side of the river as the wind died.  While we hung on the anchor, I took a picture of Fleet 20 member Doug Alexander leading the pack aboard Sottovento, #14741.

At 7:20 the race committee abandoned the race but we didn't move.  I'd been watching a band of wind moving upriver coming out of the northwest.  We pulled the anchor, raised the spinnaker, and dropped the genoa.  As our apparent wind clocked from the northeast to the northwest, Lematike began building speed.  The other Catalina 25's soon followed suit and we were off racing for buoy "14".  After "14" we headed downriver to the entrance to Tomahawk Bay Moorage, then north across the river to the buoy known locally as race mark "2" and then back to Tomahawk.  It was a great sail, and I'm glad we had the patience to wait for it.

Catalina Rendezvous

Saturday, September 18th.  The Catalina Rendezvous is only a couple of weeks away and I hope you'll considered driving over for the seminars and to listen to Gerry Douglas of Catalina Yachts, even if you don't bring your boat.  A handful of Catalina 22 crews have already registered online, and Laura and I are looking forward to meeting you.  Remember, you don't need to me a member of Fleet 20 to attend and the event is free.  When you get to McCuddy's Landing, just look for the mast flying a red ribbon, and that will be my boat.

More information regarding the rendezvous can be found here:

Sail for the Cure

Saturday, September 25th.  If you haven't signed up to participate in the Sail for the Cure there is still time.  Last year's two hour fun sail followed by the picnic dinner and live music at Tomahawk made for a wonderful day.

Laura will be out of town the day of the event so I've been busy recruiting a rookie crew from work, including a novice skipper.  I hear the organizing committee makes up a new on the water game each year, so you never actually know what you'll be doing aboard the boat until you pickup your instructions and t-shirts on the day of the event.

If you haven't done this before, it kind of goes like this:

10am - 12pm:  Event Check-In (Tomahawk Bay Moorage Picnic Area, 515 NE Tomahawk Island Drive).  Pick up your Sail for the Cure packet and T-shirts and check out the silent auction items.  The skipper's packet will include instructions on how to do this year's event.  Head off to get your boat.

1 - 3pm:  Sail for the Cure.  Rendezvous on the Columbia River near navigational buoy #14.  Follow the instructions in the skipper's packet.  While the officially listed skipper has to be a female, the person steering the boat does not.

3 - 6pm:  Post-event Party.  Food, music, silent auction and fun prizes!  Tomahawk Bay Moorage Picnic Area.

Click here for registration information.

 
Cruising

Reflections on Beacon Rock Cruise
 By Dale Mack

Beacon Rock State Park

Joe Bruining and Molly aboard
Wingman, #3109

August 19-22.  Laura and my first cruise to Beacon Rock was in May 2001 aboard our earlier Catalina 22 Harmony.  The estimated time of 6 to 7 hours of motoring to reach the moorage would eclipse our previous longest motor of 4.5 hours from Anacortes to Roche Harbor in the San Juan Islands.  As is my nature, I fretted about how much fuel to carry, how strong the current would be as we neared Bonneville Dam, and whether I had the correct charts for the trip.  I brought 9 gallons of fuel for my four-stroke 7.5 hp Honda outboard split between the 6.3 gallon main cruising tank and a 2.7 gallon Rubbermaid refill fuel can.  I burned a total of 7.5 gallons for the whole trip.  As far as my concerns about the the hour after hour sound of the motor as we spend 6 hours and 22 minutes reaching the destination, it wasn't bad at all, and in light of last year's nine hour motor from Cathlamet to St. Helens, it no longer seems like a big deal, plus the scenery is gorgeous.

Since that first trip, this cruise has become an annual event for our family.  There is just something about waking up to the mist in morning as it clings to the ravines along the Oregon side of the gorge, or watching the cranes fishing in the shallows.

Our trip began is year on a Thursday morning under a thick marine layer.  To the east the sun was starting to come up and casting an orange-pink glow.  Down below, Laura and Sean remained asleep as I pointed the boat's bow upriver at 6:55 am.

The 6.5 hour trip to Beacon Rock was uneventful.  Except for a couple of places where I was able to sail, the wind remained light.  By 1:30 pm the boat was at the dock.

Friday and Saturday included lots of reading, napping, kayaking, and walking the dog.  I managed to circumnavigate Pierce Island (across from the docks), but breaking free of the current at the east end of the island so I enter the Columbia River was a bugger.  It took me two attempts against the strong inflowing current.  While gliding through the thin water on the north side of Pierce Island, Sean and I were amazed at the number of 18-24 inch fish sunning themselves in the shallows.  We stopped counting after a hundred.  In some places they were so far inshore their fins protruded above the surface of the water.  The kayaks allowed us to quietly glide up to the fish and be nearly on top of them before they darted away.

Joseph Bruining decided to spread the trip over two days and spent his first night at Reed Island (just upriver from Washougal, WA).  This was Joseph's first trip to Beacon Rock by boat, and from his comments, probably not his last.

We had great weather right up to 6:15 pm on Saturday night.  The crews from five boats had finished sharing potluck appetizers and were sitting around chit-chatting and contemplating dinner when the skies opened up and began a series of thunder showers that would last for the next five days.

Apart from the rain, our trip back on Sunday was the easiest thus far.  We had an apparent head wind of 13-17 knots, but the sea conditions were relatively calm.  Dressed in my foul weather gear, I piloted the boat home while Laura and Sean played cards below.

I'm already looking forward to next year.

 
Racing

Spinnakers in 2005
By Dale Mack 

Blame it on a season of racing with a spinnaker on a Catalina 25, but I'm ready to start the 2005 racing season off with a new twist and switch over to racing with a symmetrical spinnaker on Crocus, #4248.  Spinnakers will make the downwind legs typically against the river's current more interesting, and probably have us finishing at least even with Cal 20s if the PHRF-NW rating numbers are to be believed (Cal 20 = 294, Catalina 22 = 293).

Look for an on the water spinnaker workshop in March to teach how to fly both a symmetrical and an asymmetrical (cruising) spinnaker.   Whether you race, cruise, or just day sail, the workshop should help sweep away some of the mystery associated with spinnakers.

 

Technical Tips

Installing an Adjustable Backstay
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

Crocus had a functioning adjustable backstay, but I found it difficult to operate and prone to not releasing easily.  The backstay split into two wire cables that attached to chainplates on either side of the traveler.  Riding on the inverted "V" were a pair of wire blocks connected to a 4:1 block and tackle.  By pulling on the tackle, the wire blocks would squeeze the split cables of the backstay together, thus increasing tension on the forestay and pulling the top of the mast aft.

Reusing many elements of the old system, the new adjustable backstay configuration operates smoothly, and applies an 8:1 mechanical advantage instead of the previous 4:1 setup.

Unlike my installation of an adjustable backstay on Harmony, #14286, in 2000, Crocus already had a second chainplate in the stern (click here to read about the Harmony installation) so the conversion to the new system went very quickly.

The forward and aft lower shrouds of the mast, when properly tensioned, should hold the mast in place as you release the backstay.  If this step makes you nervous, consider attaching the main halyard to a point on the stern and using it as a substitute backstay while you work.

I removed the inverted wire cable "V" and replaced it with a block.  From the starboard side I ran a line from the chainplate up to the block and down to a 4:1 block and tackle, thus creating a cascade arrangement and converting the 4:1 into an 8:1.  The 8:1 has proven to provide more than enough power to tension the forestay.

The line I used for the "V" and the tackle is 1/4" Sta-Set from New England Ropes.  Whatever line you use, select something that is low stretch.

 

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

Sail Portland

 		    Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS)

Catalina Association of Puget Sound (CAPS)

Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO)

 

Upcoming Events

September

  • 11 - 12, St. Helens Cruise

  • 17-19, Catalina Rendezvous, McCuddy's Landing

  • 25, Sail for the Cure

October

  • 9, SYSCO Awards Banquet

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.