From the Captain
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

Webster’s defines the “dog days of summer” as the period between early July and early September when the hot sultry weather of summer usually occurs in the northern hemisphere.  That’s a pretty fair characterization of our summer on the Columbia River this year.  While the late rainfall kept things green well into July, it had its biggest impact on keeping the river’s level up after dire predictions of thin water this season following a below average winter for snow pack.

The last race of our Summer Series occurred in early July.  After the fleet agreed to race with spinnakers this season, only Solus (#6800) actually flew one in competition.

You'll notice from the photo that Mike and Terry are flying a cruising spinnaker instead of a symmetrical racing spinnaker with a pole.  This was the third race of the Summer Series, and they only had two aboard.  Flying the symmetrical with a pole is a lot easier with three aboard.  Unlike  Solus, the rest of us never got in the practice to warrant trying the sails in traffic.

Did you know that the Catalina 22’s are the only one-design fleet racing on the Columbia River without spinnakers.  Against the river’s two knot current racing wing and wing can be a slow trip upstream.  I've gotten spoiled racing on the C25's with spinnakers, so I'm looking forward to bring this to C22 racing next year.

One of the things I've noticed season to season is that racing on Thursday nights becomes an easy excuse to get out on the boat at least once a week.  Something about feeling a sense of commitment to friends to be there provides the motivation, and once you're there you're always saying "I need to do this more".  With the SYSCO Summer Evening Series typically ended by early July, the completion of the racing season always seems anti-climatic as we drift away from doing things together on Thursday evenings and fall back into our individual patterns.  I really enjoyed having other Fleet 20 skippers crewing aboard Crocus this season and hope to do the same thing next season.  To extend my Thursday evening racing in 2006 I'm considering participating in the Corinthian Yacht Club Summer Evening Series that runs through the month of August.  Run much like SYSCO series, it provides the opportunity to extent our "excuse" for getting together on Thursday evenings.

Mike McGrath takes a dip after Saturday's hot and slow racing on the Columbia River.

In August, I and fellow C22 Skipper Mike McGrath (Solus, #6800) hopped aboard the Catalina 25, Lematike, as Fleet 20 alumni Terry Annis skippered his boat during the SYSCO One-Design weekend regatta August 13-14.  In past years Catalina 22’s have raced this event, but family vacations and work schedules prevented us from putting enough C22’s on the starting line this year.

Several of the C25 members of Catalina 25 Fleet 94 are Fleet 20 alumni.  The Catalina 25 is setup nearly identical to the C22.  Of course "identical" is a relative term since I've never been on two Catalina 22's with the same layout of blocks, clutches, cleats, winches, and lines.

If you've developed some confidence sailing your C22, you won't find the C25 all that different.  What does change is that things you might have man-handled on the C22 often require the use of the winches on a Catalina 25.

Mike and I crewed for Terry in 2004 as we prepared for and eventually sailed in the Catalina 25/250 National Regatta, so the SYSCO One-Design was a little like homecoming.  In 2004, between races and practice sessions, we had sailed together fifty times before the first race of the Nationals.

Terry Annis, Fleet 20 alumni and skipper of the C25, Lematike

Although we've been racing C30's, C25's, and C22's all season, we hadn't been racing together much, so the SYSCO One-Design was a challenge as we fought to regain the smoothness we came to take for granted in 2004.  Racing sailboats teaches so many skills.  While I've learned to sail more efficiently and make the boat more comfortable in a broad range of winds (Laura likes that), racing also emphasizes boat handling.  Long before you worry about racing strategy and tactics, you need to have a solid foundation of boat handling.  There's a wonderful feeling associated with rounding the windward mark, setting the spinnaker, dousing the genoa and settling into the downwind routine.  It's like hitting a tennis ball in the sweet spot of a racket, everything feels smooth, and in control.  As much as I like single-handing and sailing with Laura, sailing as a member of a crew aboard a race boat brings with it its own rewards unique to a team sport.

Most folks in Fleet 20 day sail their boats.  For those of us lucky enough to live only twenty minutes from our boats, getting out on the water takes little more preparation than grabbing some drinks and heading out.  While trips up and down the river are common, most of our local sailing occurs between the I-5 bridge downstream to the west and the I-205 bridge five nautical miles upstream to the east.  With the typical summer pattern of wind blowing out of the northwest, most folks sail downwind/upstream and then turn around and enjoy a current assisted windward sail back.  And for those Fleet 20 members not on the river, the lakes and reservoirs of Oregon and Washington, and in at least one case Idaho, serve as the venues for our hobby.  I hope where ever you are sailing this year you continue to enjoy fair winds, calm water, and the company of others.

Our next Fleet 20 cruise is in September when we are scheduled to sail downriver twenty nautical miles to the Oregon town of St. Helens where we will be attending the Columbia River Catalina Rendezvous at Sand Island.   The rendezvous will be celebrating its sixth anniversary, and has become famous for being a great social event.

I planning to be at the rendezvous aboard Crocus, so if you don't find me on docks, just look for the Catalina 22 with the yellow hull.

Sail for the Cure
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

Need Crew? - Welcome to our Newest Members
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

Sitting bow to bow with Gary McLean's C22 Sunrise (#10868) isn't the stretched version of the Catalina 22, it's the Spencer 53 of our newest Associate members J.M. & Gail Kiel.

The Kiels recently moved down from Seattle and into Tomahawk Bay Moorage onboard their boat (Spencer 53 Pilothouse - Geneth).  They also just finished a trip to Alaska.  The boat they sold prior to moving up to the Spencer was a Catalina 22 fin keel (which they've seen in Tomahawk Bay as well).

The J.M. and Gail are available to crew on a regular basis and would prefer to crew on different boats just to mix things up.  They plan to be in the area for the next two years before leaving on an extended cruise.

 

Technical Tips

Stowing the Headsail
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248

I have a tired old Mylar headsail I roll after every race before stowing it below.  Rolling is not what I do with my cruising sails, but I don't just stuff them in the bag either.  I use a technique of carefully folding the sails to reduce wrinkles and aid in hooking up the sail next time.  While my example in this article is going to show you how to do it with the sail attached to the forestay, two people can easily perform the same task on the dock.  The key in the method I'm about to show you is to have sail's luff stack on itself just like a mainsail and have the folds run perpendicular to the luff regardless of whether you are doing it on the dock or while the headsail is still attached to the forestay.  If your sail has never been folded this way you might want to try doing it first ashore.

Sail down, but not ready for the bag.
With the hanks still attached to the forestay, pull the luff all to one side between each pair of hanks (the side is up to you).  The luff folds become the natural folds you carry all the way out to the leech.
The width of the folded sail will be approximately half the distance between pairs of hanks on the luff.
Pulling the sail between the mast and the shrouds helps with the folding process.  Notice the hanks are still attached to the forestay.
Starting at the clew (aft end) start folding the sail on top of itself.  The depth of your sail bag will dictate how many folds.  Include the sheets in the folding process unless they are wet.  Wet sheets should be left outside the bag to dry.
With the sail folded, slip the bag over the aft end and pull it up to the hanks.
Release the hanks, pull the bag up, and you are done.  The beauty here is that the sail is ready to be hooked up for that next sail without having to pull it out of the bag completely.

 

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) www.ColumbiaRiverCatalina.org Sail Portland www.sailpdx.com Oregon Women's Sailing Association www.owsa.net

Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS) home.earthlink.net/~catss/CATSS Web Page.htm Catalina Association of Puget Sound (CAPS) www.capsfleet1.com/News Letters.htm Small Yacht Sailing club of Oregon (SYSCO) www.sailpdx.com/sysco.htm

 

Upcoming Events

September

• 17-18, Catalina Rendezvous:  Sand Island, Upper Dock, St. Helens
• 25, Sail for the Cure

October

• 8, SYSCO Awards Banquet
• 22-23, Cruise:  Government Island - East Dock

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.