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From
the Captain
 Chris Brown and Dave Stellers. |
My crew for the C22 Nationals hails from central Idaho (Dave Stellers) and central Oregon (Chris Brown). Both Dave and Chris own Catalina 22's. We started discussing the Nationals back in February, and have managed most of our planning via the Internet. Since none of us had ever sailed together we set aside the weekend of June 3-4 to take Crocus out and get some practice.
Dave and Chris had never raced aboard a Catalina 22 nor had they ever flown a symmetrical spinnaker. With Crocus entered in the Gold Fleet and the Spinnaker Fleet we had two very different styles of downwind sailing techniques to master. At the regatta, we'll be sailing two wing an wing races a day and one spinnaker race. The regatta runs from June 19 through June 22. On the last day there is only one wing an wing and one spinnaker race.
We started off Saturday with lots of dockside practice, particularly the spinnaker. We did hoists, drops, and jibes. Once the basics were down, we headed out to the river to practice in the light air. After a day of light air sailing where we gradually got better, we decided to go out Sunday, despite the forecast of rain showers, in hopes of finding stronger wind. Sunday was overcast with charcoal grey clouds and light to moderate wind. We all donned our foul weather gear and put Crocus' bow into the current. With a moderate NW wind coming over our port quarter, we hoisted the spinnaker and started sailing upriver. The rain shower that hit us ten minutes later was awesome. The water was spilling out of the foot of the spinnaker as Crocus continued to surge forward. Shortly after the shower passed, Bill Sanborn, who was aboard his Kalik 30 Upstart, detoured from his downstream track and headed towards Crocus to shoot the photo that appears below in this month's spinnaker article. Bill is a former Fleet 20 Captain, and he and his wife Vicki hosted two Catalina 22 National Sailing Association's National Cruises on the Columbia River.
The balance of our sailing on Sunday was great and dry. We got lots of spinnaker practice in and by the time we headed in you would not have known that this was our first time out as a team. We'll see each other next on Saturday, June 17th at the Nationals.
Parts
is Parts, but where is the Manual?
When you buy one of these boats, particularly one that may have been through several previous owners, you often get a boat with a variety of hardware fastened to all kinds of interesting places. Combine that with a rat's nest of lines that you are somehow suppose to string everything together with, and you soon start searching the Internet for advice. One of the first things you discover is that no two boats seem to be rigged the same way.
I've had the opportunity to help several C22 owners rigged their boats for the first time, or answer their questions about various rigging upgrades they are considering. Avid Brickman's Jus Fine (#4945) is one of those examples of helping rig a boat. Avid brought his boat over one evening with the objective of putting the mast back together and possibly hoisting the sails. We had to attach the spreaders, locate and attach the stays and shrouds, and work out the details of his running rigging. When Avid went home that evening, Jus Fine was ready to launch. Avid has since launched the boat and has been enjoying the pleasures of sailing.
| Cruising |
Bartlett Landing Cruise, July 15-16
Enjoying a
weekend at Government Island's East Dock
By Dale Mack
Less than two hours motor upstream of the I-5 bridge is
Bartlett Landing, also known as Government Island, East Dock. Maintained
by the Oregon Parks system, dock space, campsites, and picnic tables are
available on a first
come first serve basis. There are no fees to use this marine park.
Park features include wide concrete dock floats, a sturdy ramp, a covered picnic structure, picnic tables, BBQs, two compositing toilets, campsites, lots of shade from the tall trees, grassy areas, and wonderful expanses of sandy beach. Potable water is not available at the park. While trash receptacles are available, the park service encourages boaters take out what they bring in.
Fleet 20 has a cruise scheduled to Government Island on the weekend of July 15-16. The cruise is designed to coincide with the Columbia River All Catalina Association's cruise to the same destination, so there should be plenty of Catalina folks to mingle with.
Notes on Bartlett Landing:
- 9.1 nm upstream from the Interstate Bridge
- Newly rebuild in 2004 with concrete docks and an aluminum ramp to shore
- Covered picnic structure
- Campsites with picnic tables and fire pits
- Composting toilets
- Lots of sandy beaches
- Avoid outer docks, because the wakes of passing boats will make for a bumpy stay.
- If you motor there because the wind isn't cooperating, the sail back is usually wonderful.
| Racing |
The
Summer Series is Here
Learning to
sail the downwind legs
By Dale Mack, C22,
Crocus
The Summer Series started June 8th. The J/24's are the first start, the Cal 20's the second, then the Catalina 22's and Ranger 20's in the third, followed by the Cruising Class in the fourth. Each start is five minutes apart, with the warning signal for the first start going up at 6:30 pm.
I was racing short handed on the eighth, so Tim Taylor and I decided to forego the spinnaker and just race wing an wing on the downwind legs (a decision we sweated during the last leg of a two lap race).
Don Woodhouse on Togarty (#7260), flying a borrowed Mylar 150 and sporting a freshly painted VC17 bottom, was fast both windward and downwind. In fact, Don's downwind speed just wing an wing was quite impressive. While a combination of tactics and local knowledge helped me stay ahead on the windward legs, Don always closed the gap on the downwind legs. During that last downwind leg to the finish against a 2.5+ knot river current, Don actually drew even and pulled ahead twice. The last time occurred when we were less than 50 yards from the finish and a C&C 34, sailing wing an wing in the Cruising Class, temporarily blanketed me. I went from half a boat length ahead to suddenly one and a half boat lengths behind with 25 yards to go. I headed north to clear my air knowing that I'd be pinching at the mark. The C&C 34 continued moving south and ended up putting his wind shadow on Togarty. Crocus finally crossed the line with Togarty a boat length behind.
While Crocus and Togarty focused on each other, Dan Dugan aboard Harmony (#14286) continued to make up ground after an over early at the start. Dan had sailed the first downwind leg wing and wing, but on the last leg he put up his cruising spinnaker. Despite looking too far away to threaten anyone, Harmony began closing the gap fast. Free of the bad air those up ahead were dealing with as the various classes converged at the finish, Harmony was sailing in clear air and making good use of the spinnaker. If the race had been another fifty yards longer, Harmony would have won instead of coming in three boat lengths behind Togarty.
Looking Ahead
Although I'll miss the race on June 22nd while I'm at the Catalina 22 National Regatta in California, for the remainder of the Summer Series, Crocus will be racing with four aboard as two additional members join the crew to learn about racing and how to fly a spinnaker. Welcome aboard Karen Maynard and Diane Stanford-Clark. Diane and her husband John sail the boat (#9723) on Fern Ridge Reservoir and hope to start racing in the future.
| Technical Tips |
Rigging
the Boat for a
Symmetrical Spinnaker
Part I of a
four part series
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244
I've been asked by several folks over the past two months about how they should rig their boats so they can fly a spinnaker. After about the third response an article seemed appropriate. This and the next three newsletters will feature a four part series on spinnakers. The series will look like this:
- Part I, rigging for a symmetrical spinnaker.
- Part II, flying a symmetrical spinnaker.
- Part III, rigging for an asymmetrical spinnaker.
- Part IV, flying an asymmetrical spinnaker.
I'll start right off by stating that there are several variations on what I'm about to describe, so if you change things, it might work just as well or even better.
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Spinnaker Halyard. Mount a Harken #166 single swivel block at the masthead forward of the forestay. This block will be for the spinnaker halyard. Run the halyard aft to the cockpit and terminate at a Harken #150 cam cleat with a Harken #328 fairlead. Use a swivel snap shackle on the end of the halyard for attaching to the head of the spinnaker. |
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Topping Lift. Swivel block (Harken #166) mounted about spreader height facing forward (a little above or below the spreaders is fine). Snap shackle and line to attach to the ring on the top bridle of your spinnaker pole, then lead up to the block on the mast, then down to a block at the base of the mast. Add blocks to run everything back to the cockpit. Use a cam cleat at the cockpit to hold the line. |
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Downhaul.
Snap shackle and line to attach to the ring on the bottom bridle of your
spinnaker pole. Add blocks to run everything back to the cockpit.
First block will be at the base of the mast. Use a cam cleat at
cockpit.
And for those looking closely at the photo, the answer is yes, the downhaul and topping lift are crossing over the blue jib halyard. The raise in the pop-top keeps the lines separated. |
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Spinnaker Pole Track. Pole attached to ring with the jaws facing up. The jaws on both ends of the pole face the same direction. By having the jaws face up, the spinnaker sheet will fly free of the pole when you release the sheet for a jibe. Place the ring in lowest position with the pole still attached when sailing windward. The bow end of pole should be placed between forestay and bow pulpit. The topping lift line is attached to the bridle ring, but the line is pulled back to the jaw at the mast ring and the line is placed under the pin in the jaws in order to keep the line next to the mast and out of the way when sailing windward. When it is time to raise the pole, release the topping lift line from under the pin, raise the mast ring to about boom level to start with, and then lift the pole to horizontal using the topping lift, followed by tensioning the downhaul. |
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Spinnaker Sheets.
Snap shackles are attached to the sail end of the sheets. The sheets attach to
the port and starboard
aft base of bow pulpit when not in use. Your Genoa and its sheets
are laid out on top of the spinnaker pole (in its down position) and
inside the spinnaker sheets. The spinnaker sheets are led aft outside of
everything. Your turning blocks should be mounted as back as possible. Many boats opt
for non-permanent turning block installations by tying their turning
blocks to the aft cleats or the forward supports on the stern rail.
Reuse the Genoa winches and cleats for handling the spinnaker sheets. Note: The purists out there will refer to the spinnaker sheet running through the end of the spinnaker pole as a guy and not a sheet. |
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 Turtle.
The bag holding the spinnaker (the turtle) should have an opening
reinforced to stay open and a shock code lined lid. Clips on the side
of the bag probably
means it was set up to attach to the lifelines. Many folks find
hoisting the spinnaker from the bow easier by attaching the turtle to
the bow pulpit. I sewed two inch wide Velcro backed nylon web straps to
my turtle so it could be attached to the aft side of the bow pulpit.
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Well, that’s the basic gear. There are lots of options, so no one way is necessarily better than another. An excellent book on main, genoa, and spinnaker sailing is the North Sails book “Racing Trim” by Bill Galdstone. Even if you don’t race, the sail trim information is great.
My next article in the series will show you how to hook up the lines, hoist, drop, and transition back to windward sailing.
| Scuttlebutt |
Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest
By Dale Mack
Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:
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Columbia River All Catalina Association
(CRACA)
Sail Portland Oregon Women's Sailing Association |
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Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS) |
| Upcoming Events |
June
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8 15 19 - 22 22 29 |
Race: Summer #1 Race: Summer #2 Race: C22 National Regatta, Scotts Flat Lake, Nevada City, CA Race: Summer #3 Race: Summer #4 |
July
|
13 15 - 16 |
Race: Summer #5 Cruise: Bartlett Landing (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.