www.c22pdx.org

November 2006
 

From the Captain
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

When Laura and I lived in California, November meant we still had the Catalina 22 Fleet 4 annual awards party at the Sacramento Yacht Club to look forward to along with the fleet's annual three day Thanksgiving Cruise on San Francisco Bay.  Since coming to the Northwest, first Boise and now Vancouver, November tends to mean that the sailing season is over, either because it is too cold, too wet, or both.  I say "tends" because I have occasionally left the boat in the water well into November and kept sailing when the weather permitted.

There's something nice about being on the water in the Fall.  First, most folks are at home so the water is calm, fog hugs the ground, and the sounds and smells of Fall are as crisp as the air.  Secondly, the whole experience is a little surreal.  Here you are in the middle of this large metropolitan area and yet on the water you feel almost alone.  It's so peaceful that the urge to hoist the sails and kill the motor is overwhelming.

Like many other Fleet 20 members who pull their boats in the Fall, Crocus is now at home waiting for next Spring.  While sad to see the season end, it's always fun to start dreaming about the new challenges to be faced in the coming year and the new skills to be mastered.  I learn something new every time I go out.  Whether its about sailing, about myself, or about the boat, it's never the same experience twice.

During 2006 I had the privilege of meeting many of you, and there were many more I never got to meet except through email.  I'd like to encourage folks to feel free to submit stories to me for publication in the newsletter.  Hearing about and even seeing photos about the various ways people use their Catalina 22's is always inspiring.  Do you have any plans for a winter boating project?  If so, consider taking some pictures during the project that could eventually become a photo essay.  How about sharing some of your past adventures.  Not a writer?  Well neither am I as you can tell from the grammar, incorrect tense, incorrect word selection and spelling errors, but it doesn't stop me.  The bottom line is that folks like to hear what other locals are doing with their Catalina 22's.

Portland Boat Show

I'll be looking for volunteers to help staff the booth at the Portland Boat Show in January.  The show runs from January 6-14, and we will be sharing the booth with the Columbia River All Catalina Association and Catalina 25/250 Fleet 94.  Those who sign-up to staff the booth  will receive free admission.  I highly recommend this activity.  I enjoyed the three hour duty while talking to fellow Catalina owners from across the northwest.  I also had the opportunity to talk to potential new owners that Sailboats of Oregon sent our way to hear about some of the benefits of owning a boat from Catalina Yachts.  The actual sign-up sheet for the show will be coming out soon.

 

2006 Christmas Ship Parade
By Dale Mack

December 7 - 20. This local tradition celebrates its 52nd year in 2006.  The Christmas Ship Fleet is an all volunteer group of approximately sixty boaters from the Portland/Vancouver area.  Starting December 7th, the fleet will parade nightly for two weeks along the Columbia and Willamette Rivers. 

A schedule for the Columbia River and Willamette River fleets is available at the Christmas Ship Parade website at www.christmasships.org.

 

The Portland Yacht Club plays host to the
SYSCO Awards Banquet
By Dale Mack

On October 6th several Catalina Skippers and their crews attended the Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon's annual awards banquet.  This year's banquet was held at the Portland Yacht Club overlooking the Columbia River.  The theme for the banquet was western and the menu featured BBQ.

The Catalina Skippers I saw included:

  • Steve Eldred (Plan "B")
  • Alice Patten (Tybreaker)
  • Gary Bruner (Encore!)
  • Terry Annis (Lematike)
  • Nate Hanson (Leucothea)
  • Gary Whitney (KA-SL)
  • Dale Mack (Crocus)

The ten races that made up Fleet 20's official 2006 racing season were run for us by SYSCO.  The SYSCO Spring Series, from April to May, provided five races, and the SYSCO Summer Series, from June to July, provided the other five.  In past years the two day SYSCO One-Design Regatta in August, provided another two races, but a mix-up in communications caused us to skip the One-Design this year.

Fleet 20 does not provide awards for winning the two series or the regatta, instead the skippers are recognized by SYSCO with the cost of the trophies being covered by the entry fee.  What Fleet 20 does recognize is an annual Fleet Champion and a Most Improved Sailor.  The Fleet Champion goes to the skipper with the best record for the year, and the Most Improved Sailor goes to the Skipper who improved the most year to year.

2006

Fleet Champion

Dale Mack
Crocus, #8244
2006

Most Improved Sailor

Dan Dugan
Harmony, #14286

 

Fleet 20 Activity Ideas for 2007
 By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

With the boat sitting on its trailer besides the house my thoughts drift to possibilities for next season.  For those of us that race, the weekly Thursday evening routine of meeting up with friends and going out for some racing helps provide a continuous stream of reasons to get out on the boat at least once a week.  At the end of the SYSCO Summer Series this year I missed the Thursday evening get together so much that I'm going to encourage us to keep up the racing next year, all the way through August by signing up to participate in the CYC Summer Series.

As we look forward to 2007, I'd like to highlight some of the non-racing activities that are in the works and worth considering as you plan your schedule for next year.

Boat Shows - January.  The Portland Boat Show (1/6 - 1/14) and Seattle Boat Shows (1/25 - 2/3) make great land cruise destinations.  In the past for the Portland Boat Show we've gone out to breakfast, visited West Marine, and then migrated to the boat show.  Of the two Seattle boat shows, the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show is the one with all the sailboats, and the Seattle Boat Show is the one with all the gear booths.

Catalina 22 Rigging Workshop - February.  Following on the heels of last year's mast raising workshop, the 2007 edition will demonstrate various rigging options, sail control choices, and how to rig the boat for a symmetrical and an asymmetrical spinnaker.

Spring Planning Meeting - March.  As much a Fleet 20 social as it is a planning meeting, this is a great chance to discuss San Juan Island and Gulf Island cruising plans, upcoming racing, share and trade photos, and relive the previous season's adventures.  We typically hold a potluck brunch at someone's home.

Lemon Island Rendezvous - May.  Sometimes we start off with a group breakfast at one of the local restaurants, and then head down to the boats for a day sail and raft-up.  At the raft-up, we typically share potluck appetizers.

San Juan Islands Cruise - July.  The third or fourth week in July has been a traditional start date for the fleet's past cruises up north.  While it is still too early to know whether there is critical mass for doing a group trip, it's always good to start putting feelers out early so folks wishing to go together can start hooking up and coordinating vacation time.

Grandmas Cove Rendezvous - July.  Positioned on a Thursday evening in the gap between the last race of the SYSCO Summer Series and the first race of the CYC Summer Series, this activity is pure social.  Motor or sail to Grandmas Cove (aka Canoe Bay where Schooner Creek Boat Works is located) and raft up with other Catalina 22's for a couple of hours of stories, appetizers, and swimming.

St. Helens Cruise - September.  Nothing marks the coming arrival of Fall then the St. Helens Cruise/Race sponsored by SYSCO.  Fleet 20 has a long history of attending this sail from Portland to the St. Helens' City Docks.  The sail from Portland to St. Helens is great, and regardless of whether you're racing there or just cruising there, you and your crew will enjoy this overnight cruise.  Fleet 20 always hosts a potluck dinner for its members on the docks on Saturday evening.  Sunday morning breakfast at the St. Helens cafe is another long standing cruise tradition.

Sail for the Cure - September.  Started as a grassroots effort by a group of local female sailors, the Sail for the Cure is quickly growing into one of the "must attend" events of the sailing season targeted at raising funds for the fight against breast cancer.  The event is a day sail topped off with a shore side social afterwards.

SYSCO Awards Banquet - October.  So why would you want to go to an awards banquet for an organization you might not even belong to?  First, the event is not restricted to SYSCO members, and the camaraderie and food has a reputation for being great.  Secondly, several members of Fleet 20 and their race crews are members of SYSCO, so you'll be spending the night at a table talking with folks you know.  And thirdly, as long as the Catalina 22's in the Portland area keep showing up to the races with three or more boats, SYSCO will award the Catalina 22 fleet trophies for the Spring Race Series, the Summer Race Series, and the One-Design Regatta.  It's a fun event and typically well attended by fleet members who race.

Well there you have it, a full year of potential Fleet 20 activities and not a single one focused on racing a boat.  I hope as you think about how you'd like to spend some of your boating time in 2007, you'll consider attending one of these many opportunities.

 

The Boom Vang and Mainsail Shape
Catalina 22 Technical Tips
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244

For many of us the mainsheet is the only mainsail control we initially understand when we begin sailing.  With time we come to learn how to make the boat sail faster and more comfortably by adjusting the shape of the sail.

Angle of Attack.  When sailing windward the mainsheet allows you to control the sail's angle of attack through the in and out motion of the boom and the mainsheet also controls the twist of the sail by tensioning the leech.  When the boom is outboard the mainsheet plays more of a role in adjusting the angle of attack.  As the boom moves closer to the centerline of the boat, the mainsheet exerts more of a downward force when tightened, resulting in removing sail twist by tensioning the leech.  Once the mainsheet's emphasis switches to controlling sail twist, your traveler becomes your primary means of adjusting the sail's/boom's angle of attack.

The traveler is used to depower and balance the boat by easing the mainsail in heavy air. When weather helm become excessive (i.e. the boat wants to turn up into the wind) the traveler should be is eased to help keep the boat flat.  In light to moderate air keep the boom centered over the boat by pulling the travel up to the windward side, and in heavy air lower the travel to the leeward side to reduce heeling.

Sail Twist.  The mainsail should be trimmed so that the upper batten is parallel to the boom when sighted from under the boom looking up the sail (this is your sail twist adjustment). Use your mainsail taletells along the leech to adjust your angle of attack either by steering a different course or adjusting the sail.  With taletells near each of the batten pockets, the top taletell should be streaming aft most of the time with only an occasional stall, the lower taletells should always be streaming aft.  The telltale at the end of the top batten pocket is essential when adjusting the proper twist for the mainsail. When the telltale disappears behind the sail, the leech is too tight and the sail has too little twist.

Top batten parallel to the boom.

Tight leech tension with top batten hooked to windward.

Loose leech tension with sail twisted off to leeward.

Vang Sheeting.  In moderate to heavy air, I'm a big fan of a technique sometimes referred to as vang sheeting.  In vang sheeting the boom vang takes over the mainsheet's up / down control over the boom, and the mainsheet and traveler handles the in / out trim (angle of attack).  Be sure to use enough boom vang tension to keep the top batten parallel to the boom regardless of whether you are sailing windward, off the wind, or downwind.  While the advice "keep the top batten parallel to the boom" is a good starting point, you'll eventually want to learn how to read you mainsail's leech telltales to determine how much sail twist is appropriate for the conditions.  One of the nice side effects of vang sheeting is that the sail's twist doesn't change as you change the sail's angle of attack with the mainsheet.  This is particularly nice when you ease the mainsheet rapidly in big puffs to keep the boat on its feet in heavy air.

8:1 cascading boom vang on Crocus, #8244.  The arrangement on Crocus leaves the fiddle block in a fixed location.

8:1 cascading boom vang on Hummingbird, #1110.  In the arrangement on Hummingbird, the fiddle block moves as the boom vang tension is adjusted.  Both the Hummingbird and the Crocus configurations achieve an 8:1 mechanical advantage which is more than enough for heavy air sailing.

 

Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest
By Dale Mack

Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:

 

Upcoming Events

November

  • Party:  11, OCSA Party at PYC (open to all sailors)

December

  • No Fleet 20 plans

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.