From the Captain
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244
celtic-myst@comcast.net

My partner in Crocus, Don Bateson, and I had a wonderful sail the other weekend.  Part of owning a boat together is talking about when to tackle some of the bigger projects where two pair of hands is helpful.  For Don and I re-bedding the windows is that next project.  The window kit from Catalina Direct sits at home waiting for the first sunny weekend where we are both available.  Its a two day job because the silicon sealant has to cure after re-bedding the glass into the aluminum frames.  The second day will be devoted to installing the windows.

Owning fifty-two feet of boat is definitively a luxury, and one made easier with Don Bateson as a partner on Crocus.  Recently Don and I pulled Crocus into the empty slip next to my Catalina 30 Mk III Celtic Myst, so we could top off the charge on Crocus' battery while Don and I pulled the aft starboard window to see how difficult the window re-bedding project might be.  Did you know that there is no wood in the cabin sides?  The 3/16" exterior is backed up with a much thinner interior hull liner.  What I thought was delamination was just the void between the two fiberglass panels (big relief).   I plan to take lots of pictures when Don and I tackle the window project.

Lemon Island Rendezvous & TBYC Swap Meeting

Saturday, May 19th is the Fleet 20 Lemon Island Rendezvous.  I plan to start the day off by attending the Swap Meeting at Tomahawk Bay Moorage and browse for goodies.  At 11 am you'll find me near buoy "14".

The Rose City Yacht Club's Medium Distance Race upriver to the western end of Ackerman Island is scheduled to start at 11 am from buoy "14".  Yes the same buoy I'll be near before heading upriver to Lemon Island.  The RCYC Medium Distance Race is in its second year.  I know some folks planning to sail in it this year.  If I hear some good things back about the event, perhaps we should add it to our Fleet 20 schedule in 2008.  It might be fun sailing the boats six miles upriver and then back to buoy "14", topped off with a BBQ at RCYC.

I look forward to seeing you on Saturday.  Contact me if you have questions.

Dale Mack:  360-260-4196 or celtic-myst@comcast.net

Open Day

May 5th was Opening Day for the 2007 Boating Season on the Columbia River.  With several yacht clubs lined up outside of Tomahawk Bay Moorage to motor past the review boat stationed upriver, I couldn't resist the urge to go out and take a look.  To tell you the truth there really isn't that much to see.  The boats from each club seem to spend a lot of time forming into to a three column formation and then wait for their turn to motor pass the judges on the review boat.  None participating boats just out for a day sail or transiting the area seem to get chased down by Coast Guard  Auxiliary personnel in small boats and asked to avoid the area.  All in all a good day to perhaps stay off the water between the I-5 bridge and daymark "16" up near the airport.

Boats For Sale

Do you know of someone looking for a Catalina 22?  The fleet's For Sale page is one source to find a boat, or help sell your boat.

Are you looking to move up?  Looking for a Catalina 25?  Two former Fleet 20 members both recently purchased Catalina 28's and they will be listing their Catalina 25's shortly.  Let me know if you're looking for a C25 and I'll pass their names and contact information along to you.

Fleet 20 Roster Update

I'll be sending out a Fleet 20 roster update shortly to Fleet 20 members.  Several members had email, address, phone number, and both related information changes.

Not a member of Fleet 20?  Join!  Its free.  The application can be found here.

Last year I had these high quality carpets designed for my cabin sole, and cabin step down over the battery compartment.  They are edged and have snaps to keep them in place, I chose dark green to go with the color design in my cabin.

Always on a quest to try something new, this year I've gone with coco mats , made from natural fibers, in a natural shade.  As a result, I don't need two more things to
clutter up my garage, so if anyone is interested the custom carpet panels are FREE to the first person who calls, otherwise I'm going to toss them.  You can contact me at:

Avid Brickman:  503-680-6187 or bnjrno@comcast.net

 

Tomahawk Bay Yacht Club Annual Swap Meet Saturday, May 19th 7:00 am to ?? Columbia Crossings Parking Lot 515 NE Tomahawk Island Drive Portland, OR 97217 $5.00 per space Questions or concerns call: Stan at 541-764-3967 or Bev at 503-452-0071 Visit TBYC’s Home page: http://www.tbycportland.com

 

Fleet 20 Lemon Island Rendezvous
By Dale Mack

Don Bateson, co-owner of Crocus, prepares to anchor in the high water cove between Lemon Island and Government Island.

The Spring Series is Underway
By Dale Mack

Mid-April saw the return of Thursday racing with the start of the five evening Spring Series. In 2007 we’re enjoying a renewed interest in racing so we’re all looking forward to a great season featuring many new faces.

Our Spring Series ends in May and our Summer Series starts in June. For the first time in years, we are also planning to add a third series to our schedule which begins in August.  Here are the dates of the five race SYSCO Summer Series just in case you're thinking about coming out:

1. June 7
2. June 14
3. June 21
4. June 28
5. July 12

Be sure to visit the Fleet 20 Racing page for everything you need to know about local racing from how to enter and start, to things to be mindful of during the racing and finishing.  Don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about racing from rules and local practices to how your boat is setup.

The sailing conditions for the first two races were light.  Race #1 had a nice steady breeze at the start of the race and the Race Committee (RC) set a two lap windward/leeward course.  Unfortunately the RC failed to keep track of the time it was taking fleets to complete the first lap and instead of shortening the course to end after the first lap they forced everyone to start the start the second lap in the dying breeze.  After missing a second chance to shorten the course at the windward mark that we'd all get to just because of the river current's assistance, the RC sealed the fate of half the boats that evening that could not finish because there wasn't enough wind.  Race #2 wasn't any better wind-wise.  I fully expected the RC to abandon the race due to a lack of wind but they did not.  Instead the RC set a very short one lap windward/leeward and then set everyone on their way.  Onboard Crocus we easily get to the windward mark, rounded and then set the spinnaker for the downwind leg against the river's current.  About a third of the way to the finish the wind died and we along with everyone else found ourselves drifting backwards.  For Race #1 only two boats our of 43 actually finished.  I missed Race #3 in order to make the closing night performance of Oklahoma in which my son Sean had a leading role.  From the race results and can see that Dan Dugan (Harmony, #14286) finished first.

After a boatyard delay, Scott Ferre has Promiseland in the water and hopes to join us racing on May 17th.  I'm going to miss Race #5 of the Series as Laura and I have decided to depart mid-week and cruise up to Beacon Rock State Park for Memorial Weekend.  After several years of going to Beacon Rock in August,  this will be our first return trip in May since 2000.  You can read about the 2000 trip here.

Peace and quiet.  Just the water lapping against the hull, the sound of the wind, and nature surrounding me 360 degrees.

Exquisitely, happy, alone, no-one else on the boat to break the silence.

The sound of the occasional fish leaping out of the water, the musical wafting of children playing on the beaches and oh, there was that territorial, noisy, pesky, bald eagle high above, chasing and scolding that osprey (it was a neighborhood thing).

Sailing a Catalina 22 in Baja
By Don Woodhouse, Togarty, #7260

It was November 29th and the weather was forecasted for freezing rain. With my wife in the pickup pulling a travel trailer we outran the storm and eventually joined family in Arizona where we would spend Christmas . Mid-December we did a day sail at Lake Pleasant, AZ to make sure everything was ready then hauled the boat through Nogales and on to San Carlos Sonora on the mainland side of the Sea of Cortez.

I chose San Carlos because of the reputation of the marina there and because most of the Cortez north of there is strongly affected by tides. I rented a slip for a month and returned to Arizona for the Holidays . Then it was off to Baja with the empty boat trailer, travel trailer, and wife.  The wife didn't see the glamour in such a trip so I picked up a crewmate in Los Barriles Baja California South. The original instigator of the idea was nowhere to be found. My wife dropped us at the ferry terminal in La Paz and we rode ferry and bus back to San Carlos.

It was cold, about mid-30s at night and 50's during the day. We made a night crossing to Punta Chivato on the Baja side in 15 1/2 hours (72 miles). We spent twelve days getting to La Paz and sailed wing and wing most of the way. The wind was mostly NNW between 6 and 20 knots. It got progressively warmer as we went south. We visited some spectacular places and enjoyed a rare view of the Baja coastl.

I left the boat for three days at Marina de La Paz and returned for the final three day leg to Los Barriles with a different shipmate. The total journey was around 335 miles averaging 4.5 knots.  The boat consumed seventeen gallons of fuel and I had a great time on the trip. I used the Internet for weather information.  I favored the computer generated forecast from NOAA ,and cruising guides from Gerry Cunningham and Charlie's Charts. When I got to Los Barriles I hired Ronnie at VERDUGOS to pull the boat and trailer out over the beach with a front end loader ($30). There were a few hitches but all in all it was an easy trip that I would recommend to adventurous C22 sailors.

There is little or no support for the back, while beating or running.  I notice the day after a sail my back aches from lack of support.

I have fabricated jump seats, which can be slid to any location along the cockpit seat while going to weather.  While running, if one wishes, the seats can be placed up against the inner vertical surface of the transom allowing one to sit looking forward on runs.

I don't think these comfort devices would be used while racing but rather while cruising.

The seats are constructed of 3/8" plywood.  The upper back piece is approximately 17" x 15".  The bottom portion is 13" x 15". They are joined by two hinges, which allows for ease of storing as they then can be laid flat. The underside of the bottom portion is covered with the non slip material, as shown in the photo, which is available at most hardware stores.  It is stapled to the underside of the seat to prevent slipping.  The cushion is a piece of memory foam, (Tempur-Pedic® style) that I picked up from

A-1 Foam Rubber
8040 Southeast Stark Street, Portland, OR 97215
(503) 255-4117

The foam is 13" x 14" x 2" and is secured with contact cement and then covered with vinyl.  It was a fairly simple do it yourself job.  I used a staple gun to secure the vinyl cover.  As can be seen in the photo the jump seat cushion is placed so that there is room for the standard seat cushion to slide under it.

These devices are a must for the "Gentleman Sailor".  No more back aches for me!!!!!!!!

After upgrading Crocus to internal halyards this year, I started looking for ways to minimize the number of screws I drove into the mast for attaching hardware.  I figured that with fewer screws there'd be fewer places for the halyards to chafe or snag on.

The mast track provided an excellent opportunity to design a solution patterned after the adjustable sail track stop.  I purchased a piece of 1/2" diameter anodized aluminum bar stock from the home improvement center and then cut it to length based on the cleat I had selected.  After lightly filing the ends of the rod to round off the sharp edges, I drilled and tapped the threads for the first screw.  Before drilling for the second screw I attached the cleat to the bar with the first screw.  This step provided me the second screw hole in the cleat as a guide for drilling the next hole through the rod.  After tapping the threads for the second screw, the fabrication was done.

The finished product.  I used an anti-seizing lubricant on the stainless threads of the screw to discourage galvanic corrosion with the aluminum bar stock.
As built the cleat can be installed when the mast is down by sliding the rod into the sail track from the base of the mast.  With the mast up you'll want to insert the rod into the track slot.  My slot is narrower than 1/2" so, like my sail track stops, I filed the rod flat on one side in order to fit through the slot.

Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:

• Columbia River All Catalina Association (CRACA)
• Sail Portland (hosted by Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association, OCSA)
• Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO)
• Oregon Women's Sailing Association (OWSA)
• Catalina Association of Tacoma and South South (CATSS)
• Catalina Association of Puget South (CAPS out of Seattle)

See the calendar