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

June marked twenty years I've been sailing Catalina 22's.  Laura and I purchased our first C22 in 1987 after visiting the Sacramento Boat Show.  If you had told me at the time that twenty years later my son would be graduating from high school I would have thought you were crazy because Laura and I weren't even parents yet.  Sean arrived in November 1988 and he's been a big part of my cruising experience on Catalina 22's.

Sean was four months old when he participated in his first cruise.  It was mid-March and Folsom Lake had just filled up after a couple of weeks of heavy rain.  We launched the boat at Brown's Ravine and sailed to New York Cove off the North Fork of the American River.  Near dinner time we were joined by another boat from Catalina 22 Fleet 4 who rafted up along our starboard side.  In the middle of the night Sean started crying for a meal.  Ever the prepared parents I pulled the bottle out of the ice chest while Laura handed me the new 12 volt sleeve gizmo she bought for warming the bottle in.  What a unless piece of $#!!# the bottle warmer was.  With Sean still crying we decided to fire up the alcohol stove only to find that it's so cold in the cabin that both our primary and backup butane gas lighters couldn't generate enough pressure to start a flame.  With no matches onboard we were desperate so I slide the hatch open in preparation for waking up our neighbors.  Much to my surprise they were awake and ready with the matches (they later said they guessed the problem when Sean kept crying).  Today Sean takes his milk cold but I now carry matches onboard.

So here I am twenty years later on my second Catalina 22 and Sean is preparing to head off to the University of Washington in the Fall.  Cruising has always been a family affair with the Macks, so it's going to feel a little strange with Sean off to college as Laura and I return to cruising as a couple as we did in 1987.  Well, almost like we did.  Today it's the C30 if we're cruising together.  Funny thing about the C30 is that it is our "tweener" boat.  If all goes well, about the time Sean is graduating from UW the C30 will be sold and replaced with a trawler, and yet oddly enough a C22 will remain in my life to provide me my sailing "fix".

July 19th Thursday Evening Rendezvous

Thursday, July 19th, is a non-racing evening so I'd like to propose an on the water rendezvous.  The idea is to raft-up, share a snack-style light dinner, and swap some stories.

The primary destination for the rendezvous is the upriver north side of Tomahawk Island (#1).  The pile dam at the east end diverts the current and makes this a pretty nice anchorage.  There's a sandy beach for those that want to go swimming.  An alternate to anchoring out is to drop a stern anchor, beach the bow, and then running an anchor up the beach.  Our default plan will be to anchor off the beach and raft up.

If the wind is blowing too hard then we will rendezvous on the south side (#2).  Basically we will point the bows into the current, drop a couple of bow anchors, and raft up.

This is a purely social event so don't hesitate to invite folks along for what should be a pleasant Thursday evening.  I plan to be at the rendezvous location at 6:30 pm so just look for a yellow C22 hull.  The plans after snacks and stories is up to you.  Those aboard Crocus will probably go out and sail for an hour before heading in.

Hope to see you on the water.

Have You Got a Story to Tell?

With nearly fifty boats in Fleet 20, I know there's got to be a lot of sailing stories to share.  Topics can be just about anything having to do with a Catalina 22 (cruising, day sail, racing, maintenance, upgrades, etc).  If you are not up to writing a full article, then consider sending me photos of one of your adventures along with a short description.  I'll take your material and turn it into an article for the newsletter.  I have a broadband Internet connection, so you can send me unedited photos.  Just email your photos, short description, or even full article to:

celtic-myst@comcast.net

New Members

Please join me in welcoming our newest members to Fleet 20:

Erik Bodegom & Megan Taylor -

Sunrise, #10868, berthed at Tomahawk Bay Moorage

Erik purchased Sunrise from Fleet 20 member Gary McLean, and he learned about the boat's availability through the Fleet 20 website.

I had the opportunity to help launch Sunrise with Gary and Erik as they prepared to test sail the boat and then take it down to Tomahawk Bay Moorage.  Good luck Erik with your new boat.

Boat Show

The Yacht Showcase and Antique and Classic Boat Show held on June 23rd at Tomahawk Bay Moorage was great.  The biggest wooden boat was the 78 ft PT 658 from WWII.  From cabin cruisers to runabouts there was varnished wood everywhere.

If you wanted to see sailboats in the water this show didn't disappoint.  Both River City Sailing, our local Catalina Dealer, and The Sailing Life arranged to have several large models available for inspection.

It was nice running into some of you at the show.

Any Interest in Doing the SYSCO One-Design August 18th?

The Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon has decided to change its two day one-design regatta into a one day event.  I'm free August 18th so I'm considering entering.  If two other boats let me know that they will enter then I'll race my C22, otherwise I'll race in the Cruising Class with my C30.  Let me know if you are interested in the SYSCO One-Design.

With one race yet to be run, the Sysco Summer Series (June 7 - July 12) has been a lot of fun.  The fourth race presented the participants with some interesting weather.  Inside the marina the skies were threatening enough to encourage the putting on of foul weather gear.  On the way to the starting line the sun came out making those in foulies reconsider their choice and those without vindicated.  As starting time approached, the sunshine receded and the foulies turned out to be the correct decision.

The Race Committee set one of the strangest courses in recent history for the wind conditions.  The course was 14-A-R-C-14 with the wind coming out of the SSE.  Now any kind of south wind this time of year is unusual but combine that with the course and you had the makings for a very tough race against the elements let alone any other boats.

We started at "14" and headed to "A".  The wind was light but steady progress was made by all.  Once at "A" the next leg was to "R".  We opted to forego the spinnaker because of rain and just reach for the mark.  The boats that decided to reach with their spinnakers moved along pretty good.  The challenge with this leg of the race was whether you'd get to the Washington side of the river to round "R" on your portside before the river's current drifted you past "R".

If you got around "R" then you were off to "C".  The problem with "C" was that the current wanted to take you downstream and the light SSE wind forced you to point the boat in the direction of "14" just so you could move sideways across the river to the Oregon side.  The Race Committee's use of "C" in these conditions was cruel.  It took forever to get to and around "C" because you had to pinch so tightly not to be heading back to Washington.  The leg from "C" to "14" was pretty easy.  There was enough wind to make good progress against the current once you could stop pinching so tightly.

Karen Maynard at the helm of Crocus on the way back to Tomahawk Bay Moorage.

Like I said near the top, it was a strange course and one I hope we don't see for a long time.  You just spent too much time try to get around "C".  A better course for the conditions would have been 14-A-R-14.  Despite the course we had fun.  The decision to go without the spinnaker meant that nearly all the Ranger 20's and Cal 20's were far ahead of us on the final leg but at least our spinnaker was still dry.

The challenge of getting the boat around the course continues to be a big motivator for me to come out each week and race.  The other motivator is the shared experience I have with the other three aboard Crocus.  While four aboard a C22 for racing isn't the norm, I like that extra help and the opportunity to laugh together as we make mistakes, recover, and move on.  Thank you to everyone sailing the SYSCO Summer Series.  I hope you and your crew are enjoying the season.

he Gold Rush race from Portland to St. Helens is July  21st.  I've never done this race before, but the sail from Portland to St. Helens can be wonderful.

Fleet 20 member Don Maywald (Gromit, #12286) and I have entered our boats but it takes three boats to make up a one-design class so we'd love to see at least one more C22 come out for the weekend.

This is Saturday only race starts at Daymark "40" just downstream of the mouth of the Willamette River and ends at the St. Helens' court house after rounding the downstream end of Sand Island.

Portland Yacht Club (PYC) and the St. Helens Sailing Club (SHSC), the hosts for the race, have an after race party planned at "Dockside Steak & Pasta", 343 South 1st St., St. Helens.  This should be a fun weekend of sailing and camaraderie.

With the first race not scheduled to start until July 26th, you still have plenty of time to signup for the CYC Summer Series.  Signed up so far are:

• Don Woodhouse (Togarty, #7260)
• Dan Dugan (Harmony, #14286
• Dale Mack (Crocus, #8244)

Here's the Catalina 22 race schedule for the series:

1. July 26
2. August 2
3. August 9
4. August 16
5. August 23
6. August 30

Fleet 20's racing page has a lot of information on local racing.  Everything from the entry form to the sailing instructions for each race are available.

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)

• Race:  2, CYC Summer #2
• Race:  9, CYC Summer #3
• Race:  16, CYC Summer #4
• Race:  23, CYC Summer #5
• Race:  30, CYC Summer #6

See the calendar