From the Captain
By Dale Mack, Catalina 22 Fleet 20 Captain
Crocus, #8244, celtic-myst@comcast.net

With the boat sitting on the side of the house under a tarp, I tend to start thinking about winter projects and destinations I'd like to visit in 2008.  I know many of you day sail your boats, but I'd encourage you to consider some overnight cruises in the coming year.  For those near the I-5 Interstate Bridge, all the following are very doable in a weekend:

Upriver

• The Port of Camas-Washougal
• Anchoring off Ackerman Island
• Government Island East Dock (Bartlett Landing)
• Government Island West Dock
• Commodore Cove Dock (near I-205 bridge)
• Anchoring off Lemon Island

Downriver

• Vancouver Landing
• Anchoring in Grandma's Cove (aka Canoe Bay)
• Hadley's Landing (Multnomah Channel)
• McCuddy's Landing (Multnomah Channel)
• Coon Island (Multnomah Channel)
• Gilbert River (Multnomah Channel)
• St. Helens, City Docks
• St. Helens, Sand Island (Upper or Lower Docks)
• Martin Island

May you all enjoy the holiday season and have a wonderful new year.

Sailing the Sea of Cortez in a Catalina 22
Part 4 of 7:  Wind and Waves
By Don Woodhouse, Togarty, #7260

On the morning we awoke in Santispac the Bahia Concepcion it was calm but not very warm. We had stayed up late making dinner, and playing guitar until the wee hours. Despite being in one of the most protected anchorages in the area I didn't sleep well. Mexican fishing skiffs (pangas) were running all night creating wakes that rocked the little Togarty.  I knew we had some miles to make so I made coffee and got going. Breakfast could be cooked while we motor in the flat water of the bay. As we rounded the point that returned us to the Sea of Cortez we ran out a fishing line and trolled as we continued south. After a few hours a light Northerly began to blow and I was able to kill the outboard and sail, although slowly on a downwind course. We continued fishing without any success.

Bahia Concepcion is a huge bay and we were traveling along the peninsula that forms the outside border. It was a lonely desolate landmass with only the occasional structure (many in ruins) to break up the brown rock hills and low beaches. As the wind increased we abandoned the fishing effort and took turns sailing. We saw the spouts of a few whales far in the distance and our path crossed that of a group of porpoises. They seemed to be one a mission to get to somewhere and didn't slow down to play in our wake as some others had. We were maintaining our 4.5 knot average and it struck me funny that the same distance covered by an automobile in one hour on the highway would take a day on the boat. Coffee , tea, cup o soup and snacks to break up the day . I was trying every subtle change in sail trim in an attempt to nurse another 1/10th of a knot out of the boat. Wayne with adhesive backed Velcro in hand was organizing the contents of the cabin. I was pleased to find that the solar panel was making enough power to run the GPS and VHF radio .

We had plotted a course to Punt Pulpito (Pulpit Rock). It was the only area that looked like it provided some protection from northerly winds within a days sailing from Santispac. It became windier as the day progressed with some 3'-4' swells. This increased our boat speed and made up for some of the slow sailing hours. It was nearly dusk when we rounded the point at Pulpito. It was not a particularly friendly looking place. A reef extended from the monolith and behind the reef was a small hook of a beach backed by 40' sand dune. The approach was deep, too deep to anchor until we were nearly on the beach. I dropped anchor in 27 feet of water and then had Wayne back the boat up another 50' to set the anchor. I then shortened up our line to keep us from swinging into the reef or shore. The wind was steadily increasing as we ate diner. We were both tired and there was no guitar playing that night. Wayne punched in the anchorage location in the GPS and we retired for the night.

The wind and waves were noisy and the V-berth was not very comfortable . I half slept listening to the sound of the anchor lines bumping as we pitched up and down. I dozed off to sleep and thought "how pleasant, no more bumping noises" when I heard Wayne say "We're adrift! !" I scrambled for clothes and went onto the pitching foredeck to pull in the anchor . Wayne ran the outboard but there was nothing but darkness around us. I was so relieved to find that Wayne had entered our GPS location. We were .79 miles straight out to sea from where we had dragged anchor into deep water. I was able to navigate us well to the south of the reef on our return until the dark mass of Pulpito was visible. I dropped the anchor in roughly the same spot but was not going back to bed. It was 3 am. I made coffee and had breakfast .

We consulted the charts and guide books for our next day's course. We would be sailing another long day but surely getting an early start and most definitely having plenty of wind. The one concern was the Coronadas Islands Pass. The distance between the innermost island and the point of land is less than 1/2 mile and the depth is 12 feet. The option of going around the outside of the islands might add enough additional miles to make arrival in Puerto Escondido before dark impossible. Well, inside it would be.  Togarty is a shallow draft boat and 12' or 120' what's the big deal. The big deal was waves. We had spent the whole day running "wing and wing", that means the main fully out and slightly leeward and the headsail out on the other side supported by a whisker pole. Downwind this is our fastest set and on some of the 6' wave faces we were clocking GPS speeds of 9.4 knots for a short period of time. The boat would pull to windward on the face of the waves requiring strong tiller pressure to keep us from rounding up and then opposite tiller to correct on the back side of the swell. The action was not unlike a two handed bucksaw. And over the course of the day I think I could have felled a couple of giant Sequoias. Wayne took his shifts on the tiller and we were getting better at anticipating the swell and preturning a bit to avoid some of the windward pressure. I should have been tired from the lack of sleep but the excitement of the wind and swell and the anticipation of the Coronadas Pass canceled any sleepiness.

We used a GPS point from the Charlie's Cruising guide to mark the north end of the pass and got a good visual on the land side point, a sandy spit reaching out towards a small island of the Coronadas group. The waves were increasing in size and power and I thought it would be prudent to put in all the hatchboards and latch the cockpit lockers. As we approached the pinchpoint we could see the backside of waves 10'-12' and the depth sounder was showing the rising sea floor. The wind was 20+ and directly behind. We raced down the waves and confirmed the 12'-15' depth as we held a course midway between the island and the point. After about four of these wild wave rides the seafloor began to drop away to normal depth and the size of the waves returned to a normal 4'-6'. It was afternoon and the huge Isla Carmen off shore from the town of Loreto provided some protection from the wind and swell. We could enjoy the fantastic views of the majestic Sierra Gigantica mountains that flanked this section of coastline. We changed nav points on the GPS to steer us towards Puerto Escondido a few miles south of the historic town of Loreto.

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)

December

• No Fleet 20 Plans

January

• Boat Show:  5 - 13, Portland Boat Show
• Boat Show:  24 - Feb 2, Seattle Boat Show
• Boat Show:  24 - Feb 2, Lake Union Boats Afloat Show

See the calendar