Laura and I attended the Strictly Sail Pacific sailboat and equipment show at Jack London Square in Oakland, California on April 19th.  The show is famous for its large collect of in-the-water sailboats and shoreside tents filled with gear booths targeted at sailors.  I highly recommend this show.  The variety of boats is outstanding, and the booths are amazing.

One of the boat basins at the show.		Catalina Yachts
Laura relaxing in the salon of a Catalina Morgan 440.		The Catalina Morgan 440 with the raised salon.

Fleet 20 Lemon Island Rendezvous - May 17

Fleet 20 will be holding its annual Lemon Island Rendezvous on Saturday , May 17th.  Lemon Island is the most downstream portion of Government Island (the island that I-205 crosses).  Motoring, you can get there in under an hour.

As in past years the rendezvous is on the same day as the Tomahawk Bay Yacht Club's swap meeting.  My plan is to browse the swap meet, socialize with sailing acquaintances, and then head to the boat.

For those that want to go together, we'll informally rendezvous near buoy "14" at 11 am and then head upstream to the north side of Lemon Island where we'll raft-up.  If you miss us at buoy "14", just head to Lemon Island at your leisure.  The RCYC Medium Distance Race, which heads upriver, is also starting a buoy "14" at 11 am, so you might want to stay to the north of "14".

The plan is to anchor between the two wing dams, just offshore of Lemon Island (location #2 on the photo).  The river's bottom is always changing, so comparisons to conditions from past years may be useless.  What I have found in the past is that the cove (#1) that normally forms between Government Island and Lemon Island is almost dry when the river's level is between River Stages 2 and 4 (River Stages).

I hope to see you out there, just look for the yellow-hulled C22 with sail number 4248 and that will be me.  The sail back in the afternoon should be great.

Spring Series Begins with High Winds
By Dale Mack

The 2008 racing season for Fleet 20 began on Thursday, April 17th.  The wind was blowing so hard in the marina that it was whistling through the rigging of the nearby boats.  After initially pulling out the 150, I changed my mind and went with the 110 and a reefed main.  The sail selection would later prove to be a great advantage during the race.

Neither my crew nor I had a time piece with us, so we decided to just follow the others across the line.  Our start was horrible.  How horrible?  Every Catalina 22 and Ranger 20 was over the line and well on the way to the first windward mark before we even neared the line.  The sail selection, combined with a decision to focus on boat speed and not pointing ability delivered amazing results.  We were second to round the windward mark, just behind the lead Ranger 20.  With the high winds, we passed on flying the spinnaker and went wing-and-wing while we unreefed the mainsail.  With two-thirds of the Ranger 20 fleet launching spinnakers behind us, we sat back and watched the carnage as boats spun out of control.  By the downwind mark, no one was ahead of us.  The wind had diminished slightly, so we decided to leave the reef out for the second and final lap.  Again we focused on boat speed and had excellent results.  On the final leg John Clark and I could have flown the spinnaker in the moderate air, but with only two on the boat and our lack of practice we decided to stay with the wing-and-wing and rode it to victory. 

The second race of the series was similar to the first, but the wind was more moderate.  We went with a 150 and a reefed main.  This time we had a time piece so our start was much better.  We were first to the windward mark and rounded with a comfortable lead.  Our downwind leg wing-and-wing, while well sailed, had us losing ground to Togarty and Don Woodhouse's excellent downwind sailing skills.  The second windward lap produced results similar to the the first.  The focus on boat speed and tactics that kept the boat heading to the mark paid off handsomely as Crocus reestablished a considerable lead by the time we reached the windward mark.  Once again we finished the final leg wing-and-wing knowing all the time that if any of the C22s set a spinnaker they'd probably catch us and win.  None did and we when onto victory in race two of the five evening Spring Series.

Local Knowledge
Staying within the Laylines
By Dale Mack

In a perfect world the starting line would be perpendicular to the wind direction, so there'd be no favorite side of the course.  The reality on the Columbia River is that the section of river we are racing on roughly runs from east to west, and the typically summer pattern is wind out of the NW.  What this translates into is that a race course set square to the wind will have unbalanced laylines (the point where you should be tacking toward the mark).  Why unbalanced?  It has to do with the river's current.  Most of the time the left side of the course will be favored, meaning the longer you stay on the left the faster you will reach the windward mark.  Every time you sail on the right side of the course which has you heading to the Washington shore, your not heading as directly to the mark.  While the current is helping you to the mark, it's not making up for the fact that you are essentially pointed away from the mark.  Master this piece of hard earning local knowledge and you'll eliminate one of my tactical advantages out there on the race course.

Dockside Spinnaker Clinic
By Dale Mack

On April 11 & 12, Fleet 20 held a dockside spinnaker clinic.  Both sessions were well attended.  Clinic participants got to set the boat up, learn how to pack a spinnaker, launch, take down, gybe, and trim the chute.  Everyone also rotated through all the positions (bow and cockpit).

Based on the interest shown at the classroom and dockside sessions, I'm considering hosting some spinnaker sailing sessions aboard Crocus this summer.  Speaking of Crocus, whose colors are yellow and blue, image the kick I got out of seeing this spinnaker at the Strictly Sail Pacific show.

Protect Your Investment
By Dale Mack

During my visit to California to see the Strictly Sail show, Laura and I stopped off in the Sacramento area to visit friends.  While Laura was off with her best friend, I headed over to Folsom Lake where Laura and I started our Catalina 22 sailing career as members of Fleet 4.  One of the great things about Brown's Ravine at Folsom Lake, is that the marina is home to more than a hundred Catalina 22s.  It's a wonderful place to see how others have setup their boats.  Along with all the good ideas, you also find reinforcements of what not to do.  Annually, Folsom Lake's level drops to the point where all the boats have to be pulled from the marina.  Fortunately for those with slips, they are allowed to store the boat on its trailer in the marina parking lot.  I was surprised to see how many boats had been stored with their mainsail still on the boom and in the case of boats with roller furling, with the headsail still attached.  Now with a proper sun cover these sails will be just find expect for an increase in grime resulting from the rain seeping in and carrying dirt.  Unfortunately in some cases a $700 sail was destroyed when part of the mainsail hung below an ill-fitting cover, or the wind ripped an old cover that was due to be replaced.  The picture below is the worst example of this unfortunate, but totally preventable outcome.  In this case the sail was shredded its entire length.  Also the exposure of the Dacron in the sail to harmful UV rays had deteriorated the sail to the point where there was no integrity left in the material.