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

Crocus is sitting at home under the tarp as I start making plans for this winter's projects.  Despite a wet October, Don Bateson and I managed to pull the boat out between showers.  Before placing the tarp on the boat I gave the bottom a thorough pressure washing.

Part of my process for getting the boat ready for winter is to remove most of the gear and store it in the garage.  High on my list is anything that will hold moisture (sails, cushions, curtains, life jackets, lines, paper goods, etc.).  I also throw the lines into a mesh bag and wash them in the washing machine (no bleach) followed by line drying.  The battery comes off, gets fully charged, and spends the winter in the garage.  By the time I'm done usually only the spars, rudder, tiller, and fenders are left aboard the boat.  Having everything out of the boat makes Spring commission easier because cleaning the inside is so easy (I wipe everything down with a diluted bleach solution).

Welcome to Fleet 20

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

Mack Stilson and Renee' Johnson of Tualatin, Oregon

Tiger Lily, #15481, Swing Keel

Renee' and Mack are interested in cruising and racing, and they are available to crew.

Larry Palmer of Portland, Oregon

Pelican, #11097, Swing Keel

Larry is interested in cruising.  He's new to sailing and is looking for instruction and is willing to crew for others in order to learn.

Racing

2008 Fleet Champion and Most Improved Sailor
By Dale Mack

The Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO) ran ten of the races that made up Fleet 20's official 2008 racing season and the Corinthian Yacht Club (CYC) ran the remaining six.  The Spring Series, from April to May, provided five races, the Summer Series, from June to July, provided another five, and the CYC Summer Series in July and August provided the remaining six races.

Fleet 20 annually recognizes as a "Fleet Champion" the skipper with the best record.  The fleet also recognizes a "Most Improved Sailor" based on the skipper whose performance improved the most year to year.

Congratulation to everyone who raced in 2008.  It was a fun season, made all that much better by the wonderful crews that joined us on the boats.

2008 Fleet Champion Don Woodhouse Togarty, #7260
2008 Most Improved Sailor Weston Becker Celeste, #6550

 

Day 1

I departed Tomahawk Bay at 9:00am on Saturday and arrived at Sand Island Marine Park across from St Helens at 12:30pm. The trip down river began with passing under the I-5 and railroad bridges. The railroad bridge had 35 feet of clearance which is enough for Promiseland to safely pass under even with a mast mounted VHF antenna, although it sure looked close to me. There was no wind until about 11:00am; when the wind finally did come, it was from the North at 10 – 12 mph with 15 – 20 mph gusts. I was able to sail close hauled, with several tacks, about the last five miles then I dropped my sails and motored into Sand Island Marine Park.

Looking up the Willamette River – (Sauvie Island on the right and Kelley Point on the left)

There are two separate dock areas at Sand Island, both with a few rows and a ramp to the island. The docks are concrete, wide, and well maintained. In addition to the docks there are a line of logs secured to piles for tying up to and an anchorage. The docks are not sheltered to the north so I recommend getting an interior position if one is available. For those of us without dinghies there was a shuttle, which was a large pontoon party barge, taking people back and forth between the island and St Helens city dock near the courthouse. I didn’t check on the price or schedule of the shuttle. However, moorage and use of the facilities on the island are free.

Promiseland at the Sand Island Marine Park Dock. This is the downriver dock, probably the least desirable of the two with a north wind. St. Helens is in the background on the right.

On the Island there are nice sandy beaches including a long exposed beach, and a few small sheltered beaches. There are several large grassy open spaces, forested areas, and trails.  Several large designated camping spots with picnic tables and fire rings are located around the island, some are right on the river, and others are in the interior forested areas.  I discovered a large covered picnic shelter, a few benches, two sets of bathrooms (composting toilets, like at Forest Service campgrounds), and several spots that would be good for camping despite no fire ring or picnic table. There was no firewood on the island and cutting wood on the island is not allowed so bring your own.

Over the weekend Sand Island was a boisterous, fun place to be; certainly not a quiet retreat. On the Island there were lots of families and friends partying, laughing, and bantering in a lively, friendly atmosphere. Many boaters went onto the island and enjoyed time together in the evening around campfires and were playing horseshoes and other outdoor games they had brought with them. Lots of kids were running around the island exploring and playing along the beaches.

On the docks boaters had folding chairs, portable fire places, camp stoves, shade tents, and other outdoor fun stuff. Some were fishing off the docks or their boats while others were enjoying drinks and sharing lively stories and laughs. The dock I tied up to was exposed to a lot of waves and wind, so it was a noisy night with the boat rocking sometimes enough to wake me up, but nonetheless it was a secure place for the night.

Even with the docks full of boats and with many people on the island, it didn’t feel crowded. The island is fairly large and merits some good walks and exploring. There were also lots of ripe blackberries and several small boats beached on the island throughout the afternoon and walked up to pick berries. Sand Island is a great place for a large family reunion or a fleet/club rendezvous, and was an excellent, enjoyable stop on the way to my downriver destination.

Day 2

To be continued...

The C22 mast is 25 feet long (24' 9" in the case of the new-style boats).  You'll need about 25 feet of 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe.  Since it doesn't tend to come in that length, you'll need PVC pipe glue and one or two couplers depending on the length of the pipe you purchased. To determine how long to make the pipe, measure from the top of the mast down to where you want the pipe to end.  My mast had a hole for an antenna cable so I went with six inches.
At the mast's base I had a hole for the wiring to exit.  After measuring I decided to go with seven inches. I removed the wiring and cables from the mast.
After gluing up my pipe, I slid it into the mast while the front of the mast was face down.  In this position the conduit can be positioned in front of the compression post at the spreaders.  Once installed the conduit will be on the front side of the mast. With the conduit flush with the end of the mast on one end, I marked the conduit on the other end.  Then I reduced the measurement by thirteen inches and cut my conduit.
My conduit's total length turned out to be: 25 ft - 6 in - 7 in = 23' 11" My next step was to mark, center punch, and then drill the holes for the six rivets that would secure the conduit to the mast.
To determine where to drill I took the 23' 11" measurement subtracted 1" for each end where I was going to offset the first and last rivets by one inch and then divided 23' 9" by the five segments the remaining four rivets would define.  My spacing worked out to 4' 9". Because my mast has a spinnaker car track running down the center of the front side of the mast, I installed my conduit just off center to port in order to leave room for the track's fasteners.
This photos shows where my wires exit the mast for the streaming light.  Once the conduit is riveted into place, I easily went back and drilled a hole into the conduit for the wires. When drilling the mast, don't worrying about drilling the conduit because the conduit will be drilled in a separate step later.
Drilling the rivet holes in the conduit can be tricky because the conduit keeps moving around.  To solve this problem I took some old close cell foam packing material and formed it into a ball wrapped by a length of line.
I next fitted the ball into the mast.  The ball has to be big enough to force the conduit against the mast.  In this photo I'm testing the concept before cutting the conduit to length.
Use a ramrod to push the foam into the mast all the way to the spreaders' compression post.  Next, pull on the line until the foam is brought to a position where you need to drill the conduit in order to install a rivet.  Once in position, drill and then install the aluminum rivet (stainless steel is overkill for this application).  Repeat for the remaining rivets and then repeat for the other end of the mast.  Drill and rivet as you go.  If you trying to pre-drill the conduit, none of the holes are likely to line up.
Reinstall the wiring and light fixtures and you're done.  Now the wiring won't interfere with the halyards.

Next month we will finish the project by modifying the masthead and mast base for internal all-line halyards.

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)

November

• Party:  8, OCSA Awards Party at Portland Yacht Club, open to all sailors

December

• 6 - 21, Christmas Ship Parade

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.