|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
From
the Captain
If
cruising in April doesn't put you off, consider attending the Columbia River All
Catalina Association's (CRACA) cruise to Hadley's Landing on Multnomah Channel.
Laura and I are serving as the cruise leaders. We'll be in our Catalina 30
for this one, since Laura tells me her overnight C22 days are behind her;-)) The cruise
is planned for the weekend of April 1-2. Because of morning commitments
Laura, Sean, and I probably won't reach Hadley's Landing until about 4:30 pm.
Just look for boats flying the CRACA burgee, or for other Catalina sailboats.
The group will do potluck appetizers between 3-5 pm, and potluck dessert between
7 and 8 pm.
We
held our third annual Catalina 22 workshop on February 25th. The event was
announced in our fleet newsletter which is distributed electronically to over
one-hundred Catalina 22 owners in Region 9 (Oregon, Washington, and Idaho).
Since lunch was being provided, we insisted on receiving an RSVP. Imagine my
delight in having thirty Catalina 22 owners express their intention to attend
the workshop which ran from 10 am to 1 pm.| Cruising |
Hadley's Landing
Tranquility
along the banks of Multnomah Channel
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #8244
Nestled in the trees that line the banks of Multnomah Channel, Hadley's Landing can make you feel like you are a million miles from nowhere. The stretch of Multnomah Channel that runs from the Willamette River to Hadley's Landing is lined with marinas, floating homes and decaying piles leftover from a time when log rafts were tied up in the channel.
Located 9.9 nautical miles downstream from the Interstate Bridge (I-5) via the Willamette River and Multnomah Channel, Hadley's Landing is situated on the south side of Sauvie Island. While the river portions of the journey can be sailed, the channel is best left to motoring. From the I-5 bridge you can reach Hadley's Landing in about two hours under power.
Multnomah Channel isn't hard to navigate. Most of the time if you stay in the middle of the channel you'll be away from the pilings and in deep water. As always bring your charts of the area. If entering from the Willamette River pay particular attention to the navigational aids because the water becomes shallower as you exit the river and then eventually starts to get deeper as you get further into the channel. Navigating Multnomah Channel from its northwest end near St. Helens, Oregon isn't difficult as long as you follow the charts. From this end center isn't always the deepest, but the route is marked on the charts. Commercial tugs pushing barges still use Multnomah Channel as a shortcut between Portland and St. Helens so it obviously isn't that tricky of a passage.
This is a great weekend destination. Like most docks near Portland it's very popular, but that doesn't mean you can't find space to tie up.
Notes:
- 9.9 nm downstream from the Interstate Bridge (I-5) via the Columbia River, Willamette River, and Multnomah Channel.
- There is 300 feet of transit dock connected to the shore.
- Accessible all year.
- Great Fall color location
- Water depth is good on both sides of the dock.
- No reservations and no fee to use
- No shore side facilities
Princess Louisa Inlet Cruise in the Works
By Lynn Buchanan, Sailynn, #2431, Fleet 54
Fleet 54 of Grass Valley, CA and host of the 2006 Catalina 22 National Regatta on Scotts Flat Lake in June, is going to host the West Coast 2006 National Cruise to the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia. Our destination will be Princess Louisa Marine Park, B.C.
The dates are August 11th to August 27th, so mark your calendars. We haven’t been there since 1988 in our 1987 C22 wing keel Forutoo (#14644) with Fleet 54 and Fleet 6 of Seattle.
I’ll never forget the best fish and chips I ever had was at Egmont B.C. which is the stepping off point (last place to get ice/wash clothes) before heading to Princess Louisa Inlet. We plan to trailer from Nevada City on August 11th and launch on the 13th at a marina near Fisherman’s Cove or Eagle Harbor. We will probably depart from there on Monday the 14th and head North by harbor hopping. I will be preparing a cruising sheet of pertinent information for the trip.
If you are interested, you can contact me at:
Lynn Buchanan
530-470-0511
or
Sailynn@comcast.net
| Racing |
Racing
Your Catalina
22
By Dale Mack, C22,
Crocus
The action starts April 13th with the SYSCO Spring Series. Nothing will build your skills and confidence in the boat faster then getting out there weekly and sailing around the course. Despite what your heard, racing is not all about winning. It's about setting objectives and accomplishing them. When I got started with racing my objectives were simple: finish the race, don't hurt the boat, don't get disqualified, and have fun. Because I was new and unsure of myself my starts were conservative (that means I was typically last to cross the line) and I followed people around the course, because truthfully I was sometimes not sure what the course was. Today my starts are still conservative (racing in river current will do that to you), but my objectives have evolved a bit. For example, as I've become more confident in my understanding of the rules I don't always yield my rights on the course to other fleets like the J/24's, Melges, and Martins simply because I assume they know the rules better than me. As my boat handling skills have increased and I've come to understand the effect of the river's current on the boat, I've become much more comfortable putting the boat into close proximity to other boats at starts and mark roundings.
The SYSCO Spring Series is a series of five evening races with one race scheduled each night (Thursday, April 13, 20, 27, and May 4, and 18). The First Warning Signal is 6:30 pm.
Please contact me if you are interested in racing your boat.
Dale Mack: 360-260-4196 or celtic-myst@comcast.net
Dave
Perry Seminar
"Positioning Yourself to Win"
By Dale Mack, C22,
Crocus
On March 4th I attended the all-day Dave Perry Seminar. Part of the US Sailing / Mount Gay Rum Speaker Series, participants were walked through an advanced look at tactical positioning at key areas around the race course, with an in depth analysis of the decision making process. The seminar was based on the book Perry, Dave. Winning in One-Design. Portsmouth: US Sailing, 2005.
Dave's a two-time All American sailor, two-time Congressional Cup winner and a member of the Sailing World Hall of Fame. He is well known for his clear, humorous and highly interactive presentations on the rules, strategy, and tactics. His other two books include: Understanding the Yacht Racing Rules, and Dave Perry’s 100 Best Rules Quizzes.
On the whiteboard Dave created an actual race customized to the conditions we sail between marks "2" and "C" on the Columbia River. The scenarios of starts, mark roundings, crosses, and finishes were just outstanding. I and many in the audience were reliving races won and loss and coming to better understand the good and the bad tactical decisions we made along the way. The seminar was very interactive with Dave answering lots of questions from the audience.
At
noon the seminar provided us lunch from Zupans while Dave provided us scenarios
to solve regarding racing between "2" and "C". Everyone broke up into
groups of 4-6 and tackled one scenario which commonly had 6-8 tactical decisions
you had to make. The afternoon was spent reviewing the scenarios during
which Dave would reveal the tactical decisions he would have made. It was
really fascinating to see the light bulbs going on throughout the room.
The seminar ended at 5 pm and the Mount Gay Rum party started. Each seminar participant had received two drink tickets which were also used to identify door prize winners throughout the day. Everything from rigging knifes and Sperry Top-Sider shoes to jackets and hotel rooms were given away. The pizza served at the party came from Pizza Mia.
It was a great seminar, and a kick having Dave sign my copy of his book Winning in One-Designs.
Upcoming Training Events
March 14, 21, & 28, 6:00 pm BBQ Social and 6:30-8:30 pm Class
North Sails Oregon Trim Course. North Sails Oregon invites all skippers and crew to participate in three evenings of instruction on sail trim. Topics include understanding rig tune, upwind sail trim and downwind sail trim. The fee is only $15 per course or $40 for all three. North U Course books ($25) and CD’s ($40) will be available for purchase. Register online at North Sails Oregon. For information contact: Kerry or Amy Poe, North Sails Oregon, kerry@sales.northsails.com or 503-282-4282.
March 15, 7:00 pm at Portland Yacht Club
OCSA Race Management Clinic. The Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association invites all sailors to participate in an evening of instruction and discussions. This extremely informative seminar is not just for race captains. The seminar will focus on the planning and coordination involved in putting on a sailboat race. There will be something for everyone. The topics will include courses, timing, calculations, planning, promoting, handling protests, and more. Registration is not required and there is no cost. Portland Yacht Club, 1241 NE Marine Drive, Portland, OR
March 23 - 24, 6:30-8:30 pm 3/23 & 6:00 3/24 at Rose City Yacht Club
SYSCO Race Clinic. The Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO) invites all sailors to attend its FREE Race Clinic. The Thursday evening classroom and Friday evening on the water clinic is targeted at new racers and those who have never raced before. This extremely informative seminar is perfect for new racers. The clinic will teach you how to enter a race, read and understand the course board, how to start and finish, pass along some local knowledge of racing on the Columbia River, along with other topics. Registration is not required and the clinic is free.
| Technical Tips |
Building and using a Gin Pole
Raising your
mast with less effort
By Dale Mack, Crocus,
#8244
| I've always used myself and one other person to raise
the mast. We stand on the cabin top on either side of the mast,
grab hold and pivot it up. After watching some C25 sailors use
a gin pole, I became curious about adapting it for single-handed raising
and lowering of the mast. Drawing inspiration from various gin pole methods described on the Internet, this photo essay walks you through the construction details of the rig I built for the February 25th Catalina 22 Fleet 20 Mast Raising and Rigging Workshop. I built a temporary gudgeon mounted mast support with a roller to fill in for my homemade telescoping mast carrier, built by a previous owner, that was damaged in a wind storm (more on that in a future article). I'll also cover a modification I plan to make to the gin pole now that I've used it several times. I've been very impressed with how easy it is to raise and lower the
mast by myself using the gear. While it takes longer to setup than
just grabbing the mast and swinging it up, it makes the whole process a
lot less stressful particularly if something hangs up and you need to go
and clear it. |
 |
|
|
The gin pole is constructed from materials you can get
from Home Depot and Walmart. It includes:
|
|
| I've seen eye-bolts used in place of the u-bolts, but I
liked the idea of spreading the load over a larger area. To each
u-bolt I added additional nuts and fender washers so the the 2x4 was
sandwiched between a nut and washer on the top and the bottom. I rounded off the end of the 2x4 to avoid any sharp corners. |
 |
|
|
The winch can be found for about $20. I spent another $8 and went with a winch that ratchets in both directions. You can do away with the winch, block, and line by simply using your boom vang between a cleat on the bow and the end of the gin pole. Whether its the ratchet locking mechanism of the winch or the
cam-cleat of a boom vang, having the ability to lock the line in place
is essential if you want to stop anywhere in the lift or lowering
process and untangle something. |
|
| The end of the gin pole that rests against the mast was cut and sanded to fit the contour of the mast. The nut end of the eye-bolt anchors one end of the nylon strap. The strap passes around the mast and the black hook attaches to the eye-bolt. With everything in place the ratchet mechanism is used to tighten the strap and secure the gin pole to the mast. Modification Note: While the strap does a
great job, I found that the pole's length provided enough leverage to
allow the end of the pole to move either up or down on the mast if the
pole weren't kept perpendicular to the mast. I plan to glue and
screw a ten inch piece of 2x4 (cut to the same curve as the mast) to the
top and bottom of the pole. This modification will provide a
bigger foot and discourage the pole from moving. |
 |
|
 |
Raising the Mast by Yourself When you have a helper, they can steady the mast and keep it from swaying from side to side as you use the gin pole. What about doing it all by yourself? To do that you are going to need a bridle that can provide the side to side support you get from the shrouds once the mast is up. The bridle (you need two) is made of a ring, a shackle, two
carabiners, and some low-stretch line. None of the hardware has to
be stainless steel since you'll probably be storing the gear in your
garage when not in use. |
|
|
Your substitute shroud needs an attachment point that is at the same
height as your mast bolt so the substitute shroud remains taunt
throughout the mast raising or lowering operation. In the case of
the bridle that means the top of the ring needs to be at the height of
the bolt. The shackle connects to your forward shroud's chain plate. I have open-style turnbuckles so I connected the carabiner to the aft shroud's turnbuckle. If you have closed-style turnbuckles then I'd look to using the aft shroud's t-bolt toggle as an attachment point since there is usually a gap between the clevis pin and the t-bolt. |
|
|
 |
The upper end of the bridle is attached to the main halyard. A short length of line is tied around the mast and through the two carabiners. This line keeps the upper end of the bridle close to the mast. The next step is to pull the main halyard tight, thus tensioning the bridle. With all the gear in place and tensioned, you are ready to raise the mast. Move to the winch and start cranking the mast up. Watch for shrouds and stays snagging along the way. The beauty of the gin pole combined with a bridle is that you can stop with the mast at any position if you need to step away to free something that has fouled. Your aft shrouds will keep the mast from going too far forward. In fact you don't even need to have your backstay attached. |
|
| Scuttlebutt |
Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest
By Dale Mack
Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:
|
Columbia River All Catalina Association
(CRACA)
Sail Portland Oregon Women's Sailing Association |
 |
Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS) |
| Upcoming Events |
March
- 14, 21 & 28, Workshop: North Sails Oregon Trim Course
- 15, Workshop: OCSA Race Management Clinic
- 23 - 24, Workshop: SYSCO Race Clinic
April
- 1 - 2, Cruise: Hadley's Landing on Multnomah Channel
- 13, Race: Spring #1
- 20, Race: Spring #2
- 22 - 23, Cruise: Bartlett Landing (Government Island, East Dock)
- 27, Race: Spring #3
See the calendar
Home / Newsletter / Calendar / Racing / Cruising / Photos / Tech Tips / How to Join / Links
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.