From the Commodore
By Bob GalesAhoy Mates! Here it is October already and I think the rains are settling in for the winter. While we will certainly have some more nice weather it is probably time to begin planning for winterizing our boats. Well, your boats, as Gail and I have not found our next one yet. Still looking and talking but no deals yet.
Our annual rendezvous was fun for the few members who were able to attend. The half-dozen boats who let me know they would not be in attendance had very valid reasons. After a great summer sailing season some were just "boated out". Others had family commitments and of course the Ducks had a big game that Saturday. Attendance at any of the CRACA cruises is certainly not mandatory and we all do our best to cruise when we can. Just getting together with like minded sailors when we can is always fun. We will be planning for next year's cruises this month and talk about them at our October 19 meeting.
October Meeting
Mark Wednesday, October 19 on your calendars. CRACA will have a general membership meeting at the Delta Park Elmer's. We've reserved the back room so come around 6:30 for dinner (order off the menu with 15% gratuity) with our meeting beginning at 7:15.
Officer Elections
CRACA still needs some members to step up to help with a few board positions. Here is what we have:
- Commodore: Bob Gales
- Secretary-treasurer: Kathleen Lewis
- Cruise Director: Jim Elieff
- Communications Director: Dale Mack
- Vice Commodore
- Safety Officer
- Historian
- Rendezvous Chair
One idea is to have a holiday gathering before Thanksgiving, thus avoiding the busy time between then and New Years. Some type of social gathering with food and beverage would be a lot of fun. We'll get your input at the October meeting.
Please plan on attending the October meeting to share your ideas and enjoy visiting with other Catalina Sailors. I am always happy to receive your ideas and comments by email or phone.
Next General Meeting
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
6:30 pm social/dinner – 7:00 pm meeting
Elmer's Restaurant, 9848 N. Whitaker Rd.
(at Delta Park near West Marine)
AGENDA
Raffle Prizes for CRACA members in attendance
(Someone will leave with a new auto-inflate PFD)
Election of 2006 CRACA Board
2006 Cruising Plans
2006 Meeting Dates and Topics
2005 Holiday party ideas
October Halloween Cruise
Rear Commodore's Log
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst
Our proposed cruising schedule is due to the Columbia River Yachting Association on November 1. If you have ideas for cruising dates and destinations you are interested in, please bring them to the meeting.
Speaking of cruising, I'm sorry the inclement weather discouraged so many from attending the Catalina Rendezvous. As it turned out the weather Saturday and Sunday was gorgeous. Sand Island turned out to be a wonderful destination for the rendezvous, and those that did show up had a wonderful time. Picking a date and location for next year's rendezvous will also be part of the discussion at October's meeting.
Halloween Cruise
Pack aboard your warm clothes, propane/butane heater and join Laura and me at Bartlett Landing (Government Island, East) for CRACA's Halloween Cruise. The change in venue this year (we've gone to Coon Island in the past) should encourage more sailing to and from the destination (weather permitting) and for some, shorten the trip since Bartlett Landing is only about two hours upriver from the I-5 bridge.
As you'll read below, we have a number of optional fun activities planned along with potluck appetizers Saturday afternoon. Laura and I are looking forward to seeing you Oct. 22-23.
The Sail for the Cure was Great
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic MystA record 59 boats participated in the Sail for the Cure on a warm and sunny Sunday in September. Pink ribbons streamed from backstays in honor of friends and family who have faced breast cancer.
The objective of this year's game was to trade balls with other boats until you could spell a six-letter nautical word. Bonus points could also be earned by finding event sponsor banners and recording which boat carried which sponsor.
Prior to the start of the on the water game, each boat passed the committee boat and received a bag with several lettered tennis balls and game instructions. Each boat also carried a bamboo stick with a fish tank net attached to one end for retrieving tennis balls that might end up in the river. The sticks had been distributed during the shore side check-in.
This year's game had the boats sailing a two lap windward/leeward course between buoy "14" and the channel marker (known locally as race mark #2) just upstream of the I-5 bridge. The wind was a delightful 8-10 knots out of the southwest.
Since everyone's collect of tennis balls kept evolving with all the trading, it made sense to revisit boats you might have already traded with. Because of the nature of the game, getting around the course fast wasn't what it was all about. Instead, boat handling skills mattered more as you kept changing directions in order to rendezvous with other boats and discuss possible trades.
The final dollar amount raised at Sail for the Cure 2005 won't will be announced until the October General OWSA Meeting where a check will be presented to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Here are some of the early numbers:
- 59 boats participated
- 327 participants
- 181 attended the benefit dinner after the sail at PYC
- 49 volunteers
- 19 Breast Cancer Survivors
- 20 sponsors qualified for boat banners
- $8,000 in Silent Auction proceeds
- $3,300 in pledges proceeds
- $1,000 in raffle tickets proceeds
- C22 Sunrise, Gary McLean
- C25 Encore!, Gary & Kathy Bruner
- C25 Lematike, Terry & Kathie Annis
- C25 Leucothea, Nate & Margaret Hanson
- C27 Mojito, Carl & Beth Sorensen
- C30 Celtic Myst, Dale & Laura Mack
- C30 L'ARK, Larry & Lee Ann Snyder
Crew Entry for the Log the C25 Lematike
My Experience at the Sail for the Cure
By LindaSeptember 25, 2005. I had the most marvelous time today (Sunday afternoon) actually sailing on the Columbia River and now I want to take sailing lessons and sign on as a crew member so that I can become proficient at it.
I left home late, usual for me. Kathie Annis registered me and got my gorgeous green t- shirt. The boat was moored at a marina on the Columbia River, off Tomahawk Drive. I only got seriously lost two times trying to find it. One of those times I even crossed the river into the state of Washington. Well, fortunately for me, I finally found the boat ten minutes before we shoved off. I met Terry there and got settled in. Then Kathie and Jeanne showed up, Kathie asking if that 'weird woman' had showed up yet. Yes, I am the weirdest of women (somewhat proud of it, too).
I hoped that I would get to help with the ropes some, do anything I could to help with the work and I was afraid that I would do it all badly. Well, it's a good thing that I paid attention and brought my work gloves because otherwise I would be sporting rope burns on both hands today. The act of sailing is very challenging, both mentally and physically. It's an art, a sport, and a lot of fun. That's why you see so many sailboats on the water and in the marinas. Now I understand what I have wondered about for years.
We were one of about 50 sailboats in the (Susan G Komen Breast Cancer Foundation) Sail for the Cure event. On board were the two owners of the boat (Terry and Kathie Annis) both delightful people, very good coaches, generous and kind, trusting, and encouraging teachers. Also sailing with us was Jeanne, who had received training and had a history of sailing in her family. She's the mother of a 3 month old, and was enjoying having a day for herself. She shared that her father was in a racing event at the moment she was born. Then there was me, complete novice, never having sailed other than the four times I sailed in a catamaran as a passenger only. I snapped 54 photos, really, I did. I just couldn't get enough of what was happening all around me. Had I another couple of disposable cameras I would have snapped all of those photos, too.
The boat was a 25-footer and not very big inside. There was a 2 burner stove and oven but no refrigerator, just a cooler. The state-of-the-art marine toilet (head) has to be seen and experienced to believe. It had a holding tank, which can be emptied at the marina. The boat owners are planning to buy a new sailboat, a 28-footer because they have four grandchildren and need more space, and told me that their boat was for sale. It is a 1978 Catalina 25 sailboat, brought down from Canada, heavily reinforced. An excellent boat, but who am I kidding, there will be no sailboat buying for me, especially not at this very busy time in my life, but I can dream, can't I? The skipper likes to race the boat. It has signs on the inside that say the boat has won prizes in a race.
Kathie told me that a Catalina 22 is the ideal boat to learn to sail in, as it is more responsive. It makes sense to me. I need to learn the basics of sailing on a small boat and then maybe sign up to crew on a boat to improve my skills before even considering buying a sailboat. My husband and I have had dreams of sailing the coastal waterways on the East coast and there and everywhere. We even used to subscribe to the Sailing magazine.
I found out what it takes to tack and why one does it, up close and personal. I don't see how anyone could sail this boat without a crew of two, in addition to the skipper, unless one has electrical control of the winches and the ropes that are necessary for control of the sails and the change of sails, etc.
Somebody should have warned me how hard it is to pull the ropes to make a sail tight during
the tacking. No I wouldn't have 'wimped out' before becoming a wincher, or a part of the crew. I found out what happens when another boat 'steals your wind' and what happens when you don't get the ropes done correctly (fast enough) ...you lose your momentum, you are basically dead in the water without a wind in your sails. The ideal wind going upwind is one that is about 90 degrees to the sail, I believe ---makes sense to me. When you are going directly toward the shore, successful tacking will point you 90 degrees up or downstream. That's the way I understand it, anyway, from a novice's point of view.
Someone (a sailing professional) at a picnic the day before told me that you can learn to sail in a day, and that it takes about five years to learn to race a boat. I thought he was joking but he was not. I did learn some things on my first sailing experience, but I certainly did not learn how to sail a boat with any confidence.
I found out how scary it can be to see a huge barge approaching, blasting its horn for you to get the heck out of its way (it has the right of way, of course, and you are going to be dead if you don't heed its warning. If it hit you the barge operator wouldn't feel a thing as it rode over you. Being more maneuverable and fragile, you get way out of the way of the barge, very quickly, and stay that way until it passes.
I found out how it feels to have the wind coming from behind you. It doesn't feel like you are moving even though you are going five knots, very good in a light wind. That's when you get out the spinnaker sail (a very lightweight and strong stay that's usually colorful, as was ours).
There is a group called the Oregon Women's Sailing Association (which put on the Sail for the Cure fundraising event), do I dare join and sign up for their classes? Scary thought for me, but I am happiest when learning something. ..know what I mean? I know that the best training for me would involve my taking classes by myself, as an independent woman, so that I don't become dependent upon my mate.
By the way, who has seen Captain Ron? It's one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen ...we bought it, watch it from time to time. The skippers of our boat also love the movie, watch it a lot, too. They also recommended highly the movie, " Wind" .
We sailed from our dock in the marina to the sailing event's starting place (up the Columbia River) then, after lots of horn blowing and general noisemaking signaling the start of the event, we sailed down the river and around a red buoy, back up river and around another red buoy, back down river and around the buoy and then back upriver toward the starting place. Three hours plus of sailing. It was toward the end that the skipper let me control the tiller and steer the boat, to see what it feels like, and I learned a little about keeping the wind in the sails through trial and lots of error. The skipper said to pick something on the shore and keep the boat going in that direction. He figured out what I was looking toward, so I must have been doing something right, at a least a little bit right.
What joy for me, Kathie said something like she thought we were having the most fun of all. There was not a lot of wind, so the speeds we traveled at were not very fast, who cares, we were sailing! Also, the skipper remarked that we were not far behind a very light racing boat ...eeee yes! I also got to steer the boat after the event and learned what it feels like, learning not to over steer the boat.
At the start we, like all the rest of the boats, we received a bag of seven tennis balls all marked with a letter of the alphabet, in our case the letter "T". To encourage interaction among the boaters, our assignment was to make a word with 6 letters by exchanging tennis balls between boats. You'd get close to a boat and yell out, 'Whatcha got?" "S", they'd say. "What you got?". Other times it would be "We need an R? Do you have one?". The answer was usually "No. We need an L, do you have one?" We had two Ls, but we needed those. In the end we had one extra T, which no one asked us for. We tossed the yellow tennis balls across the water to each other, almost always catching them. It took us a while to understand that the aquarium-size fish net that was attached to the end of a bamboo pole, one of which each boat received, was for retrieving tennis balls that didn't make it across the divide. Proud to say that we never had to use the tool on our boat, we were good at both lobbing and catching the tennis ball.
We chose the word, "TILLER", and it took us a long time to get the R. For a while it seemed that every boat was hunting for that R. A couple in a Zodiac boat came up to us and told us we could have the R if we sang "Margarittaville", I chimed in with the words from Jimmy Buffett's song (I was willing to humiliate myself for my shipmates and me): 'Wasting away in Margarittaville. Looking for my lost shaker of salt. Some people say there's a woman to blame. But I know ---it's my own damn fault." Toward the end we were all singing together ...and we got our R. I have no idea who those folks were in the zodiac boat or how they got into the sailing event, funny, though.
The other game we played called for us to find the sponsor signs (Spot the Sponsors) on some of the larger boats and write down the name of the boat which was carrying the sign. We could never find two of the sponsor-signed boats, who knows why. Some of the larger boats were obviously missing their sponsor signs.
Linda
Novice crewman, Happy sailor-to-be???
OCSA Beach Party & Awards Banquet!
Saturday, November 5, 2005
Portland Yacht Club
1241 NE Marine Dr
6pm Cocktails ● 7pm Dinner Silent Auction
Live Music until Midnight ● Trophy Presentations ● Costume Contest
ALL SAILORS INVITED
(not restricted to OCSA members only)
Dress Beachy
(Costume Contest with a great prize)
$25.00 Per Person
($35.00 at the door, usually a SELL OUT!)
Mailed in registration must be received NO LATER than November 2nd
Cruising
Cruising Plans for 2006
By Jim Elieff, C30, Fortune
Shirley and I had a short cruise season because she hurt herself in June and had to have twenty-one stitches on her leg. We did go to McCuddy's Landing twice, once for five days and three days in July. We attended the CRACA cruise in June to Bartlett Landing (Government Island - East). We also took the family to Bartlett Landing on four-day sailing trips and had lunch.
I've been living on my boat since March 15th. I'm also now working for Sailboats of Oregon, so somebody needs to sell their boat or wants to by a boat, I will do my best to help them.
Catalina Rendezvous 2005
Gambling with the Weather and Winning
By Dale Mack, Crocus, #4248The last time the Catalina Rendezvous visited Sand Island was in 2002. We had beautiful weather, great winds, and over twenty boats in attendance. For 2005 the weather forecasted for the weekend of September 17-19 was looking iffy as the date drew near. I was going rain or shine, so the only thing that matter was making sure I had the correct gear aboard to make the cruise pleasant.
Friday
My plan was to leave the marina about 10:30 am and spend the next four to five hours enjoying a leisurely sail to Sand Island, St. Helens, the venue for the rendezvous. Although the skies looked threatening, I hadn't been rained on while loading the boat up so I was feeling pretty lucky.
I had intended to hoist the sails once pass the railroad bridge but there was no wind so I just kept motoring. I encountered misty conditions and light rain as I neared the Willamette River. Thirty minutes later I was unzipping my jacket as things had dried out, and I was heating up. The wind never did show, so I ended up motoring all the way, yuk!
About an hour and a half after I arrived it rained hard for an hour, but by then my boom tent was in place and I was quietly reading a book and enjoying the sound of the rain on the trap. Three other boats arrived on Friday and I had the pleasure of being invited aboard Michael and Kathleen Lewis' C42, Wind Raven for dinner which I happily accepted.
Saturday
Saturday morning greeted participants with the sounds of birds singing in the trees ashore. The gray skies and the crisp air reminded one of being on the coast.
A special treat this morning was a low tide which I took advantage of to walk all the way around Sand Island at the water's edge. The riverside of Sand Island provided a view of hundreds of fishing boats lined up and down the river enjoying the end of the season.
Sand Island is an Oregon Marine Park, so ashore there are facilities like composting toilets, campsites, hiking paths, grassy clearings, picnic tables, and trash cans (although the park service asks that you carry out what you bring in).
As the day went on the clouds burned off and folks started to emerge from their boats and mingle. Three more boats arrived bringing the total to seven (1-C22, 3-C27, 1-C30, 2-C42). Friday's weather and the damp forecast appeared to have discouraged others from attending. Those that had come were enjoying a sunny warm day (we hadn't seen rain since Friday afternoon).
Shoreside rendezvous activities included things like horseshoes and heaving line. With heaving line you were provided with sixty feet of line with a weighted monkey's fist attached to the end. Your objective was to stay behind a mark on the ground and then toss the monkey's fist and line so the line would lay across a six-foot-wide target forty feet away. The system is used by ships and tugs to pass heavier hawsers (really big lines). First, a message line is passed, and then the message line is used to pull over the hawser.
The rendezvous was providing a ferry service, so throughout the day couples continued to arrive at St. Helens Marina and get ferried over to the rendezvous. One of those couples was CRACA Commodore Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill. Bob and Gail recently sold their C30 and are looking for their next boat. Bob is a past Catalina 22 Fleet 20 Captain, and Gail is the Vice Commodore for the Oregon Women's Sailing Association (OWSA).
Chris and Ebie Mountford (Catalina 22 Fleet 20 alumni) arrived on Saturday after having borrowed their son's Ericson 27 to get to the rendezvous. Chris reported that it had been pretty calm all the way down. Chris' description matched what we had been observing at Sand Island. I had been chomping at the bite to go out sailing but we never got much of anything worth casting off the dock lines for.
The afternoon's potluck appetizers just sort of turned into potluck dessert as everyone hung around the tables enjoying the conversation and hearing about each other's adventures over the past few months.
We didn't break down the buffet until after dark, and by then folks were making their way ashore for the campfire, S'mores, and singing. Yes, singing. There were actually enough people there who know the words to a few songs that we all joined in. It sounds kind of corny, but it was a lot of fun. Reminded one of summer camp, past season's, and why rendezvous' are so different than what we do the rest of the year.
Sunday
Sunny skies greeted everyone Sunday morning. While there was a little wind blowing out of the northwest, I set my expectations low regarding any chance of actually sailing home based on my past experiences from cruises to St. Helens.
After saying my goodbyes, I started my trek home. As predicted the wind died just upstream of Warrior Rock, so the decision to forego any attempt at sailing home was a good one.
The motor back to the slip took 4.25 hours. While it was sunny, it wasn't hot, so except for the noise, the trip back was very pleasant.
Reflections
I'm glad I attended the rendezvous. I didn't know everyone and yet everyone I met was delightful to talk with. Although disappointed about the lack of sailing, I don't regret taking the Catalina 22t. Heck, I only burn about three gallons of fuel of the whole long weekend.
The boats present at this year's rendezvous included:
- C22, Crocus, Dale Mack
- C27, Sydera, Jerry Sampson & Karen Clouse
- C27, June Bug, Brian and Jean Stipak
- C27, Huzzaa!, The Mitchell family
- C30, Sunchaser, Dave & Julie Thomas
- C42, Wind Raven, Michael & Kathleen Lewis
- C42, Jammin, Dave Peoples
- Ericson 27, Chris & Ebie Mountford (Catalina 22 Fleet 20 alumni)
- Commodore Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill (recently sold their C30)
- Walt and Marlene Wittke (CRACA alumni)
- Bill and Marla Simon, C270, Windswept
Halloween Cruise
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst
If you're looking for a relaxed weekend then please consider joining us.
Saturday Schedule of Events
Noon
- 101 Uses for Pumpkins: pumpkin carving, seasoned seed recipes, pumpkin drinks holders, pumpkin bread, pumpkin soups, pumpkin floral displays, pumpkin uses never thought of before. Get creative, silly, and “surprise us” with your own entry into the 101 Uses for Pumpkin.
- Flotilla Follies: create a floating object from Halloween decorations that the river's current, and wind can move. Keep the overall size to 18 inches in length, the height is up to you. Meet us at the posted starting line and the races will commence!
- Decorated Boat and carved Jack-O-Lantern Judging. Totally optional for those who can't resist.
- Shared appetizers on the docks, costumes optional.
- Marshmallow roast, and Smores ashore. After dinner, we'll gather up some of the firewood folks brought and get a campfire going ashore.
- Awards presentation for:
What to Bring
- 101 Uses for Pumpkins
- Winner of the Flotilla Follies
- Decorated Boat
- Jack-O-Lantern
- Costume
- Firewood to kick in for the Saturday evening and Sunday morning campfires
- A Jack-O-Lantern (any size)
- An appetizer to share Saturday afternoon
- A costume (optional)
- Decorations for your boat (optional)
- Your fix'ins for Smores
- Marshmallow roasting hardware and marshmallows
- Your dinghy or kayak if you've got them
- Your folding chairs and table
- Heater (we bring a portable propane heater and lots of spare disposable bottles)
This is intended to be a relaxing weekend on the water, so treat everything as optional. If napping or curling up with a good book is how you want to spend your time, then, by all means, do that.We plan to go rain or shine, so unless a really nasty storm blows in with high winds, we'll be there.
Local Sailing Associations
- SailPDX (hosted by Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association, OCSA)
- Small Yacht Sailing Club of Oregon (SYSCO)
- Oregon Women’s Sailing Association (OWSA)
- Portland Yacht Club (PYC)
- Rose City Yacht Club (RCYC)
The Columbia River All Catalina Association newsletter is published online once a month. Articles are the opinions of the authors and don’t necessarily represent the consensus of the Association.
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