Newsletter	October 2002

From the Afterguard
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

I hope you all had an opportunity to enjoy your boats during our beautiful Indian Summer in September.  From sailboat racing, and day sails, to the Third Annual All Catalina Rendezvous, there was lots to do and experience before the onset of Fall weather.

Thank you for the tireless efforts of those involved in pulling the rendezvous together.  This was my first time attending, and I and the crew had a blast.  We are definitely going to make it an annual pilgrimage.

Welcome and thank you to Dave Peoples as he steps into role of CRACA Commodore.  I also want to thank Ralph Ahseln for the energy and passion he invested in serving as our commodore for five months.

Although the leaves may be changing, there are still lots of activities both on and off the water you can attend in the coming weeks.  In October, Laura and I are the cruise hosts for the CRACA Halloween Cruise to Coon Island (more details later).  In November, the not to be missed annual Tropical Party at the Portland Yacht Club will offer you dinner and dancing to live music for the low price of $20 per person.  Also in November is the CRACA cruise to Government Island.  We'll close out the year with the Christmas Ships Parade in December along with the annual CRACA Holiday Party.

Here's just a glimpse of some of the planning activities in the works as we finish out 2002:

• Thanksgiving Cruise to Government Island (November 23-24)
• Draft our 2003 cruising schedule and submit it to the Columbia River Yachting Association by December 15th.
• Holiday Party
• CRACA booth at the Portland Boat Show (January 4-12)
• CRACA trip to the Seattle Boat Show (January 11-19)
• St. Valentine's Day Cruise to Government Island - East Dock (February 15-16)
• St. Patrick's Day Cruise to Riverplace (March 15-16)

Notes from the Secretary/Treasurer
By Kathleen Lewis, C42, Wind Raven

It was really nice to see so many people at our rendezvous/cruise to Sand Island.  Our membership roster now stands at 64 dues paid members.  Please welcome our newest members, all of which joined at our gathering at Sand Island.

Bob Gales & Gail O’Neill of Portland, OR

Catalina 30 (1988) - Imagine - at McCuddy’s on Marine Drive-

Nate & Margaret Hanson of Hopewell (near Salem)

Catalina 25 - Leucothea

Don & Diana McGee of Washougal

Catalina 250 (2002)

Welcome again to Doug and Karen Knight of St. Helens who rejoined at the Sand Island event.

I still have Rendezvous shirts available. Burgees are sold out, but I will be ordering more. Contact me if you want either of these.

(Editor's Note:  The Hanson's, McGee's, and Bob Gales & Gail O'Neill have all moved up from Catalina 22's, and are former members of Catalina 22 Fleet 20.)

Past Commodore's Hammock
By Michael Lewis, C42, Wind Raven

Look what you missed!

Not just the Rendezvous shirt that this was attached to, a Sailboats of Oregon Rendezvous hat, a super rigging bag and other great gifts. But a great time with the best darn people in the world, Catalina Owners. Plan on coming next year and it will all be even better. Thanks to all that made it a success.

Annual Tropical Party at the
Portland Yacht Club
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

November 16.  Come join your fellow Columbia River All Catalina Association members as we attend the Oregon Corinthian Sailing Association's (OCSA) Tropical Party at the Portland Yacht Club.  This event is open to all sailors (not just OCSA members).

The Tropical Party is one of the great end of year events for Columbia River racers and cruisers.  Cocktails start at 6 PM, dinner begins by 7 PM, followed by a short but very humorous OCSA Awards presentation of awards such as the "Sandbox" to the person with the most time on a sandbar, a Silent Auction, Door Prizes, Costume Contest, and Dancing 'til Midnight to the live music of Windy River.

The dress is Tropical & Casual, and it's all offered for just $20 per person.  If you're interested you need to reserve your seats by November 9th.  Click here for a registration form.

Tortilla Hors d'oeuvre
By Don Evans, C320, Dream Catcher

Several people asked me this recipe at the rendezvous. Marla Simon even asked me for it last year at the October cruise.  Well, Marla, and anyone else that would like it, here goes.

Tortilla Hors d'oeuvre

• 6 Flour Tortillas
• 1 8 oz soft cream cheese
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tablespoons chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup diced green pepper
• 2 1/2 oz smoked chipped beef

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Spread 1/5th of mixture evenly over 1st tortilla.  Then stack another tortilla on top and spread another 1/5th evenly.  Repeat until you have 5 tortillas stacked one on top, each with the mixture.  The last tortilla is the "top".  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.  Cut like a pie. Enjoy!

Pam and I hope you enjoy serving this hors d'oeuvre as much as we do.

Groundbreaking for Boating Projects
By Randy Henry, Public Information Representative
Oregon Marine Board
www.boatoregon.com

Two projects benefiting operators of motorboats 26 feet and longer as well as the communities of Rainier and St. Helens, will get underway this Thursday [Sept. 19th]. Groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled for 10 a.m. at Rainier and 1:15 p.m. at St. Helens for the projects, which are worth more than $1 million.

"These are large-scale public works projects which will fill a significant void for boaters on this section of the Columbia River," said Ron Rhodehamel, Facilities Program Manager for the Oregon State Marine Board.  "We were very happy to hear that Oregon received the federal grants and we're happy that the projects are about to get underway."

The projects include new transient tie-up facilities, sewage pump outs, 12-foot wide floats and wheel-chair accessible aluminum gangways connecting the facilities to the communities. The projects are expected to be complete by next spring's boating season.

Rainier's facility will cost $416,000. The facility will replace a deteriorated facility that has been unusable for years. The St. Helens facility will cost $597,000 and replaces the Court House docks. The bulk of the dollars are from the federal Boating Infrastructure Grant (BIG) program.

The Marine Board, in cooperation with the communities, applied for the grants and will assist in the project design and implementation.

The BIG program is administered through the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and is funded by an excise tax on fishing equipment and by boaters' federal gasoline tax dollars. The program was created by Congress to provides funds to states to build, renovate and maintain tie-up facilities designed for recreational vessels 26 feet or longer. The program also seeks to enhance access to recreational, historic, cultural and scenic resources; strengthen community ties to the water's edge and economic benefits; promote public/private partnerships and entrepreneurial opportunities; provide continuity of public access to the shore; and promote awareness of transient boating opportunities.

"While the bulk of these dollars are federal, the Marine Board and local communities provided the required matching grants, including $1000 for each project from the Columbia River Yachting Association," said Rhodehamel.

A third facility at the Columbia River city of Arlington is also benefiting from recent BIG program grants. The Port of Arlington received a grant of $171,000 to build a transient tie-up to augment existing facilities.

October General Membership Meeting

Celtic Myst chasing Imagine Bob Gales & Gail O'Neill aboard Imagine.

Looking back at the Columbia River All Catalina Rendezvous
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

September 21-22.  I and my pickup crew sailed down down to Sand Island on Saturday.  Laura was in California visiting her sister, so Sean an I were joined by Catalina 22 Fleet Captain Mike Hibbs, Mike's friend Wally, and Wally's ten year old son Nick.

The sail to Sand Island was fabulous.  We hoisted the sails at the mouth of the Willamette River, and kept them up until we left the main channel of the Columbia River to prepare for docking at Sand Island.

We completed the last hour of the trip in the company of Imagine, Bob  Gales and Gail O'Neill's Catalina 30.  Bob and Gail spent six weeks in the San Juan's aboard Imagine this year and brought it back to the Columbia River in August.

As we drew closer to St. Helens, the wind's strength continued to grow, with the occasional gust to keep everyone on their toes.  Having the opportunity to sail next to another C30 was a real treat because it gave us a chance to judge how certain sail adjustments affected our performance.

Some of the over twenty boats that attended the rendezvous. Saturday evening potluck dinner. Bill Simon gets some help selecting door prize winners.

We approached the docks from the upriver end, which means leaving the shipping channel upstream of Sand Island and heading toward the courthouse on the waterfront at St. Helens.  Seeing the clearance under the keel drop below six feet got my attention, but we transitioned over the sand bar, and soon found ourselves in 20-40 feet of water.

After my failed attempt at trying to back in when I thought the breeze was going to have more of an affect on the boat than the current, we finally got the boat tied up.  I've got to say it's nice having so many experienced CRACA dock hands available to catch your lines.

It wasn't long before Sean and Nick were off scaling the tall sand mound located and couple hundred yards down the beach.  As for Mike, Wally, and myself, we busied ourselves chit chatting with others and touring the various Catalina models.

For those attending the rendezvous by car, and for those needing something from town, there was a  dinghy excursion service between the Sand Island docks and the St. Helens Marina.  Thank you to those CRACA members who volunteered to ferry folks back and forth.

One of the highlights of the afternoon was watching a sailboat race that started and ended between the docks and St. Helens Marina.  It was a kick seeing how close to the docks some of the crews came before tacking.

Saturday's dinner was a potluck affair.  From the main dishes to the desserts,  the food was delicious and the  variety wonderful.  We ate picnic style on the docks.  Those who had folding chairs and tables used them, and those that did not made use of the dock's raised mooring timbers as chairs.

After dessert, Bill Simon led the awarding of door prizes with a little help from his assistant.  From sailing gloves and jackets, to pillows and baseball caps, the prizes were great.

You couldn't have asked for a more beautiful Indian Summer evening.  Here it was mid-September and most folks were in tee-shirts and shorts.  As the sun went down, a number of crews moved the activities shore side to the picnic area were a campfire was started.

Sunday breakfast was a potluck affair on the dock.  Like Saturday's dinner, there was lots of variety, and plenty of food to satisfy the hungriest of appetites.  By 10 am, many crews were starting to make preparations for heading home.

The crew of Celtic Myst sailed upriver for the first hour, but eventually gave up as the wind slowly died.  The motor back was conducted under sunny skies, and pleasant temperatures.  We had a great time just chatting away in the cockpit as the boys took turns at the helm.

I what to thank everyone who contributed their time to making the rendezvous a success.  I'm already looking forward to next year's.

IO's Trip South
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

Thank you to Michael Lewis for passing along this link to fellow CRACA member Mike McIntyre's adventure.

Mike and his crew aboard the Catalina 380 IO have been sailing down the coast. 

Through pictures and prose, you can follow the departure August 16th, from the San Juan's, to the log's latest entry of the boat's arrival in Santa Barbara on September 27th.

Log of the sailboat IO

Catalina 25's Compete in the PYC Fall Regatta
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

On September 7th, thirty-four Columbia River skippers and crews came out to compete in the Portland Yacht Club's (PYC) annual Fall Regatta.  I had once again been invited to crew aboard Terry & Kathie Annis' C25 Lematike.  Also onboard was Catalina 22 skipper Don Bateson, for  whom Terry and I had crewed for during the Spring and Summer Racing Series.

Sailed in lighter conditions than the One-Design Regatta in August, crews found themselves challenged by chasing wind puffs across the water in the first race.  Fortunately for us the wind built during the course of the day.

While we were racing under the PHRF handicapping system which enables dissimilar boats to compete against one another, we also had the pleasure of competing against fellow CRACA member Gary Bruner and his crew aboard the C25 Encore!.  Although there were a couple of other boats in our fleet, it was Encore! we focused on because it gave us an opportunity to learn more about sailing a C25 by comparing the results of our adjustments against a similar boat.

Unlike the One-Design regatta which had us in five races spread over two days, the Fall Regatta was a one day event made up of two races.  

We had a great time aboard Lematike.  The racing was close, the day just prefect, and the camaraderie not to be missed.

Would I go out again if asked?  You bet.  Whether it's manning a winch, packing a spinnaker, or tending the tiller, there's nothing like a day out on the water spent with friends.

Skipper Safety
By Dave Thomas, C30, Sunchaser

Skipper Saver is a one day course being offered by the Beaverton Power Squadron. The course is designed to teach family members and friends what to do and how to operate the boat if the skipper becomes disabled. You know, man overboard, seasickness, an accidental jibe --- the possibilities are endless.

There are two parts to the course, the first in the classroom where participants learn what is essential to the operation of a vessel.  And, the second is a self check process where participants practice what they learned in the class instruction.

A person need not be a member of the Power Squadron to attend. The date has not been set yet, but it will be held on a Saturday within the next 6 to 8 weeks. The location will be in the Beaverton area.

If you are interested in attending, or want more information you can contact me at:

Dave Thomas
djthomas@teleport.com or, 503-682-2935

October

• 16, Meeting (Damon's Grill in Tigard)
• 26-27, Halloween Cruise to Coon Island (Multnomah Channel)

November  

• 16, Annual Tropical Party @ PYC (open to all sailors)
• 20, Meeting (TBD)
• 23-24, Government Island Cruise

December (no meeting)

• 7, CRACA Holiday Party

See the calendar

The Columbia River All Catalina Association newsletter is published once a month online at ColumbiaRiverCatalina.org. Articles are the opinions of the authors and don't necessarily represent the consensus of the Association.