2005 Cruising Schedule

Beacon Rock Cruise
By Dale Mack

August 18 - 21.  Nestled amongst the slopes of the Columbia Gorge is Beacon Rock State Park just downstream of the Bonneville Dam (the last dam on the Columbia River).  Part of the Washington State Park System, Beacon Rock features, wide docks, picnic and camping sits, BBQs, sandy beaches, a launch ramp (popular with the local fishermen), excellent restrooms with hot showers, and potable water.  New in 2005 is the addition of power on the dock floats, and a marine head pump out station.  One of the added benefits of Beacon Rock is that you can have family and friends meet you there by car.

Reachable aboard a Catalina 22 in six and half hours motoring upstream from the I-5 bridge, the trip to Beacon Rock can sound intimidating if you haven't cruised that long non-stop before.   Although I've gotten accustom to motoring straight through, many I know split the upriver trip up into two parts, spending the first night either at Government Island - East Dock (2 hrs), Parker's Landing (Washougal, 3 hrs), or anchoring at Reed Island (3.5 hrs).  One of the treats about staying at Parker's Landing is going to the floating Puffin Cafe for dinner.  Washougal has fuel, launch ramp, and guest berthing available.  The return trip from Beacon Rock takes about 4 hours.

This is an easy three-day weekend cruise, although some I know have done it in a Saturday/Sunday.  I recommend planning to get to Beacon Rock in the early afternoon, because the late afternoon wind blowing East can sometimes generate a considerable swell.

Notes on Beacon Rock:

• Moorage at the dock $.50/foot per night.
• Bring quarters for the showers (3 minutes for 50 cents).
• Great place for dinghies, kayaks, or small sailboats.
• Running water is available at the top of the ramp.
• Ice is available about a mile's walk from the moorage.
• There is a one knot current that runs south passed the docks.

• Camp sites, boat ramp, and picnic area available.

• The walk to Beacon Rock is very doable if you want to hike to the top.

Note:  Data collect via GPS on a past trip aboard a Catalina 22.

Catalina 25 Cruising Up North
By Gary Bruner, C25, Encore!
(C25/C250 Fleet 94 Captain)

Steve & Chris Eldred and boys aboard their C25 Plan B, and the Bruner's aboard their C25 Encore! were in the San Juan's and Gulf Islands from June 21 until July 2.  It was a great trip with wind, whales, eagles and pretty good weather.  We went as far north as Pirate's Cove, a bit south of Nanaimo.

Terry & Kathie Annis (C25 Lematike) and Nate & Margaret Hanson (C25 Leucothea) have pulled their boats and will be spending the last two week in July up north.

Have a good one!

Two Days Before the Mast
Crewing at the Catalina 30 Nationals
By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

I spent the weekend of June 25-26 crewing aboard Bob Gales' and Gail O'Neill's Catalina 30 Imagine as we competed in the 2005 C30 National Regatta in Seattle.  Photos from the regatta can be found at www.celtic-myst.net/2005C30Natls.  I had originally intended to trailer my Catalina 22 Crocus up to Shilshole Bay Marina and compete in the annual Northwest Catalina Regatta, hosted by the Catalina Association of Puget Sound (CAPS).  When the regatta got changed to a two day event to run in parallel with the C30 Nationals, I decided that crewing would be more fun than two days of C22 racing followed by pulling the boat and then trailering home three hours.

The racing started at 11 am on Saturday with three races scheduled to be run, followed by two on Sunday.  In the very light wind, the Race Committee was too timid to start the race so we sailed around for four hours waiting.  And yes I do mean sailed.  Despite the light wind we managed to sail the entire course even with the tidal current.  Considering that Columbia River Race Committees start races in just the slightest hint of wind, even with our constant 2.5 knot river current, it was fascinating to see how cautious the committee provided by the Corinthian Yacht Club of Seattle was.  One possible influence behind the cautiousness is that unlike the Columbia River where anchoring during a race is not uncommon when the wind dies, the race venue for the regatta was in 500+ feet of water, unlike the Columbia's 20-40 feet.  Another interesting practice of the CYC Race Committee was ignoring the use of the "Come Within Hail" flag once the course was posted.  You had to keep sailing around and around the RC boat just to make sure you didn't miss the course.

The lack of racing on Saturday was followed by a catered dinner, silent auction, and a raffle at CYC's two story floating club house.  The social event was quite enjoyable.  It was nice talking about local sailing, and cruising the San Juan Island and the Canadian Gulf Islands with folks that call these cruising grounds home.

Sunday was overcast but nice.  The winds were steady at 12-14 with gusts to 16-18.  Racing was scheduled to begin at 10 am, with three races planned to make up for Saturday's lack of racing.

Sailing Sunday was an absolute blast and reinforced for me my desire to bring Crocus to the Catalina NW Regatta in 2006.  While it remained overcast, it never got cold and it didn't rain.  The courses placed the RC boat between the windward and leeward marks, with competitors having to make one or two laps.

Gail O'Neill managed the helm for the regatta while her spouse, our Commodore Bob Gales, tended to sail trim along with Terry Annis (C25, Lematike) and Gail's sailing friend Carrie.  I was the deck ape on the bow helping the Genoa through tacks, setting and dropping the whisker pole, along with coaching sail trim and tactics.

While our performance may have been hampered by the two months of cruising supplies and gear Bob and Gail had aboard, we didn't care, the sailing was great.  I liked Bob's idea that everyone should have a BBQ mounted to the rail while racing and perhaps get extra credit if you were actually cooking on it during the race;-))  Kind of gives you an idea where the crew of Imagine was on the serious to not so serious racer scale.

It was a fun weekend racing outside of Shilshole Bay Marina, in wonderful company.  Thank you Gail and Bob for a great time.  You were gracious hosts.

July 8-10, Lake Cheney, Wichita, Kansas.  Terry Annis, Steve Eldred and I flew back and sailed Frank Hopper's old boat, Fellowship, in the Catalina 25 National Regatta.  It was not the boat we were planning on, but Frank sold it the Friday before the Nationals and the new owners let us use it.  We (contrary to Frank's advice) removed the refrigerator in the V berth with the new owner's permission, but left in the AC in the lazarette!  We took our own sails, blocks, poles, etc.

Lake Cheney is a pretty big lake with good winds without much fetch, so the waves were not like the way they can be here when the wind is blowing 20 knots.  We entered a Beer Can race on Wednesday night and got creamed by Kansas Twister, a local guy with TONS of racing experience (3rd in a SJ 21 Nationals just 2 weeks earlier) and he had a suit of brand new sails, including a Kevlar 155.  We beat two other C25s flying our 135, so we thought maybe we could compete when we pulled out my "new" used Mylar "WHOMPER".  It was not to be.  Come race time on Saturday, the wind was up and we just could not stay with the fastest boats, most of whom were flying pretty new Kevlar's/Mylar's, etc.  The fastest boats all had 4-5 crew aboard which I think really helped them in the big air.  The fastest boats also were all fin keels, which have about 300# more in the keels, we think.  We just could not quite find the boat speed we needed, nor the correct sail shape.  We have lots of "excuses", including the fact that the fastest boats had quite small outboards, 4 hp or so and we had a 9.9 hp on the transom.  Some of these guys were definitely prepared and had GREAT crews, including a sailing instructor at the Naval Academy!  Anyway, given one gear failure before one start, one over early (all my fault), we did have a couple of good starts, but could not compete with the fastest boats.  Live and learn.  It was thrilling to see what a well equipped, well sailed C25 could actually DO!

As it turns out, Derek Crawford on "This Side UP" was the National champ of the Tall Rigs.  He had towed his dry sailed racer up from Texas and had a couple of brand new sails, including a Kevlar 155.  Kansas Twister, a SR, fin keeled, local boat, was sailed very well and had a very experienced crew and a new suit of hi-tech rags as well.  He got five bullets and was the overall champion.  Turtle Herd was a fin from Oklahoma with a crew of five and a newer suit of Kevlar, both main and 155.  They were consistently a close second to Kansas Twister.  Bill Meinert from Indiana was third and the only swing-keel boat to beat us.  He, too, has a high tech 155 and sailed well.  As it turned out, there were 10 boats registered, but one did not show, I heard, so there were 9 boats racing, three of which were Tall Rigs.  We could do no better than 5th.  But, it was a learning experience and I think we'll eventually be glad we went, although we were all disappointed a bit that we were not more competitive.

Catalina Newsletters of the Northwest

Checkout these links to Northwest Catalina newsletters and local racing:

Catalina 22 Fleet 20 of Portland www.C22pdx.org Sail Portland www.sailpdx.com

Catalina Assoc. of Tacoma and South Sound (CATSS) home.earthlink.net/~catss/CATSS Web Page.htm Catalina Association of Puget Sound (CAPS) capsfleet1.com/News Letters.htm Small Yacht Sailing club of Oregon (SYSCO) www.sailpdx.com/sysco.htm

July

• 16-17, CRACA Cruise:  Government Island, East Dock
• 16, Hayden Bay BBQ, free to sailors
• 23, Jantzen Bay BBQ, free to sailors
• 28-30, Cruise:  Martin Island

August

See the calendar