Adventures

Boat sailing well at 7.4kts with reefed main and jib.

Greig Williams
S/V Sailing Still, a 1990 Catalina 36
Gibsons Harbour, Howe Sound, Gulf Islands,
British Columbia, Canada
"Still sailing after all these years"

Click on the YouTube video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VK1BImlW-A&list=FL7B9e3yyOOHnQksEMf-qmxA...

As an interesting situation developed on a recent Columbia River trip to Astoria on High Flight. Thinking ahead, I grabbed my camcorder, then uploaded the video to YouTube. A fishing boat was anchored at the channel's edge in the Columbia River, with a tanker coming his way. The 'mighty Columbia River' is a superb salmon and steelhead fishery. But the river is dredged to 40+ feet from its mouth to Portland, about 100 miles, so there is continual heavy ship traffic. Sometimes it gets a little hairy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXqng1qpPfI

Canada Day 2011

Finally! The weather cooperated for the July first long week-end for Canada Day 2011.

We had been powerboating for more than 15 years and in 2008 decided try sailing. Fuel and maintenance on an old boat were part of the “why” we made the jump.
New hull 15 just arrived, Oct 17, 2009

by Larry Brandt

Every time I cross the bar I learn something important.

On Wednesday my crewmate and I arrived outside the bar about two hours earlier than planned, having sailed on a brisk broad reach from Westport, WA. My goal had been to arrive about 2000 hrs, which was about 1 hour prior to the next slack before flood...in other words, we wanted to get there towards the end of the ebb, but because of our fast sail we arrived a couple hours early, about 1830, which was maximum ebb.

S/V Patriot Circumnavigation

Sailors occasionally ask questions about the seagoing capability of the Catalina 36. We all realize that the C36 was designed to be an outstanding coastal cruising boat, and that it has achieved that status with renown; there's no debate about that. But in the hands of a capable skipper exercising good judgement and top notch seamanship, the Catalina 36 has proven itself on long ocean passages, as well. In fact, C36IA Member Craig Mortensen, owner and skipper of the S/V Patriot, a Catalina 36 Mk I based in Portland, Oregon, has been inducted into the Catalina Yachts Offshore Cruising Hall of Fame for his circumnavigation.

by Scott St Germain
Side Bar #1296
Saucier, MS

These predicaments I get myself into is what my wife calls ass moments (Another Scott Situation). I rebuilt our Universal M30, took it for a few test runs, and felt it was ready for a short trip to Chandelier Islands, about a 60 mile trip from our marina.

by Steve Frost
Cephius Dream #825
San Francisco, CA

One I like to recount is from my early sailing days. It was over twenty five years ago now.

I owned a little Santana 20, a little ultra-lite pumkin seed hot rod. It was named Joie De Vivre. I believe this is French for "My colostomy bag is full".

I invited my lady, who is now my wife, out for a sail on San Francisco Bay. The plan was to sail from Alameda to Tiburon, dinner at Sam's, grab a mooring at Ayala Cove on Angle island, spend the night, and then sail to San Francisco for breakfast.

by Chris Savage
Tacuba II #1703
Devon, England

TACUBA II is the Catalina-36 Mk II that my wife, Margaret, and I bought in 1998 in The Netherlands, in anticipation of our retirement a couple of years later. Since then, we have cruised the Baltic Sea as far as Stockholm, the Ijsselmeer and Dutch waters generally, the Southern North Sea, and, since returning to live in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands and Brittany. TACUBA II is now berthed in the Plymouth Yacht Haven just off Plymouth Sound in Devon, England.

by Brad Poulos
Cherimarie #1015
San Diego, CA

About a year after getting my Catalina 36 Cherimarie I began to enter some local club and summer “beer can” races. All of these races were governed by the local PHRF handicap rules and regardless of how one finished on the race course, it wasn’t until the “corrected” times were calculated, that one knew the final race outcome. Frustrated by various handicap adjustments, I fondly recalled for my former one-design racing days (in the Lightning class) where race outcomes were straight forward; and skill, tactics and boat condition were the decisive factors in winning. In the fleets I was now racing in, typically only one or, at best two, other Catalina 36s were in a given race. On those rare occasions, I ignored my usual competitors in various sized vessels and brands and focused on competing with my “equals.”