All Catalina Fleet 69 Austin, Texas  1999 NEWS
Lake Travis	MARCH 1999

DECEMBER 1999 PARTY
It was great. Many thanks to our hosts, the Bells and the Jacksons. We ate lots. Installed new officers. Awarded awards. And we had a gift exchange, including a Y2K readiness food kit, a cuddly teddy bear and  a sailor's knife. We won't mention the TP.

NOVEMBER MEETING
We met, we ate, we talked, and we elected our Y2K Fleet Officers. Congratulations to the Renards, who will lead our fleet into the next Millennium!

NOVEMBER BUDDY CRUISE
This month Fleet members sailed, motored, or drove to the Volente Beach Club, where we had lunch. Some had to leave but most of us went down to the boats where we had 10 people on 3 boats. Then out on the lake we met 2 more boats at the island! Winds were light so we drifted around until the wind came up at 3:50. It turned into a pleasant light-air sail, with the enjoyment increased by sailing with our friends

OCTOBERFEST CRUISE
The incoming ominous cold front made us decide to hold the cruise on land rather than water. As it turned out, the weather was OK but it was very windy. We all went to a home for a feast of German Sausage, homemade sauerkraut, cole slaw, veggies, hot apple cider, and lots of desserts: german chocolate cake, pumpkin browies, apple cake, and more.

OCTOBER MEETING
At the meeting we discussed boat maintenance. There was a detailed discussion about the keel lock boat in the C22. Make sure you know where it is, and lock it down when you're sailing.  For more information, look at web site http://www.spiritone.com/~mack/techtips/keel/keelbolt.htm
We also had a door prize drawing.

Corpus Christi Cruise: The  1999 All Catalina Cruise to Corpus Christi on October 1-3  was the best one yet. We finally reached our objectives of sailing across the Bay, into the Gulf, up the Lydia Ann channel past the lighthouse, and
spent the night in Port Aransas. The weather cooperated both days, with lots of sunshine and light to moderate breezes. We had 23 sailors and 2 land-based crew. We had 2 boats, a Hunter 34  named Arrowforce and a Morgan 38 named LookAtUs, chartered from the CC Sailing Center. This is truly a great group of sailors and friends.

September Meeting:  At this meeting we talked about Corpus Christi and how to do navigation.

August Meeting:  Fleet member Mark (C250, water ballast) gave an excellent program about his trip to the Catalina Factory in Woodland Hills, CA (North of LA), complete with stories and slides of the interior and exterior of the factory. You can see it all on the web at http://www.texassailor.com/CatTour.htm. It was surprising to see that all Catalinas, all sizes, are made in one big room! It was packed full of boats and each boat was individually crafted. Thanks Mark!

August Cruise: The Fajita Moon Cruise was hosted by the Jacksons and was located at the Volente Beach Club. Some sailors sailed and some saiors came by land yacht. In all, there were 30 people eating fajitas at a festively decorated table, favors, and leis! A good time was had by all.  It was nice to see so many members, ranging from some who have been in the fleet 21 years to others who joined this year!

July Cruise: The ever most popular Breakfast Cruise was successfully held on July 24 to 25 in Long Canyon.
The breakfast was on Sunday morning, but several boats arrived the night before for a nice evening sail, swim, dinner, and pleasant overnight stay. More boats arrived in the morning for a total of 10 boats and 21 people, including some visitors from Catalinas upstream! Then around 8 am the aroma of cooking bacon and fresh coffee wafted its way to the boats as Hal, Elaine, and Clay started stirring up breakfast. We had the works, including pancakes, eggs, and juice. Everyone brought side items, such  toppings like blueberries, nuts, coconut, strawberries, etc. Good fun. Lake level was about 672, a nice level in Long Canyon for a C25. It was a big step up for a C22.

July Meeting: The July meeting was held at Mr Gatti's. We were pleased to see some members who haven't been to a meeting in a while! There was a lively discussion about the trip to Corpus Christi, followed by a round-table about maintaining the bottom of your boat.

June Meeting: The June meeting was held at the Austin Yacht Club, which is an annual tradition with the fleet. Attendance was good and everyone brought something to eat and share. There was a good breeze and the temperatures were lower than average. AYC is a lovely place to watch the lake and enjoy all types of sailing activities. It is primarily a racing organization. Call 266-1336 or www.austinyachtclub.org if your have interest. The meeting was short. We discussed the Corpus Christi Cruise and there was unanimous interest. Stay tuned to email  etc for details. After the meeting, some took a tour of the Renard's Catalina 27, which is being remodeled.

June Cruise:  JUNE CRUISE was the Luau and by far it was the best cruise in a long time. We had 7 boats and 19 people. The Paynes went all out with decorations, food, prizes, and ambiance, including a hula girl and island music. Maybe it wasn't really Kanapali or Poipu Beach, but it was close in spirit! To make your mouth water a bit: We had fruit drinks with oranges and cherries, roasted pork, roasted sweet potatoes, rice pilaf, fruit salad, fresh pineapple recently  flown in from Honolulu, fruit salsa, Hawaiian Rolls, and for dessert: ICE CREAM, pineapple upside-down cake, mango cake, and brownies. It's amazing we were able to get back on our boats! Prizes were awarded to a keiki, wahine, kane, alii,  big kahuna, and others. Many thanks to the Paynes for putting out a big effort with ono (great) results! Some stayed overnight and most sailed or motored back under a beautifully moonlit sky.

Note: 675 is a good level for Long Canyon. Unfortunately the area is being built up with docks and it's getting busy in there with jet skis and power boats. For now it is still OK, but we just need to make sure we're tied up securely. A well-placed anchor off the stern and a bridle-system (2 lines, 90 degree angle) off the bow to the shore seemed to work the best. Some put bumpers on the bow for extra precaution. We need to start thinking about other favorite places such as Arkansas Bend (Yacht Harbor people...please scout it out.) Barry's Cove is getting a marina.

May Cruise: Turnback Canyon Regatta
We had several Catalinas participate in the regatta, including some C22s from Conroe and the Fort Worth area. On Friday we socialized at the yacht club and ate at the pasta house. On Saturday the wind was extremely light, 0 to 10 from
the NE. It took a couple of hours to reach the power lines. After an 11 am start, spinnaker Catalina 22s arrived at Lago Vista at 6:30pm. That's 7.5 hours. Then the traditional storm hit. Ate BBQ. It was a pleasant overnight stay. On Sunday the wind was 5 to 15 knots from the SE. Spinnaker C22s took about 4.5 to 5 hours. About 111 boats participate. A good time was had by all.

Found on the Internet
Sailnet has a website dedicated to the sailing community. They display news about upcoming sailing events all around the world and information on a wide variety of sailing topics. They sponsor discussion groups for specific subjects. A discussion group is an automated mail handler that sends and receives messages for specific lists of users that want
to participate about specific subjects. They support the following discussion lists.

May Program:
May Program was: "Local Sailing Knowledge and its application to Turnback Canyon Regatta." We had about 18 people and they all seemed to like it. Mark brought an overhead projector and a map of Lake Travis that make pointing and discussing a lot easier. (Thanks.) We also had a repeat performance of "Checklists for Turnback Canyon: A Racer's and a Cruiser's Perspectives". It was both amusing and informative.

April Program and Cruise:
The April meeting was "Sailing Videos". We watched Warren Miller blooper tapes to lighten our mental loads and parts of a Sailing Quarterly video magazine. It was entertaining and easy.

Cruise was "sometimes I feel like a nut, sometimes I don't" or something like that. It was a lot of fun with several boats in Barry's Cove, and this time we actually had good weather! Thanks to our cruise chairs.

March News:
The March meeting program was a round-table discussion of what each person is doing to get their boat ready for spring. It was a good forum for exchaging ideas and we each had a "to-do" list following the program!
The March Cruise was the Green Eggs and Ham Sail upon a Green Pea Soup cruise.
The fleet (cruise chairs) provided the Ham and Split Pea Soup and trimmings.
Others brought something GREEN, like green deviled eggs, green cake, green salad, etc.
The weather was bad so we went to the Chenevert's (that's good, french for green oak tree!) house. Attendance was good, maybe 20.

February News:
We had a another good meeting in February with almost 20 sailors in attendance. The meeting topic The next dinner meeting is Thursday, February 18 at 7:00 at Mr Gatti's (address below). Eat around 7, meet around 7:30. The program topic was "Where in the World is Fleet 69", or "How to find your Way across the Bay with a GPS." We talked about how a GPS works and how you can use it to navigate on Lake Travis, across the country, or on the ocean. Some brought their own GPSs and everyone learned something new.

The cruise was on Saturday, February 27 at 4:30 in Long Canyon. (About a mile north of the island on the left.) The theme was Chocolate, Cherries, and Croissants. It was a pot luck where everyone brought their own croissant sandwiches to eat and share, and LOTS OF CHOCOLATE and some cherries. It was a feast to behold, and an uplifting experience for chocolate lovers. It was a windy day (15 to 25 and gusty, from the NW) but not too cool. The weather, kids' birthday parties, and restrictive launching ramps kept some people away. On one Catalina 250, just the jib alone worked very well for a sail up and down Sandy Creek  A 270 braved the wind (with lots of crew on board) with a full set of sails from Commander's Point. And another made the VERY windy trip from Hurst Harbor with the motor. A good time was had by all and we learned again that the "buddy sail" system works well.

Keep track of the progress of the recovery of the C22 that sank in Lake Travis at the "recovery " link at http://www.main.org/catalina22.

January 1999 News:
Is it spring yet? It sure feels like it. We hope everyone has been able to get out and scrub and sail their boats this year!

The year was off to a great start with outstanding attendance at the first meeting. We had several new members join the fleet:. Our special guest was Mike's mother, who is now living in Austin. The Shanleys were roped in by our best recruiters, the Jacksons. According to the story, the Jacksons were putting the new name on their boat (Pegasus) and asked the Shanleys for their advice. When the Jacksons learned that the Shanleys have been Catalina owners for several years, they convinced them to come to our meeting! Welcome to all our new members and we hope you continue to come to the meetings and enjoy the cruises!

The meeting program was a discussion of the year's plans and an informal roundtable of everyone introducing themselves and telling some interesting story about themselves or their spouses.

The January cruise must have happened on the coldest day all month. But with a reefed main and the 110 jib, it was a nice day to sail with lots of wind and sun. The Blue Moon Stew Cruise took place in Barry's Cove, which is just Northwest of Starnes Island. You can't miss it. Well, maybe you can. Anyway, we had a small group of boats and we all had a good time. The Whites were there with their bright and shiny new motor. The best part of the evening was the rising of the blue moon, right on schedule. And it really was blue. We watched it rise slowly in the sky and grow in brightness, and then enjoyed cruising back to our marinas. It was a perfect night for a sail.