All Catalina Fleet 69 Lake Travis, Austin, Texas  2007 NEWS

December Nautical Holiday Party: Saturday, December 15.
This year's All Catalina Fleet 69 party was full of fun, food, frivolity, and festivities. Thirty-eight fleet members and guests attended the party, making it one of our largest parties ever. Sue F hosted the party in her "new" home, and Joe and Joy, Phyllis and Patrick, were co-hosts.
The 2008 officers were installed: Commodore John, Vice Commodore Clay, Secretaries Phyllis and Lane, Treasurer Robert. For the "volunteer" positions, we have Social Director Sheila and Historian/WebMaster Cheryl.
The Stough Award was presented to Keith Renard. Even though he protested (something about not meeting the qualifications), he was overruled. Somewhere in his over 50 years of sailing, he exemplied each attribute. Congratulations, Keith!
The blooper award nominees included Gary, of course, John Grz, and another. John won it overwhelmingly for launching his trailer at the Canyon Lake Yacht Club!
Then we had the gift exchange.
It was a great party. Here are pictures to show it: Cheryl's Clay's

November Old Man and the Sea Cruise
This cruise, formerly called the Catfish Cruise, was a surprise 80th birthday party for one of our favorite fleet members, Keith, who has been sailing for 70 years, since he was 10. Keith has a true instinct for sailing, usually favoring the sails over the iron wind, even when approaching an anchorage. He has sailed in almost every Turnback Canyon Regatta for the past 15 years, and fully intends to keep up the tradition! One of his first dates with his wife-to-be (over 50 yrs ago) was on a sailing canoe (which he still has.) His wife, Sue, arranged for a delicious catfish meal and incredible cake. Eight boats and 23 sailors attended the cruise in Barry's Cove (680.3'), in spite of the predictions of rain. The weather turned out to be fine until we got to or near the marinas. Happy Birthday, Keith, and many many more! The photos tell it better: Set One Set Two.

November Meeting at West Marine: We had a special meeting at West Marine, where Store Manager, Peter, told us all about the latest GPS devices for both land and sea, and VHF Radios. The technology has advanced considerably since many of us last purchased out boat electonics. Of most interest was the GPS that talked like an Australian girl. Also interesting was that the nautical devices were all water-proof, which Peter demonstrating by dumping them in a bucket of water. All floated but one. Attendance was good, 23. We had pizzas and salad delivered to the store. In addition, we were able to do a little shopping and preview what we might want to buy at the upcoming sale. Santa was also watching for his Christmas lists. Many thanks to Peter for hosting us! Pictures are in the "Meetings" album..

Oktoberfest für Catalina Seeleute! On October 13, Seven fleet boats and 20 fleet members and guests gathered in a full Barry's Cove (680.7') to celebrate German music, food, and libations, on a spendid, sunny summer-like day. Winds provided a pleasant sail to the cove. The temperatures of the air and water were still warm. Attendees include The Rose, Cool Change, Summer Song, Pegasus, Sweet Sue, Be-Bop-a-Lu-La, and Double Happiness. We had excellent bratwurst, regular and cabbage-apple sauerkraut, German Potato salad, 2 German casseroles, one pie, and three chocolate cakes, including German Chocolate (of course) and Black Forest, filled with real ice cream! The day turned into a beautiful evening, and one boat chose to spend the night. The rest of us enjoyed exhilarating sails home, with winds 10 to 15 mph. Ach du lieber, ein wunderbar cruise fur alles ! Photos are being updated.

October Meeting: Our room reservation was inadvertently bumped, so we met in the dining room and decided to postpone our program (Nick of Marshall Ford Marina) until a later meeting. However, we had a good turn-out. Sheila told us about their upcoming Sept 2008 Tahiti Cruise, and gave us details on how we can go too. Sounds like fun! :
John G told us about his recent sailing trip in the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of Mexico). He and a friend from Tucson, AZ trailored a boat (MacGregor 22 I think) to Nogales, Mexico, and then to the seaside town, where it will stay on a trailor until they request to have it launched. It looked like a fun trip. Pictures are here.

September Ladies' Cruise: Saturday, Sept 29: The 2007 Ladies' Cruise was the soggiest and the most fun ever. Most parts of Austin received no rain, but the clouds dumped the rain on Lake Travis and the UT Game. Nonetheless, eleven ladies optimistically set motor and sail from Dodd St Docks, and headed to the high-lines. Our crew included one small dog named Roxie, an experienced boat-dog. Showing excellent boat handling skills, we unfurled and furled the sail, and started and stopped the motor. As the storm strengthened, we headed back to the docks, where the skies temporarily cleared and we enjoyed our snacks, including smoked salmon flown in from Alaska, cookies, cheeses, crackers, and Scotch Meatballs!  Many thanks to Sheila for the use of her boat, and to Phyllis for organizing the event! Photos

Annual Best Ever Breakfast Cruise (Sept 15-16). The Annual Breakfast Cruise has been happening for about 20 years now, and if one judges by the weather, location, food, and company, the 2007 Breakfast Cruise was definitely one of the sweetest.
On Saturday evening, Joy serenaded and delighted us with her guitar and beautiful voice. She sang our favorites, including her Corpus Christi Sailing and "blues" songs. On Sunday morning, Joe and Clay once again presented us with a feast of scrambled eggs, many variations of pancakes, sausage, bacon, coffee, and mimosas. John jumped right into his first breakfast cruise and helped flip pancakes,too. Fleet members brought blueberries, cantaloupe, syrup, nuts, blueberries, and chocolate chips. At lake level 682.2, Joe found a pretty good spot in the north cove of Arkansas Bend, where the ground was relatively flat, we could step off the bows of our boats with only getting our feet wet (in most cases), and the climb to the supply truck was not too far (not saying it was easy, but better than some years.) After breakfast, we all jumped in the lake and cooled off until we looked like raisins (I won't say prunes).
Winds were very light from noon Saturday to noon Sunday, so most of us used the "iron wind" to get to and from Arkansas. There were a few drops of rain on Saturday afternoon, only enough to remind us of the soggy years. Overnight, we had six boats and a tent, for a total of 12 overnight (Joe, Joy, John, Clay, Martin, Jane, Charles, Pat, Phyllis, Cheryl, Carol, and Shirley. In the morning, Sean, RoseAnn, and Morgan arrived on Afternoon Delight, for their first Breakfast Cruise. So, 15 in all.
For those who thought "Cool Change" had monetary meaning, it doesn't. Here are the much more meaningful, sailing related lyrics: link.
It was truly YA-BE-BC (yet another best ever breakfast cruise) ! Thanks ! Here are the pictures: link

September Meeting: We had an excellent turnout, around 25 sailors, for Jennifer Scharlach's presentation about the LCRA. She started out with an entertaining but informative video on what not to do while on a boat. The main lesson learned, don't jump from the boat to the dock. Wait until the boat is close enough, so you can calmly step off from the boat onto the dock. This takes some coordination and skill for the skipper, who has to arrive at the dock with reasonable speed and control. She then talked about the new "Nobody's Waterproof" program, which is a water-safety program directed towards 18 to 34 year old males, but is applicable to everyone. The LCRA regularly goes to boat ramps and Devil's Cove, and in a fun way with games and prizes, teaches the public about water safety. She also answered our many questions, how many flood gates are there (website says 4), how does the LCRA determine when to open the gates (many factors), what's the risk of water-borne diseases (low; don't dive), and how can one get more information about the LCRA and lake levels (link).  She handed out brochures and LCRA coozies. Thanks! It was very informative and entertaining.
Links: nobodyswaterproof.com, lcra.org, river and water conditions.

Celebrations !!
Saturday, August 25: Birthday on the Water Cruise
On 8/25/07, 6 boats, 18 people, and one dog met in Barry's Cove to celebrate on the water, the 30th Anniversary of the founding of Austin Catalina Fleet 69. The lake was nice and full at 685'. Winds 5-10, Air temp 95.. John was the first to arrive on his C27 Cool Change, and dropped anchor in the middle to north side of the cove. Then Jim, Dawn, Steve, Cheryl, and Roxie arrived on C22 Herbie, and tied up to Cool Change. Next, Gary and Paulette arrived on C30 Somewhere N Time, dropped another anchor, and tied up to the group. Gary put on his Jamaica t-shirt and calcuted that somewhere in time, it was happy hour! No Problem! Then, Phyllis, Sue, Carol, and Shirley arrived under sail, and tied up to Herbie. Most of us jumped in the lake and enjoyed the 85 degree water. It was still cooler than the air! Then we returned to the boats and feasted on shrimp, fried chicken, all types of salads, and birthday cake. Meanwhile, Lane arrived on C22 Lovin It with frequent cruise attendee, Madeleine. Last but not least, C22 Mojo arrived, with crew Barb, Ted, Allison, friend, and Phil. We all enjoyed the friendship to comaraderie. Phyllis especially enjoyed the cruise, because she arrived with a motor that had just abruptly stopped running and lights that didn't work. By the time she left, the motor was running and lights were on! To top it all off, it was a beautiful almost-full moon-lit evening. No one wanted to leave, but around 10:30 pm, the last boat lifted anchor. Look at the Photos here.

Saturday, August 18: Catalina Fleet 69's 30th Birthday Party - Land Cruise
On 8/18/07, 26 fleet members gathered at the home of Charles and Pat, to celebrate the 30th Birthday of Austin, TX Catalina Fleet 69. We shared stories and memories, and had a memorable time!  The pictures tell the story Photos.

August Program: Blake Billman, SEISA link1 or link2 Graduate Director, returned to give us more information about Collegiate Sailing, as well as educated insight into the last race of America's Cup 2007 and the controversies surrounding the next America's Cup. (Turnout was low, but we told Blake to not worry...it is "last chance for summer vacation" time and I'm sure fleet members had really really good excuses for not coming this month). We learned a lot and had very good question and answer discussions. I'll write up more later (and maybe our secretary will do it first!)

July Bastille Day "Cruise": The lake was closed, so we celebrated a Nautical-style Bastille Day at the home of Robert and Sheila. We had lots of French food, such as wine, cheese, baguettes, champagne, ratatouille dip (vegetables, no rats), beaucoup de fromage, tricolore cake, beignets, grapes, and gateau. Just to keep things more interesting, there was a French hat contest. There were berets, a chef's hat, one Indiana Jones I think or maybe Juan Valdez the coffee spokesman, a cloche, and more. Winners were Joe and Joy. Joy's "interesting" purse clinched the prize. Along with the serenade of French music, we all had a wonderful time. Many thanks to our hosts!  Photos.

July Program: Several of our Catalina sailors, Steve, Meri, Steve, Cheryl, Phyllis, Patrick, and Philip (honorary member) recently returned from sailing around the Eastern Caribbean Islands of Guadeloupe and Dominica on a Beneteau 473. We showed a subset of our 8,000 photos, along with maps from our 2 week adventure. We had a wonderful time the trip and had a few stories to share. We told about how we managed to unleash a yellow octopus' tentacles from our keel. We described how we managed to catch a fish. We didn't tell you whether or not we found the Pirate Master's buried treasure on Dominica. Most of all we wanted to tell you about the glorious feeling of running free with a fresh breeze on our beam, as the boat rolled over the gentle swells of the sea. If you want to learn about the islands, go to Guadeloupe and Dominica. Also, here's a Travel log and pictures.

June 24 Summer Solstice "Cruise": The Cruise was originally scheduled to be a joint C22 and All Catalina Fleets 69 cruise in Barry's Cove, but the weather was threatening, sometimes rainy, so we reluctantly decided to meet on land rather than sea. Lake Level was 681'. Little did we know, the lake would rise 20' over the next week and a half. Sixteen people attended the cruise at the Iguana Grill, which overlooks Arkansas Bend. A good time was had by all. Photos.

June Meeting: Outboard Maintenance: Sure we're sailors, but few of us would venture out on the lake without our outboard motor. Pat Feagin has over 34 years of mechanical experience with automobile engines, particularly Honda, and outboard motors of all brands and sizes. Pat comes highly recommended by several members who rely on him to service their outboards and cars. Pat provided the following tips on motor maintenance based on his many years of experience.
     * Starting Your Motor: Always start with fresh gas that's no older than two or three months. Using stabilizer additive helps, but fresh gas is better. Pour out old gas, including the fuel lines, if you haven't used your motor for a long time. Use the choke and a few, quick pulls to start. When the engine starts, let it run before pushing in the choke. Don't rev the engine without putting it in gear. Don't flood a cold engine by squeezing too many times on the fuel line bulb. Four times is enough. The gas to oil mix ratio for 2-stroke engines is usually 100:1 or no more more than 60:1 and should be measured accurately.
    * Maintenance Tasks: Pat recommended annually changing the spark plugs, replacing the lower unit oil, and cleaning the carburetor jets. Four-stroke engines also require a new oil filter annually or so. Every four years or sooner replace the impeller blade that circulates water. Outboard maintenance supples can be bought at Academy Sports and Outdoors stores.
    * Other Tips: Put screens over air intakes to prevent mud dauber wasps from making their nests inside engine covers. Always put your motor in the tilt-back position out of the water before leaving the boat. If you buy a motor on the Internet, you'll still have to pay Texas sales tax when you register it with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. Engine maintenance manuals on CD-R's can be bought on eBay. A good web site to ask for help is in the user forums of www.iboats.com. Austin Action Marine sells/services Nissan outboard motors. Visit their web site at http://www.aamarine.com/.

May 18-20: Corpus Christi Cruise: The Catalina Fleet Spring Corpus Christi Cruise was the weekend of May 18-20. On Friday night, the group dined on a vast seafood buffet at the Corpus Christi Yacht Club. On Saturday, they set sail on a chartered like-new Catalina 387 named Nell Betty II. It had it all, including leather seats and a flat screen TV. Six sailors, including Gary & Paulette, John & Ann Marie, and Joe & Anne, were on board. They sailed from CC on Saturday with moderate wind and headed to the Gulf of Mexico, with some help from the iron wind. They spent the night in Port Aransas and feasted on more seafood. On Sunday, they sailed up the Lydia Ann Channel to the lighthouse, then reversed tack and had a great sail back to CC! Weather and winds were great! Photos.

May 26-27: Turnback Canyon Regatta / Cruise (AYC) : The AYC 56th annual Turnback Canyon Regatta will be held on May 26 and 27.  This years event will include the traditional race to Lago Vista but in addition will include an expanded format Navigational Cruise for those that do not race but want to party and anchor at Lago Vista.  At Lago Vista this year there will be a great BBQ dinner and a Texas Holdem' Poker Tournament, which will be in parallel with the music entertainment.  With a full lake and great spring time weather on order, over 100 boats are expected. Please sign up for this one-of-a-kind race, Navigational Cruise, Dinner/Party and/or Poker Tournament.  The registration and dinner costs are attractively low for early registration.  Get full details for the event online at http://austinyachtclub.net/turnback

May America's Cup Cruise: This cruise was an outstanding success, by all measurements. The lake was up (672'), the sun was shining, winds were light, and the water was a refreshing 75 degrees. There were 5 boats, 15 sailors, and 1 (very little) dog. We rafted up on 2 anchors in Barry's Cove. We were surprised to see the continuing development with a huge dock under construction (we hope that is temporary), a new private ramp, and more development on shore. In the middle, however, it was fine.

In honor of the hosting city of the America's Cup, the hosts, John and Kathi, served "Paella Valencia," salad, and Sangria. Others brought delightful desserts and other goodies to round out the meal. After dinner, John brought out his 2 news toys, remote controlled powerboats, that had previously only seen a bathtub. He ran round-robin elimination style races around 2 buoys. There was considerable excitement with several close finishes. The first place winner was Steve, Cheryl was second, and Patrick and Gary got third.

John tried to avoid a blooper nomination by telling us that the burgees were printed with the fleet number backwards. Sean won the hero award, by diving to the bottom to rescue a dropped boat hook. As always, all good times must come to and end, so we all cast our lines, weighed our anchors, and headed for our marinas around 6:00. Many thanks to our hosts!

Pictures are available here: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=8odqcr5.8mf905ix&x=0&y=pf74p4

May Meeting: Our speaker for the May 10 meeting was Blake, former team President and current Graduate Director for college sailing in the Big 12. http://www.collegesailing.org/intro.asp. Blake told us all about the differences between college sailing and standard racing, the districts, how collegiate racing contributes to sailing at large, etc. He talked about tactics, boat handling, and technique as well.  The ICSA is the Intercollegiate Sailing Association of North America, and is the governing body for college sailing in the US. It began as an informal racing league in New England in he mid 1880's and had evolved into its present form by 1920. SEISA (South East) is the middle tier of college sailing districts; not the largest or smalles and not the strongest or least competitve. Racing takes place 13 weekends a semester and championships are held in 5 divisions: Womens' Dinghy, Team Racing, Men's and Women's Singlehanded, and Sloops. Races are sailed on FJ's on Lake Travis. College uses slightly different rules than conventional racing. Most notably, rocking the boat and pumping the sails to gain speed are allowed. That creates a challenge when college racers graduate into yacht club level racing! It was an excellent program and many thanks to our speaker (and his wife and baby.).

April Cruise: Customs Cruise, April 15: Gary's father was a Customs agent, so he thought it would be appropriate to pretend we are going from one Foreign Port to another, as the BVI's to the US Virgin Islands and simulate going through Customs, and checking your boats documents and passengers passports, as one might do in the BVI. Paulette made delicious pulled pork sandwiches. It was a beautiful spring day, though not much wind. Lake level was 669', so Barry's Cove looked more like Cove than a Canyon! There were 8 boats and around 16 people.Looked like fun: Photos.

April Meeting: Many thanks to Duane Johnson, a sailor and a member of the local US Coast Guard Auxiliary, came to our meeting and told a few sailing stories gave us a wealth of safety and regulation knowledge. One of his most memorable experiences in the USCG was when he was honored to escort the 295' USCGC Eagle into Los Angeles Harbor. Unfortunately, the Eagle could go no slower than 9 knots and his boat could go no more than 7, so he had a great view of the stern!
The USCGA offers free boat safety and regulations inspections. It's a good thing to do and if any problems are found, they'll tell you so that you can fix them. Contact a fleet officer to get his contact information.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife website is a good place to start, to get additional information on boating classes, regulations, and safety.
 

St Patrick's Cruise: March 10. Tip of the hat to Lane for a very entertaining, tasty, and educational St Patrick's Day Cruise! Seven Catalinas, sixteen sailors, and two dogs gathered in Barry's Cove, or rather, at lake level 646.7', Barry's Canyon. We anchored off the north shore with 3 or 4 hooks astern. None were lost. Charles and Pat were there with a brand new winged-keel C250 named Pegasus, which replaced their 10 year old water-ballast C250, also named Pegasus. Keith arrived in his usual style, single-handed and under sail. He smoothly brought his boat to shore without a scratch.
The bar was open on "Cool Change", where Kathi served up Irish Mud Slides, sweet concoctions of chocolate and who-knows-what else, while Irish music played on deck. There was even a brief jig by our host.
Lane then divided us into 2 teams, and we worked on 2 sets of crazy & customized Irish Trivia quizzes. Several prizes of beads and "other" were awarded, with  Paulette taking the grand prize with her quick and perceptive answers. Then it was time to eat. Lane brought corned beef, sandwich fixings, and Irish beans. Others brought green-minted-frosted brownies, strawberry pie, shamrock cookies, lime bars (yes, eat dessert first!), green chips, and 2 green and healthful salads.

We had a beautiful sunny day at 80 degrees, with the wind SSE, shifting between 177 to 144 degrees.  Most sailed back from Barry’s Cove around 5 PM with the SSE wind at around 160 degrees with 12 knot winds gusting up to 17.  A brief race ensued between Summer Song II and Cool Change. The lake is down around 25 feet, but everyone watched out for the low water buoys, and everyone had a wonderful relaxing time. Photos. On the next day, the long-awaited rain finally arrived, and the lake went up 4 feet!

March Program: Thailand. Our guest speakers for the March 8 Fleet meeting were former Fleet Commodore and First Mate, Dave and Diane. They are temporarily living in China and spent part of Christmas week in Thailand on a 40' Sunsail Jenneau Odyssey sailboat, chartered from the port of Phuket. See their picture album here. Read about their travel adventures at Bloggers/Diane-and-Dave-Z/.
Lessons Learned from the Wise:
1. Use the charter company's GPS, for it has localized markings and is in sync with local maps
2. Don't get too confident, especially when there are no channel markers
3. Leave double the normal buffer between you and the shore and hazards
4. Listen to the charter company's instructions. Be aware of the tides, especially if they vary by 28' !
5. Close the seacocks when at sea
6. Remember the safety basics. Make sure everyone on board knows where life jackets are, how to toss the man-overboard thingie, how to operate the radio, and how to turn on the engine.
7. Take the non-drowsy dramamine
8. Don't stay below deck too long. 9. Be nice to your captain and crew
9. Keep the rocks in your drinks and in the distance, not under your boat.
10. Relax and enjoy the beauty of nature

February Valentine's Cruise: Our February Valentine's Cruise, hosted by Sheila and Robert, was on Saturday, February 10th. The plan was, if it was colder than 50 degrees or rain predicted at 10 AM, we would meet at the Iguana Grill on Hwy 620, which overlooks Arkansas Bend, at 1 PM. Otherwise, we would sail to Barry's Cove. It was 48 degrees at 10 am. Eleven people checked the weather at http://www.austinyachtclub.org/WX/index.htm and went directly to the Grill. Two did not, and sailed directly to Barry's Cove, found no one else there, and then drove to the Grill. It was nice and warm inside, and we all had Mexican-type food. For dessert, we had chocolate-mocha mousse cake, pieces of dark chocolate, frosted brownies, and Port and Starboard chocolate chip cookies. Lane nominated himself for a blooper award. Ask us how. A yummy time was had by all ! See the Cruise photos .

February Meeting: Chuck of the Sailboat Shop talked talk to us about the plans for Catalina Yacht sales and support in the Central Texas area and also about many new and exciting plans for the Sailboat Shop. Sailors who need quick access to Catalina parts will be very pleased. Note that they have a new URL: http://www.the-sailboat-shop.com/

Austin Boat Show: January 11-14 at the Austin Convention Center. Details. Many thanks to Jeff Picard, of Sea Lake Yacht Sales, for the VIP invitation to our fleet for the Friday night reception and entrance to the Boat Show. At least 13 fleet members (plus Jeff and Robin) were there, to enjoy a scrumptious buffet of roast beef, mashed potato martinis, and warm chocolate fudge sauce cake with ice cream, and a better than ever display of sailboats, large and small. It was great to see such a rejuvenation. Jeff had Catalina 22 Sport, 250, 270, and 320 sailboats. The fleet members held a brief caucus to see if we could pool our resources and treasury and buy the 320. It would be great for cruises! We can talk about it at the next meeting. The SailBoat Shop had several Hobies, Sunfish, kayaks, and several other small boats.  The most amazing was the penguin peddle feature of several of the boats. Texas Sailing brought two beautiful Beneteaus to the show, a 323 and a 343.

January Cruise: Saturday the 13th. It was a rainy cold weekend, so we stayed warm, met indoors, and heard one of our own fleet members sing! Joy sang at the  Triumph Cafe. Her voice was beautiful with a lilt of Irish, and she even had a few sailing songs in her repetoire. She was accompanied by her able and devoted technician/husband, Joe. At least 8 fleet members enjoyed the show. To purchase Joy's album online go to My Texas Music http://www.mytexasmusic.com/joyluther/

January 11 Meeting: There was a good turnout for the first meeting of the year. Commodore Sheila led a lively meeting in which we recollected the Christmas party and talked about cruising plans for the new year. There are still open slots for hosting cruises, so contact Sheila and tell her what cruise you would like to host! It's a great way to have the exact type of cruise you always wanted, from Treasure Hunt to Luau!