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All Catalina Fleet 69
Austin, Texas
Come Sail with Us!

All Catalina Fleet 69 is a friendly and active group of sailors in the Lake Travis and Austin, Texas area. We promote recreational sailing, fellowship, safety, and skill development through regular meetings, cruises, and social activities. The fleet is open to all persons who own a keel sailboat of any length manufactured by Catalina Yachts, including Catalina, Morgan, and Capri yachts, or anyone who has an "interest" in a such a sailboat. It is chartered by the All Catalina National Association. The fleet includes the popular Catalina 22, 25, 250, 27, 270, and 30 designs. We are closely affiliated with Catalina 22 Fleet 69, which is a racing fleet recognized by Austin Yacht Club, where there are opportunities to skipper or crew. Members may join either or both, depending upon their interests!

Almost every month we have a cruise on nearby Lake Travis with a fun theme. We meet on the water or at a dock, sail to a cove, and anchor our boats. After an evening of good food, conversation and entertainment, some boats stay overnight, while enjoy a moonlit or daytime sail back to their marinas.

We have regular dinner meetings, where we talk about the latest and hottest sailing topics. The best way to learn about your own boat and sailing is to talk to someone who has the same type of boat! Your fellow members can help you with anchoring, maintenance, racing, docking and many other aspects of using and enjoying your boat!

We also enjoy annual out of town excursions. We have chartered cruising boats in Corpus Christi, Galveston Bay, British Virgin Islands, and the Clycades Islands in Greece, and plan to do more!

For more information, write to catfleet69 at gmail.com (replace the at with @)
For 2014 Fleet Postcard, click on the following links: Front and Back. (The old Fleet Postcard is here: Large, Medium, Small)




HISTORY OF THE ALL CATALINA FLEET 69 and CATALINA 22 FLEET 69

The fleet's origins date back to the River City Catalina 22 Fleet 69, which was founded and nationally chartered sometime around 1977 by a small group of Catalina 22 sailors.

Around 1979 the Catalina dealership in Austin moved to the Sailboat Shop near Highland Mall and they became our sponsor. Our monthly meetings were at the Sailboat Shop. As our supporters, they helped promote the fleet, as the fleet was and still is a good selling point for the Catalina. We met there on the first Wednesday of the month every month until early in 1985, when a terrible fire destroyed the Sailboat Shop. Since then we have met in various places such as sail lofts, boating stores, restaurants, Austin Yacht Club (AYC), and private homes.

The fleet grew to about 30 families in the early eighties to about 60 in 1990. As the fleet grew, some members moved up to larger Catalinas. The Catalina 25 fleet was formed, but never grew strong enough to be self-sustaining. Because of this and because strong friendships had been formed in the C22 fleet, the Catalina fleets were combined into one.  In 1987 the charter was changed and the position of Commodore was created to oversee the combined fleet. The fleet included all persons who own a Catalina 22, 25, 250, 27, 270, or 30, or any other keel sailboat of any length manufactured by Catalina Yachts, including Catalina, Morgan, and Capri yachts. However, only Catalina 22 owners could be officers.

In the middle 1990's, the Catalina National Association formed the "All Catalina National Association", in order to create an organization for all types of Catalina yachts, regardless of length. In 1998 we were chartered as the "Austin Texas All Catalina Fleet 69." We used the same fleet number as the Catalina 22 fleet to connote our close relationship. As the All Catalina fleet focused on cruising, the Catalina 22 fleet focused on racing. We had much in common, but the C22 fleet wished to be separate and associated with the Austin Yacht Club. We all agreed that it would strengthen both fleets to focus on our key interests. Therefore at the end of 1998, the C22 fleet, led by the offices of the Captain and Measurer, split off. We have many members who enjoy being members of both fleets and the fleet relationships are very amicable.

Almost every month we have a cruise on nearby Lake Travis with a fun theme. We meet at Starnes Island, sail to a cove, and anchor our boats. After an evening of good food, conversation and entertainment, some boats stay overnight and others enjoy a moonlit sail back to their marinas.

We have regular dinner meetings, where we talk about the latest and hottest sailing topics. The best way to learn about your own boat and sailing is to talk to someone who has the same type of boat! Members help each other with anchoring, maintenance, racing, docking and many other aspects of using and enjoying the sailboat.  We also enjoy annual out of town excursions.

The All Catalina Fleet 69 remains strong and focuses on the cruising aspects of sailing, though racing techniques inevitably sneak in any time you have two boats side-by-side! The fun continues and the state of the fleet is good.

Updated 8/25/14