Can I sail a Catalina 42 by myself?
Can
I Sail a Catalina 42 by Myself?
From a phone interview by Bob Zoller
This Spring, the winner of the fifty-eight mile Single Handed Farallone Race was Doug McClaflin in his Catalina 42, Lanikai, #447. The race took the 6 competitors in his class out the Golden Gate in 22 to 25 knot winds. Doug says he hand steered from his favorite position on the leeward, very wet, corner of the boat for most of the eight hours and twenty minutes of the race. When he goes forward to adjust the main sheet or traveler, his Autohelm 7000 takes over. The autopilot is used sparingly because the boat goes faster when he “drives” around the eight to ten foot waves. Often, he steers from forward of the wheel.
Lanikai flies an asymmetrical chute using a pair of Harken mid range blocks. There is no spinnaker pole aboard, only a whisker pole. He reports that he rarely reefs the main even though it is so easy. Doug says the C-42 sails best on the wind at 18 to 22 knots. He uses no extra cleats, cam or otherwise in the cockpit, using just the self-tailing winches and standard halyard and reefing controls led to the cockpit. His furling headsail is a 150% kevlar but he is about to order a new sail which may be just a little smaller. He’s about to swear off of furling the Genoa before flying the chute and will instead, drop the sail on deck in order to avoid wrapping the kite.
Doug says he likes the comfort of his three cabin fin keel C-42, and it really helps him attract crew. Friends liken it to the Orient Express. The previous owner, John Sullivan, painted the hull dark blue. With the white colored house it has an elegant appearance. His reasons for selecting the C-42 in addition the C-42’s sailing qualities, are the large fleets usual for Catalina models, resale value and the camaraderie and exchange of information among owners.
Doug’s enthusiasm for racing is infectious. He says the winds and seas of the Bay area are a “breeze” compared to his “home” waters of Hawaii where he and his brother Sheldon, raced for 36 years. He and Sheldon sailed Lanikai to Mexico and back two years ago. A newcomer to sailing in the Bay Area, he says he has yet to master the Bay Area tides. He reports that Lanikai was recently knocked down in a race for the first time, putting the mast in the water, because a crewman failed to ease the chute at a critical time. Doug is now seriously considering his entry in the Single Handed Transpac race. We’re bound to hear more about the winning ways of Doug McClaflin and Lanikai.
Sydney to Hobart Ocean Race
By Keith Vandervliet
In November 1997, I enlisted as a crew member on the 12.75 meter Lake Macquarie sloop, Catalina 42 Sea G, to participate in a race from Sydney to Hobart commemorating the voyage of discovery by Matthew Flinders and George Bass in their boat Norfolk. They circumnavigated Van Diemen’s Land thereby proving Tasmania to be an island.
The race was conducted under the rules of the International Sail Training Association, which requires at least half the crew be a trainee between the age of 16 and 25. This captured the imagination of owner/shipper Chris Griffiths, entering his yacht, a Catalina 42 named Sea G, in the race and setting about finding a crew.
The crew of eight, four adults and four young adult trainees started training on Sea G in early December for what would prove to be an adventure of a lifetime for us all. The crew was Chris Griffiths, myself, Mark Bode, Mark Newell and trainees Pauline Griffiths, Kale Bone, Renee Mason and Steve Searle. None of us had been to Hobart and for Kate and Renee this would be the first time on a sailing vessel offshore.
Although the event would prove to be character building for each and every one of us, Chris never lost sight of the race being primarily for the benefit of young people and adopted a training program with safety as priority.
The Sea G is only eight months old, did not have a spinnaker in her sail wardrobe which started me thinking that maybe ANI Arnall, supplying products for the safety of underground mining could assist in the sponsorship of a sail, in turn benefiting from the advertising.
ANI Arnall’s Marketing Manager took the opportunity and by late December the Sea G sail wardrobe was enhanced with a beautiful light blue multi-purpose spinnaker with our logo proudly shown. The logo would be subject to maximum exposure on our training sessions on the Lake and offshore, Newcastle Harbor, Sydney Harbor, the race, our stay in Hobart and the return voyage.
Australia Day, January 26, 1998, saw a magnificent send off from Sydney Harbor. Forecast for the race: a gale warning for southwesterly winds that night and head winds all the way to Hobart. Not good for flying our sail! However, before each southerly change, the wind would come in from the north for some hours and the spinnaker was used as often as possible to maximize our average speed to Hobart.
Sea G saw winds to 45 knots and on the night of January 29th seas in the Bass Strait, we estimated, reached 30 feet. From Tuesday to Friday conditions, most of the time, made it impossible to cook, sleep and carry on the simplest tasks.
The crew worked together wonderfully and when possible the trainees participated in all aspects of sailing a yacht including steering, sail changes, navigation and radio operation which included giving our exact position three times a day.
The crew was not hand picked; we came together by chance. I am proud to have been a part of this team and would sail with them again, anywhere.
Sea G finished 8th across the line at noon Friday, 5 hours 27 minutes before the race deadline. Only ten boats finished before the deadline. Sea G finished eight overall on handicap and sixth in Division C.
Without the ANI Arnall sponsored sail we probably would not have finished the race under sail before the deadline. The positive attitude of all on board, led by Chris, working together as a team in mostly arduous conditions and our sponsored sail resulted in a voyage of a lifetime none of us will forget.
Editor’s note: Sea G is a C-42 hull #579, owned by Chris and Judy Griffiths of Kilaben Bay, Australia. The race was run under the International Sail Training Association rules and to qualify as a "tall ship", at least half the crew had to be between 16 and 25 years and have little or no sailing experience. The whole focus of the race was youth and character development. The article appeared in a corporate magazine and was written by a crewmember.
Comfort Racing to Moolooaba
This is an email report on a recent long distance race by Catalina 42 Skipper, Chris Griffith, Sea G #579. It is the same boat that competed in the 1998 Sydney to Hobart race. See that account at this site.
We completed the Sydney to Mooloolaba race and it was great! We didn't do very well overall, but then we were racing along side maxis and other speed machines - we were the most comfortable boat AND the only one to catch a fish, clean it and prepare it and feed the crew of six with a special recipe of fish steaks. (The fish was so large, we could only cook half of it at a time.)
Mooloolaba is on the northeast Coast of Australia in the state of Queensland. It is towards the Great Barrier Reef direction. The race is the second longest in Australia (the longest is the Sydney to Hobart of 630 miles), being 470 miles from Sydney to Mooloolaba. It follows the coast (unlike Sydney - Hobart) and for most of the time, you can see land. There is a current of up to 4 knots which swings north to south down the coast and of course, the race goes south to north, so to avoid the mainstream East Coast current, boats have to sail close to the breakers. One maxi, this year, went tooooo close and guess what?
Sixty-five boats started the race on 27th April this year, 24 pulled out within the first 24 hours. Our Catalina 42 was really no match for the rest of the fleet comprising maxis and super fast (expensive) surfboards with nothing inside them but a head, wet bunks and sails. Of course, we crossed the line last. Never mind, we had a good tacking race for the first night until our only real competition pulled out.
Winds got up to 45 knots from the south with seas and swell about 4 to 5 meters (12 to 15 feet) - Sea G handled it quite well. We got down to 3 reefs in the main with a No 2 headsail and at times were sailing along at 11 - 12 knots - not bad for a cruiser. We got caught in doldrums three times which can make things frustrating with the fickle wind, but we played nice music, cooked nice food and enjoyed the moments. After eighty hours of sailing fun we proved, yet again, that the Catalina 42's can play with the big boys of sailing.
The Sydney to Mooloolaba race is seen as the prelude to the Sydney to Hobart and is basically a pre-qualifier for the Sydney to Hobart. Boats need to be in Category 2 safety (Cat 1 is needed for Hobart because it crosses Bass Strait which is open sea). The safety requirements down here are quite stringent especially since the last Sydney to Hobart wherein six sailors died during the race (seas estimated at 16 meters (about 52 feet) with winds recorded to 95 knots. Very tragic event this past year. Experience is a pre-qualifier and for example, on the Sydney to Mooloolaba, minimum crew for any entrant had to be five with four having had sufficient sea experience to satisfy the racing committee.
We had a great race, all boats were met at Mooloolaba with a bucket load of Rum and Coke (the race was part sponsored by Bundaberg Rum) and when we arrived at 0515 hrs, rum and coke hit the spot for breakfast - yum. We enjoyed the hospitality of the Mooloolaba Yacht Club for a couple of days. Would you believe, there must have been at least eight or so American cruising couples there enjoying respite at the marina and staying for quite a while (I think they like the place - they had no intention of leaving real soon). A group of the Americans actually prepared breakfast for the crews of the racers as they came in to port - it was great.
Surf's Up
By: Rick Fleischman
I love my Catalina 42! I am currently sailing BOB, hull number 330, mostly for skippered sailing charters in Alaska. In fact, I also owned Cat 42
# 275, Northwind, which I sold after one season to try to buy something just a
little bigger. But there is nothing out there that comes close to
the room and performance of the Catalina 42 for the money, so I bought another one.
But that is neither here nor there…..
In April I sailed the boat from Bellingham, Washington to Ketchikan, Alaska with my soon to be wife, Jennifer and our friend Gray. This year’s trip of about 750 nautical miles took us nine days. April is a great time of year to sail north to Alaska, as long as you don’t mind, or are equipped to deal with, rain, cold temperatures and wind. Each storm front that moves through brings lots of wet rain and strong southerly winds. There are days where, if you are able to play the currents right, it is easy to average 9 knots over the bottom, catching the floods into the long reaches of the inside passage, then riding the ebbs out.
The sailing highlights of this year’s trip took place in Georgia Strait in British Columbia. The forecast was for gale warnings as we retrieved our Bruce 33 from the protected anchorage in False Bay on Lasqueti Island. We found winds gusting to about 20 knots as we reached out of the bay with full main and 135% genoa, and turned downwind. The wind slowly built as we flew north, and we first reefed, then dropped the main and finally ended up sailing under reefed genoa alone.
As we approached Cape Mudge, the inside passage enters a narrow channel near the middle of Vancouver Island, and the wind had built to about 45 knots. We were having a great sail, staying warm and dry under the full dodger, while the wind and waves continued to build. Cape Mudge is known for current and rough water and sure enough, as we approached, the seas quickly built as the 45-knot southerly wind ran into the 4 knot opposing current. I considered briefly doing a quick 180 and trying to hide somewhere while waiting for the current to abate, but I didn’t really want to turn into that wind and try to beat back against it.
I soon regretted that decision as we entered the main flow of the current. The 20-foot height of the waves didn’t bother me nearly as much as their steepness and how close together they were. The waves were about as confused as I was, breaking in every direction. The cockpit was soon awash as the waves broke on top of the dodger, ran down the side curtains, and flowed up over the coaming due to the boat’s heel.
I looked ahead and saw a series of really big waves. I thought briefly about how much fun it was going to be to pitchpole. These guys were really steep and close together! Then I took a last fond look at my 12-foot inflatable, tied down to the foredeck and the three coolers that were tied to the lifelines. I braced myself as the boat rode up the front of the first monster and started surfing down the trough. We quickly ran out of wave and I watched as the bow started to dig into the next steep wall of water. Green water started washing over the bow when, to my surprise, I felt the boat start to lift and ride up the next wave. Each successive wave was a bit smaller, and in minutes we were in the calmer water of Discovery Passage. Prying my fingers off the wheel, I engaged the autopilot and pulled up the maximum speed from the Autohelm Knotmeter – 16.1 knots! (Incidentally, the knotmeter had been calibrated!)
This is just one of several experiences over the years that have given me great confidence in the Catalina 42. I have sailed the boat extensively over the last four years, putting over 20,000 nautical miles on the log. The boat has sailed across the Gulf of Alaska to Prince William Sound and back. I’ve single handed in winds gusting up to 79 knots. That particular experience resulted in a speed record for the boat of 15.4 knots that I never thought would be broken. After four seasons of charter use, the boat still looks new and I have not had any major mechanical problems.
BOB has been extensively outfitted for Alaskan charters. The factory built a great icebox where the Nav station is on most three cabin models. I added mechanical/110-volt holding plates systems in both boxes. We keep the boat warm and dry in Alaska with a series of Heatercraft (similar to the Red Dot heaters) hot water heaters which put heat into all three cabins, the main salon, and both heads. Once the Heatercraft system warms the boat while motoring into an anchorage, a Dickinson Alaska diesel stove maintains the comfort level. I installed a 12-gallon tank in the starboard lazarette and use it for #1 diesel to run the stove (much cleaner and easier to use than #2). For electronics, I use an Autohelm 4000 autopilot, Raytheon radar and fishfinder, a Magellan GPS, and Autohelm sailing instruments.
If anybody is thinking of taking your boat up to Alaska, give me a call and I’d be happy to give you my opinion on equipment and routes. You can reach me at (888) 246-7245. Alaska is an incredible cruising area with fantastic scenery, great wildlife, and incredible fishing-—you shouldn't miss it!!!
Last Updated on Friday, February 04, 2000