American Airlines Sailing Club Catalina Skipper Checkout Training should last 3 to 4 hours and additional sessions as required Training/maneuvers in a minimum of 10 MPH wind up to 20, training in a lower wind is encouraged as well, depending your comfort level it may be best to have a session in calm winds followed by higher winds. All maneuvers in close quarters to be performed with a crew standing by the extra fender and boat hook. All maneuvers to be briefed by the Instructor prior to and during the maneuver, debriefed by both the Instructor and the member. Catalina 25 Systems and Procedures The Catalina is a great boat, fast and easy to sail, and below are many of the things that Skippers need to know and understand. Boarding Safety. Important: Once the boat is in the water, pull the stern to starboard and retie the starboard stern line with a cleat hitch to the aft cleat on the boat, so the boat is close to the pier and stable to board. If you don’t do that, there is way too much lateral movement of the boat in the slip for safe boarding and a real danger of someone slipping and falling between the boat and the dock. Aboard. Open the boat, check for fumes, stow gear, get the book, sign the releases, go through the checklist. Safety issues, at the dock or underway. The boom hangs low over the cockpit and expect to hit your head, especially if you are wearing a hat with a bill on it, and especially if you are coming up from below. Moving to the foredeck. The side decks are very narrow and your feet can get trapped easily, especially moving past the shrouds. Always use a hand hold. Catalina 25 Systems and Procedures Page 1 On the narrow foredeck, the lifelines are not useful since they are fastened to the bottom of the bow pulpit. Extreme care and hand holds must be used, especially underway. The danger of losing a man overboard is highest here, with the engine running and the prop turning, heading into the wind. Everyone on the foredeck while underway should wear a PFD. Lowering (raising) the motor. When the boat is fully in the water & floating free, the motor may be lowered. To lower the engine, move the lever to lower position, pull up on the motor to allowing the locking bolt to reposition and then allow to the motor to lower. To raise the motor, move the lever to raise position, push the motor down allowing the locking bolt to reposition and then pull to raise the motor, making sure the locking bolt reengages. Note: The horizontal locking pins in the engine lift bracket some time requires manually moving it to the correct position. Before starting, as usual, check the gas (two stroke, oil & gas mixture 50:1), open the vent, and pump the bulb. If cold, pull out the choke on the front of the engine. Make sure the throttle/shifter is in neutral, it won’t start in gear. Move the idle lever to the full forward position and the turn the key to the right and the engine should spin, and then start. Push the choke in and then slowly lower the idle lever to allow the engine to warm up. Check for cooling water outflow. Put it in forward to confirm thrust, same for reverse, then back to neutral to warm. Main sail preparation. Mainsail cover off and stow, as usual, attach main halyard (red) to head of mainsail. Sail ties on. Attach lower snap shackle of the boom vang to the bail at bottom of the mast, if it wasn’t. Departing the dock. Cast off seven lines: two bow, two stern, the starboard aft spring from the midship cleat and both forward spring lines from the aft cleats, leaving them all on the dock. Disconnect the shore power line. Check for wind and traffic, put throttle in reverse at just over idle speed, motor straight aft until the bow is clear, then stern to starboard. Put it in forward and motor out. Please be careful with the engine tiller, DO NOT pull the end up or push the engine down with the engine tiller. Only us the tiller for steering the engine under power. Turning radius the boat is very steerable with the engine tiller with assistance with the boat tiller. Using just the engine tiller for leaving and arriving the slip is recommended since the boat tiller will not have enough water flow to make if effective at the slow speed. Hoisting the main. When hoisting the main, the sail slugs do not easily slide past the slot covers, so plan on hoisting and releasing the main halyard to “jiggle” each slug through the cover plates. Do not force! Send someone forward to align the slugs, if necessary. Release the Catalina 25 Systems and Procedures Page 2 boom vang before raising the main sail. Do not use the winch to raise the sail, only to tension the luff once it’s fully up by hand. Mainsail trim. Once hoisted, check the outhaul at the aft end of the boom, and that it is secure in the cam cleats. Check and adjust the downhaul on the port side of the mast, just below the boom, if necessary. Tension the boom vang as desired. Tacking. With the mainsheet coming off the end of the boom, it can get fouled around the tiller when the lines are slack in the middle of a tack. Also, the helmsman can get “trapped” behind the main sheet lines on a port tack on the low side of the boat. Planning ahead will solve most of those issues. The jib sheets are exceptionally long and a prop fouling issue. “Line Checks” are a frequent must do. In the cockpit, there are four foresail winches, the larger forward two are for the jib and the smaller aft set are for the spinnaker, and there are jam cleats for each. Whisker pole on a run. We have an extendable whisker pole (twist and turn to lock) for the jibs, with a short plastic “spike” on the end that goes into the clew grommet, and a locking latch on the other end that hooks onto the ring on the front of the mast. To use the whisker pole for a downwind run (wing on wing) a crewman will need to go to the foredeck, extend the pole to about 175% of its compressed length (when flying the 140 genoa), then stick the spike into the clew grommet (may take several tries and the cooperation of someone in the cockpit to trim or ease the working jibsheet, and then hook the latch end on the mast ring. The whisker pole must be set forward of the forward shroud, and then the working jibsheet should be trimed so that the whisker pole is not pulled back against the forward shroud. To remove the whisker pole, ease the jibsheet, unhook the latch, withdraw from the clew, compress and stow. Night sailing. The steaming light is inoperative for now, so use the anchor light to indicate that you are under power. Additionally, a local game warden has been giving tickets to correctly lit sailboats, saying that we are supposed to have a 360 degree white light like a fishing boat. That’s a separate battle to fight, but for now, under sail or under power, have both the anchor and nav lites on at night. Cabin pop top. In the slip or if you anchor out, raising the pop-top makes the cabin open, airy and delightful. But getting it open is difficult and dangerous due to its weight and having to move it forward to the mast and locking it in place. To raise it, first disconnect the lower end of boom vang and wrap it around the boom. Then, from inside the cabin, loosen the four lugs that secure the pop top down and clear them from their brackets. Standing just forward of the hatch opening, with both hands, lift, push up and forward until the pop-top touches the mast. Without letting go and still holding it forward against the mast, slide the clip in the mast slot Catalina 25 Systems and Procedures Page 3 upward so it secures the top from moving aft and tighten the wingnut. Additionally, I would tie a line through the top of the legs, then around the mast to further secure it. To lower it, lower the mast clip and try to hold the top as it moves aft and down so it does not slam down. Typically a couple of the lugs will not seat and you’ll have to lift the top slightly so they seat properly. Raise the engine, as described above. Using the head (porta-potty). I recommend lining the head with a plastic bag that can be easily taken ashore, if the head is used at all. Otherwise, it’s the skipper’s responsibility to remove, clean and return the porta-potty. The bilge. There is no deep bilge on the Catalina, nor an electric bilge pump, only the hand operated pump mounted under the cockpit seat on the port side. The hand pump may not work at this time…more to follow. Electrical. The bottom switch on the electric panel (mounted aft of the sink), acts as the master switch, which then powers the other switches. Other. The anchor and rode are in the anchor locker in the foredeck (unknown length at this writing).