Ideas and Procedures for All Catalina Fleet 69
Updated 1/31/2009

This file lists ideas for meeting program topics, ideas for cruises, and information on how to run a cruise. If you would like to present a specific program or would like to hear a particular topic, please tell an officer. If you would like to host a cruise, choose an idea (or make up a new one) and read the procedures for additional information.

Meeting Ideas
  1. Adventure Stories
  2. Anchoring / Unanchoring Procedures
  3. Austin Yacht Club Visit
  4. Boat handling tips (heave to, docking)
  5. Bottom maintenance
  6. Climb your mast (how to)
  7. Cold weather sailing (keeping warm, dry, and safe)
  8. Collegiate Sailing
  9. Cooking on the Boat (if you want to)
  10. Chartering: How, techniques, safety, and tips
  11. Chartering: Where to Go? (best locations)
  12. Cruising Trip Reports (by fleet members)
  13. Electrical Systems
  14. Engine maintenance (Pat F) (add a new device)
  15. First Aide (sunburns, cuts, etc)
  16. Heavy weather sailing
  17. Historical Sailing (LaSalle's LaBelle shipwreck) )
  18. How to buy or sell a sailboat
  19. Hull and teak maintenance (Fred S, Eric S)
  20. Instructional sailing videos
  21. Knot Tying
  22. Lake Travis sailing tips (wind shifts, shallows, eddies, coves)
  23. Lake Travis cruising tips (cruising coves, restaurants)
  24. LCRA speakers
  25. Lighting and right of way rules (channel, at night)
  26. Marina Management
  27. Movies (Wind, Master & Commander, Capt Ron, The Dove)
  28. Navigation (from sextants to GPS)
  29. Nautical Adventure Stories
  30. Nautical Books, Magazines, and Videos Exchange
  31. Olympic Sailing
  32. Person overboard recovery (video, talk, practice)
  33. Psychology of Sailing: Maintaining good skipper-crew relationships
  34. Racing rules
  35. Radio usage, etiquette, use for emergencies
  36. Roundtable Discussions - we're all experts in something!
  37. Safety (Coast Guard Auxiliary, AYC members)
  38. Sail trim according to wind conditions
  39. Sailing on the Internet
  40. Sailing Blooper videos
  41. Sailing Certification (ASA, US Sailing, Coast Guard)
  42. Cruising Certification (ASA, US Sailing)
  43. Sail Making
  44. Sailboat and boat accessories dealers (local vendors)
  45. Sailing Songs, Sea Chanties (and history thereof) (Joy)
  46. Tuning the Catalina rigging
  47. Texas Navy Association
  48. Weather (invite a local TV weatherperson)
New Program Ideas (2009):
  1. Celestial Navigation
  2. Consumer's Reports on nautical equipment
  3. Radio Controlled Model Sailboats
  4. Sea Scouts
  5. Star gazing and constellations
  6. Swap Meet of Sailboat Equipment
  7. Trailer Towing, Safety, and Maintenance
  8. Using GPS for sailing
  9. Wind and Weather Web sites


Cruise Ideas we have used in the past:

  1. April Fool's,
  2. America's Cup (race model boats)
  3. Baked potatoes
  4. Bastille Day
  5. Beach Party
  6. Beef stew
  7. Boat Show Outing
  8. Breakfast
  9. Buddy-up
  10. Caribbean theme (limbo contest)
  11. Cheeseburgers in Paradise (with Jimmy Buffet music)
  12. Chili
  13. Chocolate and Cherries (Valentine's and Presidents' Day)
  14. Clam chowder
  15. Corpus Christi & Port Aransas
    1. Charter
    2. Take our own boats
  16. Kemah & Galveston
  17. Easter Egg hunt
  18. Educational, such as How to go thru Customs
  19. Fourth of July Cruise
  20. Fly a Kite (combine with cruise to a destination)
  21. Full moon sail
  22. Game night
  23. Halloween
  24. Holiday Party
  25. Hot Dogs and Apple Pie
  26. Hot Chocolate
  27. Hot Rum
  28. Ice cream Social
  29. Ladies Only Cruise
  30. Land Cruise
  31. Luau
  32. Kiddie's cruise
  33. Mardi Gras (with boat decorated boats)
  34. Marina Happy Hour
  35. Monte Carlo
  36. Model Sailboat Cruise
  37. Novice Cruise (bring a novice)
  38. Oktoberfest
  39. Olympics Cruise
  40. Pirates chase/treasure hunt
  41. Po-Boy Cruise
  42. President's Day
  43. Puzzle Jumble Cruise
  44. Raft-up
  45. Restaurant Sail: Volente Beach Club
  46. Restaurant Sail: Shades, Cafe Bleu, Boat House Grill
  47. Restaurant Drive (in case of bad weather). Iguana Grill, Oasis
  48. Retirement Cruise (wear PJs and robes)
  49. Road rally
  50. Rum Cruise (Flor de Caña)
  51. Safety Drills (person or thing overboard)
  52. Sail, Swim, or Draw (sailing terminology version of Pictionary)
  53. Small Boat Cruise (bring your sunfish, laser, kids)
  54. Sometimes Islands Cruise
  55. Shiskabobs
  56. Shrimp boil feast (maybe at a Marina)
  57. Summer Solstice
  58. Star Gazing (ex. August Meteor Shower)
  59. St. Patrick's Day
  60. Steak and Ale
  61. Special Events: Birthdays, Anniversaries, Celebrations
  62. Swap Meet at a Lake Travis Marina
  63. Tax Free Cruise
  64. Trivial Pursuit
  65. Tropical Island (Pick your favorite, such as Tahiti) Cruise
  66. Treasure Hunt
  67. Turnback Canyon Regatta,
  68. TNT: Tacos, Nachos, and Tequilla or Tortillas
  69. Up the Lake Cruise, To the Narrows (2 or more nights)
  70. Valentine's Day
  71. Wok 'n Roll
Cruise Procedures
While the cruise chairperson is responsible for the overall cruise schedule and themes and makes sure everything goes smoothly, we have cruise chairpeople for each individual cruise. Sometimes they select their own theme and sometimes the chairperson suggests the theme. It's nice to have 2 sets of people work on a cruise: someone experienced at cruises and someone new to it. It helps to spread the workload and the knowledge. The usual budget for a cruise is $60, and if the chairpeople go over that, they absorb the cost. The budget for the holiday party, of course, is much higher. It also includes the cost of the awards.

In the past, we met at Starnes Island around 2:00, sailed around for a while, then went to a cove where we dropped an anchor off the stern and tied the bow to the shoreline (tree or rock.) The problem with this plan is that rarely do cruising sailboats meet at an appointed place and the same appointed time. So, now we sail on our own, looking for each other, and meet in a cove at an appointed time. Popular locations in order of preference are Barry's Cove, Arkansas Bend, and Devil's Cove in the off-season. Long Canyon used to be the best but is now getting populated with houses. We have cruises every month except December, when we have the Holiday party. We used to have many evening cruises, but since the lake is very busy now, we have done this less. i.e. many people didn't want to spend the night on their boats and would sail back to their marinas in the dark. The breakfast cruise is the exception; usually most attendees spend the night.
The key to scheduling is to set the schedule early in the year, publicize it, and try to not change it. Full Moon weekends (or the weekend before the full moon) are the best. Consider Austin Yacht Club Regatta and Series race schedules, as many cruisers also race. The Holiday party is almost always the second Saturday in December. (The AYC Annual Banquet is usually the first Saturday night of the month.)

In recent times we have liked to sail to restaurants on the lake and sail afterwards. Popular places are the Volente Beach Club and the place-formerly-called-Shades (across from Lakeway). Some like the VBC because if their boat is out of commission, they can drive and meet the group. There is also a new restaurant up Sandy Creek called Cafe Bleu.

The fleet owns at least the following and the social chair has to track it all, after each cruise, which sometimes isn't easy:
1 small and 2 large tables, large 3-burner stove, and grills to put over a campfire.

Each cruise chairperson is responsible for making sure the campfire is out (sometimes they are prohibited by the county during dry spells) and that the shoreline is in equal or better condition than how we found it.

Before each cruise notice goes out, make a quick check to make sure it includes who, what, when, where, why, how, etc. A map is nice for newer members (now on the web). Also, mention a phone number (which has a recorder) which people can call in case of inclement weather. If we know in advance that the weather will be bad, we will either reschedule, move to indoors, or cancel the cruise.