Catalina owners Lake Macquarie Rendezvous 2012

by Rod Mackay on 31 Jan 2012 The seventh annual Catalina summer rendezvous was held recently by Royal Motor Yacht Club Toronto (NSW) on the shores of beautiful Lake Macquarie and resulted in an outstanding success.

This perfect venue provided the ideal location for shore based activities, and this year turned on fantastic sailing weather to boot. The fleet of 15 Catalinas entered ranged from a C250 all the way up to a nice new C445, with the C320 'one design division' ever competitive.

The informal 'tie up' gathering on the Friday afternoon got the boat visits started and the stories started to flow, in particular about a certain Catalina 375 which was still offshore and battling into a southerly to 'make the Swansea bridge in time for happy hour'. Saturday morning dawned warm and sunny, and when the few remaining boats finally arrived the briefing promised north easterly breezes of 10-15 knots and a scratch windward start off the RMYC. Even the 'I don’t race, just cruisers' were jockeying for a good spot on the pin end favoured start line.

Three great laps of the Toronto Bay course later the fleet reassembled at RMYC and proceeded to the Catalina Mariners Bar for happy hour and some outstanding canapés.

The presentation dinner was attended by about 50 guests who were treated to a delicious buffet meal, nice wine and of course the prize giving ceremony. Good fun was had by all, especially with an impromptu show by the part time magician and C309 owner, Noel Claire.

Club Marine Insurance provided the major trophies ($500 and $250 respectively); with RA Mackay Yacht Brokerage and RMYC Toronto also chipping in with some great prizes.

Handicap results of the Rendezvous race were as follows:
1st overall (and line honours): 'Emmenar'; (C320) Mel and Robyn Steiner
2nd : 'Catatonic' ;(C34) John and Marion Cotterill
3rd: 'Magpie'; (C310) Ian and Vicki Adams
4th: 'Argo'; (C250) Gang Li and Shulang Wang/Peter Bolger
5th: 'Murrumbooee; (C400MKII) John Relic/Rod Mackay
6th: 'Equinox'; (C350) Danny Watson/Mal Monk
Wooden Spoon: 'Isis' (C42) Don Nott/John O’Rafferty
Single Handed Sailor Award: 'Rock the Boat' (C375) Simon Rock
Catalina Cup Award: 'To Hell and Back'; (C375) Neil and Gail McBurnie