C350IA Bridge Officers
Commodore
Neville Edenborough
Niceville, FL
Irish Lady – Hull #413
Email
I was raised in dry Oklahoma, both alcohol and water. This was before all of the beautiful lakes had been built. I loved the water, but had little experience. After college, the Army and some time in even drier New Mexico I ended up in Indiana. Indiana is an interior state, but there was a smaller lake near my Indianapolis home. I started sailing with a Venture 21, then Venture 22, then Hobie 14. I enjoyed every minute of my time on the water.
After I retired my wife, Joan, and I moved to the Panhandle of Florida. The first thing I bought was a Catalina 36. What a wonderful experience! We sailed often on Choctawhatchee Bay and a few longer sails across the Gulf. Finally we said goodbye to the 36 and purchased a 2006 Catalina 350 (sail #413) in April 2012 naming her the Irish Lady. We love it and plan to spend lots of time cruising.
Vice Commodore
Tim Meredith
Somewhere in the US
Catalina 350 – Hull #xxx
Email
We have a new Vice Commodore, Tim Meredith, details and pic coming soon.
Secretary/Treasurer
Gene Bollin
Niceville, FL
Tranquility – Hull #451
Email
Born and raised In Kansas City, Missouri, and became active in the Boy Scouts and Explorer programs. The Explorer post I joined had a Lightning that we learned to sail at lake Jacomo. While working in Wichita, Kansas, my wife and I purchased a Fireball sailboat and joined the Fireball Fleet and sailed on Lake Cheney. Eventually our family grew and we traded the Fireball for an O’Day 25 sailboat. We took advantage of the trailer ability and cruised other lakes during family vacations. Later in life after a job transfer to Atlanta, Georgia, we started sailing a Hobie 16 catamaran on lake Redwine. Soon after that we discovered Gulf sailing on a Pacific Seacraft 37 In November 2019, we purchased our Catalina 350, Tranquility, and enjoy sailing on the Choctawhatchee Bay out of Niceville, Florida.
We love it!
Technical Editor
Jason Crew
Kemah TX,
Otago – Hull #173
Email
Jason Crew serves as the Catalina 350 Technical Editor. Jason and his family (wife Suzanne, and their four children) purchased their Catalina 350 Hull #173 “Otago” in April 2020 and Jason has spent many hours converting her from a weekender to a modern cruising boat capable of casting off from their home base in Kemah, TX throughout the gulf coast to the Bahamas. Since that time he, his wife, their two youngest and a selection of friends have cruised part time doing just that. They finally reached the Bahamas last season. Jason does his own work from electrical to fiberglass to upholstery, and has put in a modern lithium battery system with solar power, long range internet (for his remote work), a factory cockpit table, anchor and rode, radar, chart plotters, NMEA 2000 backbone, an inverter and even an air fryer! Jason is an Electrical Engineer by background and works as an energy project developer when he isn’t anchoring his Catalina in a lovely bay.
Association Editor
George Thor
US
S/V Outlander – Hull #366
Email
Since I was a teenager in New Jersey, I was interested in sailing vessels and sailing. Using the earnings from my after school job, I took sailing lessons on Barneget Bay in a Barnegat 17 centerboard day sailer.
After I was graduated from college where I met my wife to be Mary, I soon learned that she also enjoyed sailing, and had a Sunfish sailboat. How lucky I was, meeting my future wife who liked to sail and sailing on Long Island Sound with her.
After we were married and my two years of service in the Army completed, we settled in Upstate NY. In a few years we realized that we did live close to a very large lake, so we went back to our beginnings and bought a Catalina 22. Our daughters, six and three at the time loved being on the boat as much as we did, and as our girls got older our boats got bigger. First the Newport 27 and then the Newport 33. With them and our three subsequent Golden Retrievers, we explored pretty much all of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Thousand Islands.
In 2010 because I wanted to expand my horizons and have new adventures, we sold the Newport 33 and went over to the dark side. We bought a Marine Trader 36 trawler so we could explore the North Channel. This new adventure truly began that day I brought her up from Brandford, Connecticut, and began upgrading and refitting her for the trip. Five years later she was ready and we made the trip, spending three and a half months on the trawler. In 2018 we took her up the Rideau Canal to Ottawa, but Mary felt she could not go on any more long journeys.
At this point we decided that maybe going back to sailing would be the best. We realized that once you sailed for the pure enjoyment of it, motoring around in a motor boat is just not as much fun. The result was the 2005 Catalina 350 we purchased in July 2019.
I’ve had some great salt water sailing experiences as well. I was a crew member delivering a Davidson 50 from Hualtuco, Mexico to Panama City. I sailed with a friend on his Oday 28 from Westbrook, Connecticut to Martha’s Vinyard and back, and the next year helped him to bring his new Freedom 35 from Rockhall, Maryland to Westbrook. Lastly, I traveled to Cuba as a crew member on the Oliver Hazard Perry, Rhode Island’s tall ship. Taking the helm of this 170 foot tall ship under sail perhaps qualifies as the highlight of my sailing experiences.
Webmaster
Russ Peel
Australia
Avalon – Hull #150
Email
When I was 16 I had the following photos on the inside of my wardrobe door
- Brigitte Bardot
- Alfa 1750 Veloce
- Afghan hound
- Catalina 42
Well Bardot and I never had the chance to hit it off, I couldn’t fit in the front seat of the Alfa, the Afghan wouldn’t fit in the back of my little Renault, but 50 years later I did finally get a Catalina (C350, good as!)
I had sailed and built wooden dinghies through my teens in Australia, then spent a summer teaching sailing at a camp in Northern Wisconsin, spent the next 10 years in Canada, cruised the British Virgin (Islands!) and Great Lakes then moved back to Australia and have since cruised New Zealand, Tahiti, Vavau, Whitsunday Islands and Croatia – all charters.
Acquired a 28′ trailer sailer in 1988 and in 2008 on retiring we purchased Avalon, a 2003 C350 – hull #150 and she is in as good as or better shape today than she was then. I am Secretary of our local yacht club and sail an old Etchells in an old guys fleet as they are fantastic racing machines.
Past Commodores
- 2013 – : Neville Edenborough, Niceville, FL
- 2011 – 2013 : Tim Ryan, Westampton , New Jersey
- 2011 : Jeff Blank, Plano, Texas