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Catapult joined the Dinghy Section of the Royal Yorkshire YC in
their Cat Regatta for
the Catapult Northerns on the August BH weekend, back to the wide sandy
beach at Bridlington (photo below) and the relaxed welcome returning
there.
Brid lived up to its place in the
Catapult calendaras the main open-sea venue , with a mixed menu of winds and seas,
and a sharp test for the fleet on the final day. Gareth Ede mastered these for a
comfortable winning score for the Northerns, but had to work in a tight
fleet. Gareth's wins took him up the
Leader Board
but did not displace John Terry
as the yellow pennant holder.
For two races back-to-back on Saturday, the Club set a figure-8 course
in a light but useful NE breeze. The making tide, running against the breeze, gave enough
chop to make boat speed upwind a crucial
factor. The Club’s four fixed
marks spread across the open sea gave long legs, so that the Dart 18s sharing the Regatta
acted as pathfinders to the distant marks.
In
Race 1
from a
heavily-biased port start, Stuart Ede and then Gareth Ede were away, Gareth
holding a small lead from Alastair Forrest by the first upwind mark.
George Evans showed the good upwind speed he kept for most of the
weekend, catching Alastair. Downwind, Stuart closed up on runs
(electing to stand to get extra "push" on the long runs.)
Beginning the beat on the long second lap, Alastair
tacked early predicting that the making
tide would push to the upwind mark, lifting him to close the leaders but again
he could not find enough
boat-speed to hold the gain on Gareth. On the final run, behind Gareth,
Alastair was inches away from George side by side, but a move away
gybing twice to look for speed tightening up was fruitless.
Race 2
followed back-to-back, down to a single long
lap on the same course, now with the tide noticeably sweeping to windward.
From a starboard start,
Justin
Evans powered in to the windward mark, catching George to gift a good lead to
Alastair, but Gareth's speed overall, and George's upwind speed
tightened the fleet. After the next tight reach, Justin, Gareth and
Alastair ran down as a wall a few feet apart, while George and Stuart
moved right, eventualy half a mile away.
They all came together to show just how difficult it was to gain an
advantage, but George and Gareth again eked out upwind gains, and George chasing Gareth
finally pipped him on the line. Behind, an equally-close battle on the final flat run to the finish saw Stuart successfully counter Alastair’s inch by inch gains, to hold
third
by a boat-length.

Sunday
morning brought a moderate to fresh NW breeze, against the tide for
most of the racing with a demanding chop. The three races used all four
marks in a figure-of-eight. Slight wind shifts removed any long beat
from the complex course, with two legs now almost able to be laid
other than short final tacks, making boat speed in the waves even more
crucial.
The Race 3 starboard start was won by Stuart and Alastair, but
Gareth came through from behind at speed , and set the pattern
of upwind dominance through the day, building a lead. Alastair could not
gain boat speed, while George’s good upwind speed brought him up on
Stuart. Cliff Antill (joining the fleet) tacked early onto a long port board into shore, with
separation from the fleet of a half a mile, returning to the upwind mark
with a gain.
While Gareth stretched out, the next run pulled the rest of
the fleet together, until Alastair’s tripped shroud put him to the back.
The final beat had Cliff on Stuart’s shoulder on starboard as they came
to the line, Stuart timing the final tack across on port just well
enough to require Cliff to tack onto his own proper course to the line,
to take second by two seconds. .
In Race 4, in the same wind strength, Gareth again came fast through
the starboard start and caught the first starters, to begin building a lead he
extended to the end. He trapezed upwind, but could still use the
technique of driving the leeward hull while keeping the windward hull high,
just flying the hull or letting it kiss the advancing chop with less
wave impact than the boats sailed flat.
Behind him,
Alastair having won the start led the chasing pack. Cliff (trapezing) and Stuart
went lower for speed to drive through the chop, without a clear gain.
George again had good speed pointing up, but with the fleet close, at
the windward mark, Justin caught him on starboard as he tacked across to
the mark on port, frustrating his pursuit of Alastair. George pulled
back up the next beat to hold second by a useful margin, while Cliff and
Alastair swapped places until Alastair could guard him carefully home
on the long final tight lead from a thirty-yard lead to windward .
Race 5 followed back to back. The strengthening northward tide
complicated the start, with any boats approaching the line slowly swept
towards and above the line, so that the correct tactic was a late fast
approach, again used well by Gareth. Cliff trapezing now had good speed
going lower. George's start was
delayed, and this time he never built the relentless up-wind progress of
the earlier races, and Justin nailed him for the fifth place. All the
fleet had Gareth closer although he was not threatened. Alastair and
Stuart pulled up on Cliff on the long runs, but the beats (again heavily
biased, with no direct windward leg) suited Cliff's trapezing, to gain
him second.
The situation changed again Monday, as a front brought in a
freshening southerly (the rain holding off to the afternoon.) It was
clear heading out for Race 6 that although the sea conditions
exceeded the wind strength (which stayed just below trapezing
throughout) the building SW swell and a steep overlying chop put the
boats on the limit. Gareth’s
light weight made it unsurviveable, and so only five boats jumped and plunged
out to the distant start mark.
A port start took a tight fleet in towards the shore, with
Cliff going lower to break through the steep waves, not finding greater
speed, and a downhaul
failure for Stuart extended Alastair’s lead at the windward mark. He
extended this
down the hairy broad reach to the shore mark, with the boats rushing down the face of
the swell until the bows dipped deep into the back of the next wave, not
enough wind strength to complete the nosedive (although one of the Dart
18s cartwheeled.)
George and Justin followed grimly on, while Stuart
after repairs thought it pointless to crash on alone at the back. Alastair's
search for mark B let Cliff into the lead and the others came up, but
Alastair again gained upwind, just behind Cliff at the turn, with the
welcome view of a shortened finish at the end of the run. The run
demonstrated the need to risk inching forward to get surfing down the
swell (coming irregularly) with the fear of plunging the bows too deep.
Alastair caught Cliff with half a boat length advantage 50 metres from
the line---but Cliff caught a steep wave and surfed away across for the
first place, clear by a boat length
RESULTS
(one discard *)
Place
Sail
Helm R1 R2
R3
R4
R5
R6
Points
1 521
Gareth Ede
1
2
1 1
1
9*
6
2 510
George Evans
2
1
3
2
5*
3
11
3 524
Alastair Forrest
3
4
6* 3
3
2 15
4 531
Stuart Ede
4
3
2 6
4
9* 19
5 17
Cliff Antill
9* 9
4
4
2
1 20
6
518 Justin
Evans 5
5
5
5
6* 4 24
7 195
Damien Cooney
9*
9
7
9
9
9 43
8 230 Steve
Fenner
9* 9 9
9
9 9
45
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