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Catapult returned to the Carsington Cat Open sharing the event with the
Dart 16 Nationals and Youth Championship (and contributing the biggest class fleet
there after the Sprint 15's.) The last of the Indian summer gave
Saturday sunshine but the wind died after lunch, and after attempted
starts, racing was abandoned (photo below.)
Sunday brought the beginnings of the low coming north, and with rain and
wind due across the UK, the club elected three back-to back races before
lunch, in good racing breeze, 3-4 from ESE, slowly building and swinging
unpredictably.
The wind direction made the courses short, and the windward mark needed
tactical planning (or luck) in the crowd of boats of different speeds----if you went to the right to approach
the mark safely on starboard, it risked "dead" patches, while a port
approach in good breeze could meet the line of starboard boats not
offering any space.
The club aimed to set a mix of windward-leeward and trapezoid
courses---in the curtailed event, only one trapezoid ran (suiting Catapult)
adding to the tactical challenges threading the short
windward-leeward course with cats tacking upwind and down.
(Below: the fleet comes out
in the light Saturday breeze, and then drifts as the wind dies.)

In Race 1
Paul Ellis took the starboard pin end from Alastair
Forrest,
and moved out ahead, pointing high and building a good lead with his
upwind speed in the next laps. Alastair removed himself from the
chasing pack by tipping the first distance mark with his boom. As with the whole
event, the fleet kept close-enough contact to keep the tension up. Gareth Ede pulled through the fleet to push Paul back to
third, and then battle for the lead until John Terry held on to record his first win. In the
chasing fleet, Cliff Antill kept steady pressure pulling
up to fourth.
For Race 2
the OOD set the trapezoid course
suiting Catapult, with the wind increasing slightly and becoming more
shifty with a bias towards the left. John picked the shift, and having
seen that the fleet held back on the first race start, did a port tack
flyer, hitting the pin end just 10
seconds before the gun with a gust to lift him, and flying across the
starboard fleet. Tacking about half way up
the course onto starboard and then using the gusts to get lifted to the
windward mark he rounded well ahead of the fleet.
In the next group chasing him, Chris Phillips watched Alastair's
rig swing wildly as a forestay snap shackle undid. He staggered to the
next mark until the rig came over backwards. (See p.s. below)
As the race progressed John touched the spreader mark with his boom and
had to do his turns. The race course became more congested as the local club racing course
crossed the catamaran visitors' course. Gareth made best use of the winds by trapezing in
the marginal conditions, coming up through the fleet, and getting good
downwind gains on John, to pass and win. Paul was
close behind John and was about to overtake on the last downwind leg as
a gust filled in but John held on the to leeward make and reached across
the finish line just ahead. George Evans was pushing hard behind for
fourth, with Justin Evans taking 5th.
(Below: tight fleets
at the leeward mark:
in the Catapults, Cliff (foreground) rounds below Paul, with
John behind, and Gareth about to round.)

By Race 3
the swinging breeze was up enough to let John
and Paul join Gareth with some trapezing. The course was back to
windward-leeward, the mingling fleets cooperating in rapid
port-starboard decisions passing upwind and down. John's dive at the
start past Alastair took the starboard end of the line, to set him up to
build a good lead upwind, but Gareth again pulled through the fleet to
fight it out.
George sorted out his mast rotation to get better speed, to pull in third
ahead of Paul. Further back, Justin Evans gained increasing downwind
speed, pushing more draft in with batten tension.
Leading John at the
final windward turn, Gareth was the victim of doubtful claims for
right-of-way from other fleets, and was pushed onto the mark, his sporting 360' letting
John away for the win, and for the TT event win. John and Gareth took
2nd and 3rd in the Open fleet, behind a single-handed Dart 18.
(Below: George
Evans crosses the finish, for fourth in the Catapult TT, amongst the Dart
16s.)

RESULTS
Helm
Race places
Event points
1 John Terry 1 2 1 4
2 Gareth
Ede
2 1
2 5
3 Paul Ellis
3 3 4 10
4 George Evans
6 4 3 13
5 Cliff Antill 4 7 5 16
6 Justin Evans
7 5 6 15
7
Chris Phillips
8 6 8 22
8 Alastair Forrest
5 11 7 23
9 Nigel Harrison
9 8 9 26
10 Steve Fenner 11 11 10 32
(Below, left: Gareth (91) chases John (522) as John starts to gybe
in close quarter racing downwind.)
(Below, right: John Terry accepts the second place prize in the Open
fleet, winning the Catapult TT event.)
(p.s:
Looking back afterwards, Alastair realised he could
have handled the loose forestay differently, by heading dead downwind
with the rig pushed forward and still upright, to then beach on the lee shore, and leap
ashore to
re-attach. Easy to see later!)
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