2022 Catapult TT at  Carsington SC

For the fleet's first outing of the 2022 season there were testing conditions on Day 1. A Force 4 with squalls, and occasional unexpected lulls, put off a couple of sailors, so only 5 started the M shaped course with lots of exciting close reaches. The Race Officer kindly fitted in an extra race over the two scheduled ones in case Day 2's forecast of light airs meant that a full complement could not be run.

John Terry was first to the windward mark of Race 1 followed by Gareth Ede, George Evans and Stuart Ede. However he headed for the wrong wing mark allowing Gareth to take the lead. Mike Gough had a muddled start and had to play catch up, which he did in style. By Lap 2 he caught Stuart and by Lap 3 he caught George. Meanwhile Gareth was drawing ahead of John who in turn had lengthened his lead over the chasing pack. Stuart overtook George on one of the reaches of the last lap to narrowly pip him to 4^th place.

John was first to the windward mark of Race 2 closely followed by Gareth, George and Mike. Gareth used his superior downwind performance to take the lead from John and thereafter stretched his lead considerably. On the penultimate lap Stuart got past Mike on one of the exciting reaches. On the final lap Stuart went right up the beat, and this paid off as he got past George to take 3^rd behind Gareth and John.

Stuart had to abort a port tack start to Race 3 leaving him at the back of the pack. Gareth was first to the windward mark, but the rest of the fleet was hard on his heels. John continued to hassle Gareth all the way round while the two of them increased their lead over the others. George went left up the second beat while Stuart and Mike hoped that going right would work for them again. Alas, a header put paid to those hopes leaving George with a healthy margin to hold onto 3rd place. Mike had dropped back quite a way on the beat, but he was closing the gap on Stuart as they approached the finish. However it was not enough to deprive Stuart of 4^th place.

In defiance of the forecast Day 2 offered a sunny Force 2, so the remaining two races could be run. The fleet headed left up the beat with Gareth leading the pack. Over the next two laps he developed a commanding lead, as John also stretched his lead over the rest of the fleet. On the beat of Lap 2 George used his superior pointing ability to climb away from Stuart cementing his 3^rd place behind Gareth and John.

A shift in wind direction prompted a change of course that appeared to favour going right up the beat. That plus a mild port bias to the start line tempted John and Stuart to attempt a port tack start. However, they both mistimed their approaches and had to duck Gareth and George. They persevered up the right for a while until John decided to tack over. That proved to be the right call, as Stuart found himself badly headed when he tacked onto what should have been the layline. John rounded the windward mark close on Gareth's heels, and they stayed locked in close combat round the rest of the course. At the last windward mark Gareth got in a bit of a tangle with a Phantom allowing John to sneak ahead. He kept a nose in front all the way down the last run, but Gareth rounded tight on the last mark and sneaked between John and the Committee Boat. While George was safe in 3^rd place,  Syd Gage was challenging Stuart for 4^th, and Stuart didn't help himself by stalling his boat by rounding up too much after the gybe mark. However, he held on over the next three legs to claim 4^th place.

            Level rating results

So Gareth got a flying start to his season with five 1^st places, and at the next event he will be flying both the Blue Pennant and the Yellow Pennant as series leader. However, he can't afford to be complacent, as John racked up five 2^nd places (4 to count in each case).

Despite carrying a punishing rating several of the very substantial leads that Gareth built up enabled him to claim 2^nd place on personal handicap ahead of his Dad who counted two wins. However, George's three wins meant he was awarded the Lilac Pennant as event winner on handicap and the Magenta Pennant as Handicap Series leader.

Gareth receiving the well deserved Leader's and Event Winner's Pennants

RESULTS

Personal Handicap results

Level rating results

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