Race 1 offered the Catapults a triangle course before following the slower club boats
in the race to Ashlett Creek. The three Catapults got away on starboard
equally, but on the next long port beat to the mark, Paul Ellis and John
Peperall climbed to windward of Alastair Forrest, who was well back at the turn. On the
third leg, with the long reach to Henry VIII's fort on the spit and the turn into Southampton Water, John
found a burst of speed over Paul to lead, but took the turn wide allowing
Paul back, to lead to the finish. Meanwhile Alastair gradually gained on
the broad reaches (perhaps helped by steadying the rig in the chop by
hanging on the trapeze wire) but John came up from leeward to ensure
second
The beat up the creek to lunch had the challenges of finding the narrow channel
and removing weed, to finally pull the boats up in the picturesque
setting of the old waterside pub and the big tide mill in the little
ancient port
(photo here)
 |
For
Race 2, the on-the-water start at the creek
entrance was disrupted as the wind died and shifted,
making a heavy starboard bias.
Only Paul was near the line and he led off on a long starboard board with Alastair behind. John
came up steadily, passing Alastair to windward and closing on Paul. The
boats kept closely matched speeds and courses, but Paul pulled gradually
away. Alastair then closed on John but was chagrined to learn later that this
was after John relaxed and lost concentration. Paul completed a triangle for the
win.
(Left: Paul eases up to the Race 2 start on port before
the shift, to lead a 2-mile stretch on one tack, and take Race
2)
(Photo Calshot SC Rescue rib.)
On Sunday, overcast skies brought a fresher
SW breeze of 7-10 knots to give some more power to manage the
wave conditions. The shore-based starts left a marked port bias
to the start line.
In Race 3, Alastair and Paul were away together, staying close. Alastair
hung on to a small lead round the first triangle and windward-leeward
laps, and on the third beat a port-starboard incident put Paul into a
360', and apparent disadvantage. However, he came storming back to take the lead by the
windward mark, holding this
round the final windward-leeward lap for victory.
Meanwhile John could not recover from his start (stalling well away from
the line attempting a narrow starboard port-end start)
although he gained gradually on the front two through the race. |
For
Race 4, around triangles, Alastair squeezed past the port-end mark on the gun, but
this nerve-racking beginning was not needed, as the others were well
away from the line and then had to come through the slower fleet on a
beat which gave few options.
Alastair extended the lead to the finish
over the three laps. John and Paul stayed close together until Paul
nicked a mark and then had a shroud uncleat, never regaining boat speed
as John stretched out for second.
(Below: Alastair runs down ahead while John leads Paul beating
up.)
(Photo CSC
Rescue rib.)
