The penultimate sailing event in the Catapult
calendar, at Carsington Water in the White Peak district of
Derbyshire, took place over the weekend of 26 and 27
September. Our TT formed part of the Carsington Cat Open.
An Indian Summer weekend with sun forecast,
and the beautiful race setting
brought a ten-entry fleet (giving
Catapults their own start, with the traditional large Dart 15
attendance, and an Open fleet.)
(Click for Race Report)

The
Unofficial Carsington report
from Nigel Harrison
Only ten Catapults arrived at sunny Carsington this weekend.Paul had broken down on the way to the race and never made it
Otherwise it should have been eleven
The weather was like the Greek
Islands as we assembled our boats on the chalky beach
Jo and Cliff had parked up their supa
motor home and placed the deckchairs for the spectators
Later I spotted Barbara, Jo
and Sue drinking cocktails there
Thank you to Dave, Happy John
and Cliff for helping me with my difficult hulls
Gareth and Stuart were final tuning
their boats in an enclosed Team Ede pit area
Dave and Neal were serene
having arrived the night before and assembled their boats.
Alastair was carefully reading the sailing instruction for
any loop hole in the laws
Right:
Dave Jennings and Neil Graneau contest Race 3
(Photos: Pauline Love) |

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11 O'clock and it was time for briefing
Justin and Chris arrived with boats still on their cars
How would they make the start in 30minutes?
They wouldn't
Even though we only had 10 boats
We had earned our own start
The hooter went and I suffered my usual bad start
Followed by more mistakes
I finished the race and eventually retired to come last
Just in time to see Justin join the fleet for a practice lap
After lunch I had hope for better things.Chris joined us
with his new competitive rig
I think I saw him lying second at one point
Left:
Gareth Ede sets out past the Darts to hunt down Stuart Ede,
and the series title)
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In the second race Alastair taught me what no barging rights mean
(So that was what he was reading up)
The argy bargy cost me a competitive start and then
I
lost my mast on the first mark.
From the very back of the fleet I did see Justin coming the other
way
He gave me a V sign to signify he was lying second
"Well done" I sportingly shouted
Waiting for the third race I noticed half the Dart fleet start on
the Port side of the line
Stuart had taught me about looking for a Port bias in the line
With 2 minutes 37 seconds to go I traversed the line to the port
mark closely followed by Stuart, Cliff and Neal
(Right:
Dave leads Nigel and Cliff at the top mark.)
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Stuart made the best start and after a lap or two I was lying second
Flicked the V sign at Justin but he was too far back to see me.Cliff, Neal and I swapped position on every mark
Gareth and Alastair overtook from nowhere
I eventually finished fourth
Having made few mistakes, hit no-one and sailed the proper course
Very proud on myself A great days sailing Wish you could have
been there
I unfortunately had to miss the dinner (Thank you Jo for organising
it) and Sunday's sailing (I had to take my daughter to University)
What a great weekend - only one more race to go
(more Carsington photos: click here)
The Races
The predicted light wind filled in from the NW, 2-3, swinging
through both days as far as NNW. Fluctuating wind strength, added to
the challenge of threading through the Dart fleet (starting ten
minutes ahead on the same course) gave an absorbing tactical as well
as boat-speed battle.
In close racing, seven minutes covered the whole fleet in some races
(and in Race 2, thirty-three seconds covered 5 finishers)
The Club set a port 4-point trapezoid course suiting everyone over
the 5 races of the series.

In
Race 1, Alastair Forrest capitalised
a good start to lead round the windward
mark, closely chased by Stuart Ede, but Gareth Ede pulling up had
caught them by the end of the lap, and he went on to hold the lead
under pressure. These three built a solid lead, Stuart and Alastair
exchanging second until Stuart led home by a few lengths
In the chasing pack, Neil Graneau and John Peperall exchanged places
until Neil defended fourth.
Gareth stormed away from the
Race 2 start and kept
unchallenged boat speed to record his second win.
Justin Evans climbed up the second beat to capture second from
Stuart holding him off for a lap until Stuart confirmed another
second place, getting away from the fleet. Chris Phillips made a
sudden gain to record third, and Neil Graneau came steadily up
through the fleet for fourth
For the next back-to-back
Race 3, a big pre-start
shift made only a start on port possible, stranding half of the
fleet at the starboard end of the long line.
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(Above right: Cliff concentrating on
closing Alastair out of the mark, the race and the photo)
Stuart Alastair and Neil were away well, and Stuart’s long board up
the right, and tacking on the shifts stretched him out ahead. Gareth
came gradually up from the back to lie second after the second beat
but could not finally catch Stuart for first.
The rest of the fleet battled out the places back and forth, until
Alastair on the final downwind legs moved just ahead of a mass of
Darts and Catapults to get away for third, and Nigel Harrison
emerged from the resulting pile-up for fourth. Thirty-three seconds
covered 5 boats.
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Sunday brought cloud cover over
the same shifting NW---NNW breeze, and the same tactical
challenge of playing the shifts over short laps. Nigel
Harrison resigned to spend more time with his family, but a
good fleet came to the two back to back races.
For Race 4 Gareth’s well-timed start
got him away at speed, to stretch out ahead again. Alastair
and Stuart went right to build on a good start and were
disappointed, but Stuart again played the shifts well to
gain and hold second.
Meanwhile Dave Jennings pulled out
from the rest, maintaining a storming race in third, never
challenged, and Cliff Antill held a similarly comfortable
fourth.
Another big shift gave a big port bias
to the final Race 5, with Gareth away well from the port
starters, while a tangle on the start line let the starboard
starters catch up. In the battle back and forth for places,
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(Above: Stuart and Alastair get an
ideal port end start, Race 3)
John Peperall had good boat speed upwind to hold second until Cliff
came through to take and hold it. Gareth was first through the Dart
pack, and clear air helped him stretch away
Stuart
steadily overcame setbacks to come through the fleet to catch Cliff
at the windward mark, and duel downwind. In the shifting air of the
final short beat, Cliff crossed a few seconds ahead. Alastair after
exchanging places all round the course with Neil and John had enough
on the final legs for fourth.
Final Results
1 Gareth
Ede
(Filey
SC)
4 points
2
Stuart Ede
(Filey SC)
7
3
Alastair Forrest
(CCA)
16
4
Cliff Antill
(CCA)
18
5
Neil Graneau
(CCA)
18
6
Dave Jennings
(Aquarius
SC)
25
7
John Peperall
(CCA)
27
8
Justin Evans
(CCA)
29
9
Chris Phillips
(CCA) 31
10
Nigel Harrison
(CCA) 31
(Right: John Pep mixes it with the
Darts)
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