Catapult class Jon Montgomery Travellers Trophy at Bassenthwaite Sailing Club

Chris Crawley (right), Gareth Ede (left) and John Terry (behind the lens) getting ready for the start - Catapult class Jon Montgomery Travellers Trophy at Bassenthwaite © John Terry

Over the May Day Bank Holiday weekend Bassenthwaite SC gave its usual warm welcome to the Catapult fleet at what has become an annual fixture in their programme. Gareth Ede continued his string of firsts to win convincingly, while John Terry fought gamely to break Gareth's hold on the top spot.

Race 1

On the Saturday Races 1 and 2 were sailed in a very shifty and variable strength breeze which tested the sailors' skills in reading the gusts and choosing the right way up the beat.

Gareth was first to the windward mark followed by John and George Evans. Over the next lap he increased his lead sufficiently to be able to round the windward mark just ahead of a major lull that left John and George wallowing. However, Gareth himself sailed into a hole on the downwind leg enabling the fleet to catch up and press him hard. He managed to hold on over the next lap, though, taking the gun ahead of John, George, Chris Crawley, Chris Upton and Damien Cooney in that order.

Interestingly, when calculating the places for the Personal Handicap results this order was almost exactly turned on its head with Damien claiming first place on handicap.

Race 2

John won the start and led for the first lap and much of the second ahead of George and Gareth. However, Gareth overhauled George downwind and set off in pursuit of John who then suffered a couple of setbacks. As he approached the gybe mark he was first blanketed by a spinnaker boat and then thwarted by a dinghy rounding the mark. John's woes enabled Gareth to get past and take the gun by a few boat lengths.

George and Chris C followed John to take third and fourth places. Chris was sufficiently close to the leaders to be the winner on personal handicap.

Race 3

Sunday brought some more wind, but it was still shifty because of the wind direction. John was again first off the line with Chris Upton hard on his heels. Gareth and George soon got past Chris and set off after John. Gareth tacked early for the windward mark and benefited from a lift that took him into the lead at the mark. Behind him the order was John, George, Chris U and Chris C.

On the downwind legs Gareth extended his lead while George overtook John. John fought back on the intermediate beat to regain the second slot, and Chris C pipped his namesake to the mark to move into fourth slot. On the last lap Gareth went right up the main beat while the rest of the fleet went left. This proved the right decision as this tactic gave him a 150m lead over John with the rest of the fleet stretched out behind.

On the intermediate beat Gareth again went right, but this time he hit a lull, and John got a lift to round the mark hard on Gareth's tail. John drew level on the last downwind leg, but Gareth managed to fend off the challenge to take the gun with just 30 seconds to spare.

On personal handicap the race went to Chris Upton.

John Terry (behind the lens) chases Gareth Ede - Catapult class Jon Montgomery Travellers Trophy at Bassenthwaite - photo © John Terry

Race 4

Gareth was first to the windward mark with George 10 boat lengths behind and John another 15 boat lengths further back. On the intermediate beat John overtook George, but downwind Gareth had been building his lead, first on the run and then on a very fast reach as he benefited from a strong gust, so that by the end of the lap he was a minute ahead.

On the main beat of the next lap John dropped back so that George was now threatening, but over the rest of the lap John drew away again to finish a minute ahead of George but two minutes behind Gareth.

Race 5

John and Gareth were neck-a-neck as they crossed the start line with Chris C, George and Chris U close behind. As they tacked to the right Gareth had the wind gauge over John, and he used this to be first at the windward mark with the rest of the fleet in close company. At a subsequent mark a moment of inattention led John to wrap himself round the mark, and the subsequent penalty turn put him at the back.

On the intermediate beat George dropped back allowing John and Chris C to overtake and round the mark together. Meanwhile Gareth was getting away, flying a hull on the broad reach to the next mark. On the main beat of Lap 2 George caught Chris C to move into third place, and then on the run he overtook John, so he was now lying second. By Lap 3 the order seemed set, with Gareth a minute ahead and George in second, but John caught a gust to reach past George, and he held his narrow lead to claim second at the finish.

Chris C meanwhile clocked up his second win on personal handicap.

Race 6

A fleet already depleted by injury and illness had lost two more sailors by Monday morning leaving just four helms to compete in the last race. John got off the start line first. The wind was quite shifty up the beat. Gareth tacked on the shifts, and this paid off as he reached the windward mark first ahead of John. George and Chris C had a tussle for third and fourth place with George ultimately holding onto third.

Gareth built his lead over John on the next two laps and the remaining boats stretched out behind as the wind became more patchy.

Jon Montgomery Travellers Trophy results

With six wins out of six races Gareth Ede was the clear winner of the event and reinforces his position at the top of the TT Series leader board. So he will be flying both the Yellow Pennant as series leader and the Blue Pennant for this event win.

The results for second and third places were equally clear with a string of seconds for John Terry and a third in every race for George Evans.

Alastair Forrest Personal Handicap Series

To encourage competition throughout the fleet the Catapult Class Association also runs a handicap series applying personal ratings to the results or each event.

Although Chris Crawley ran him close with two wins, George Evans triumphed to consolidate his position at the top of the handicap leader board and hold onto the Magenta Pennant as well as the Lilac Pennant for his event win.