Catapult Travellers Trophy Series at the Bala Sailing Club Multihull Open 2025

George Evans and Gareth Ede hurtle towards the leeward mark in Race 3 - Bala Multihull Open 2025 © John Hunter

Gareth Ede, sailing his Catapult, was the clear winner of the 2025 Bala Multihull Open AND his class's TT event, showing his prowess in both high winds and light airs.

Race 1

The remnants of the preceding day's gale were still being felt for the opening races of the Bala Multihull Open, and more than a third of the entrants stayed ashore while the hardier souls, including three Catapult helms, launched into a Force 5 gusting 6. The Catapult helms were Gareth Ede, George Evans and Stuart Ede, who opted for his small sail. As for the whole event, the race was sailed over a windward-leeward course.

Gareth was first off the line alongside a Dart 18. His well honed trapezing technique meant he soon drew away from George and Stuart upwind and rounded the windward mark with a sizeable lead, which he built to two and a half minutes by the finish. Stuart who had trailed behind, because he had returned to the start thinking an individual recall was for him (it wasn't), subsequently retired when after the race his son pointed out that he had inadvertently left his buoyancy aid ashore (less than ideal in those conditions!).

Race 2

Again Gareth steadily drew away upwind, and the race soon became rather processional as he built his lead over George to a whopping four minutes by the finish with Stuart another two minutes back.

Bala Multihull Open 2025 - photo © John Hunter

Race 3

Gareth got off the line in the front tier and led for the first part of the beat. To avoid another procession George tacked right quite early, which worked admirably in closing the gap on Gareth. When Gareth couldn't lay the windward mark and had to throw in a couple of extra tacks, both of which he struggled with in the strong wind, George was able to sail over him and round the windward mark some 50 metres ahead, a lead he held to the leeward mark. Normal service resumed on the second lap as Gareth reasserted himself upwind to build a lead of nearly five minutes by the finish.

Meanwhile on the beat of the final lap Stuart spotted a significant shift in what had been a quite steady wind direction. He tacked on the shift and stole a march on George, rounding the windward mark several boat lengths ahead. George attacked downwind, and with the benefit of his larger sail area, plus a slight easing of the wind, he drew level, but the wind soon piped again, and Stuart was able to regain his slender lead by the leeward mark. Stuart tacked onto starboard as soon as he thought he could lay the Committee Boat end of the line, which forced George to tack as well.

However Stuart had misjudged the lay line and had to throw in a couple of extra tacks close to the line, one of which he stalled in a gust, causing a moment of anxiety before he finally got the boat across to take the gun for second place.

Race 4

There was a major contrast on Sunday which dawned with shifty light airs that ranged from Force 1 to Force 2. This time the full fleet of seven Catapults took to the water including Bala SC Commodore Rob Sloggett, John Terry, Chris Upton and Paul Ellis who was rejoining the fleet after a four year absence. Unfortunately the wind direction was problematic blowing diagonally across the lake. To maximise the length of the course the start line and windward mark had to be set close to opposite shores, which made them vulnerable to shifts and lulls.

Confusion over the flags marking the start line and gate led to a number of boats getting a slow start, but Gareth and John had sussed out the error and got a cracking start that gave them a good couple of hundred yards lead from the off. The rest of the fleet closed the gap a bit as the wind filled in from behind on the downwind leg, but a major lull hit the chasing pack causing a pile-up at the gate, while Gareth and John pulled away again. Gareth steadily drew further ahead of John up the beat so that by the finish he had a good two minute lead.

The fluky conditions around the windward mark separated the sheep from the goats, and George managed to break away to bag third place. Stuart and Paul were neck-a-neck approaching the final leeward mark, but Stuart had the inside berth that enabled him to hold off Paul's challenge and cross just three seconds ahead to take fourth.

Paul Ellis chases Stuart Ede as they head for the line in Race 4 - Bala Multihull Open 2025 - photo © John Hunter

Race 5

Soon after the start Gareth and John managed to tack onto port and pick their way through the wall of other multihulls to sail up the southern shore of the lake. This proved to be a good strategy, as they soon had a good lead, whereas the Catapults who had been forced to stay on starboard ended up in the centre of the lake where the pressure proved to be marginally less. As they approached the lay line for the windward mark, Gareth broke away when he found a bit more pressure, but when he neared the mark he was headed and hit a lull, forcing him to throw in a couple of extra tacks.

John, who had overstood the mark hoping to absorb the wind bend and avoid the same fate, thought he had Gareth in his sights, but it wasn't enough, and he, too, had to throw in some extra tacks. Having spotted Gareth's and John's difficulties Stuart overstood the lay line by an even larger margin enabling him to make the mark in one and take the inside berth. To compound John's problems he had to sail around the outside of a Spitfire. The Spitfire was then pushed towards him as a wind shift caught its newly hoisted spinnaker, which forced John - despite being right of way boat - to take avoiding action. This enabled Stuart to slip past. Paul and Chris copied Stuart's line and rounded close behind.

Instead of heading direct to the leeward mark these two sailed out into the centre of the lake where they found more pressure and were able to move into second and third slots behind Gareth.

On the second beat Paul and Chris copied Gareth's tactics by sailing up the south shore. However, Gareth was long gone and took his fifth win with a three minute margin. Meanwhile George had caught up with John, and these two vied with one another close on Stuart's heels. Stuart held on to finish fourth half a minute ahead of George, while John just failed by 5 seconds to pip George.

Race 6

Paul managed to round the windward mark in the lead, while several chasing boats again struggled to round in the shifty and light conditions. He held onto his lead round the next lap, but the pack had closed the gap substantially by the start of the final run. John moved up into second place by sailing out to the left where he had spotted more pressure. As the fleet converged on the leeward mark John was only a few boat lengths behind Paul, with Gareth and George snapping at his heels, plus Stuart a few more boat lengths back.

The leading four almost ground to a halt as a hole formed around the finishing gate, and they were forced to throw in some extra tacks to get across the line. Paul crept over the line to take first place from John and Gareth in that order. Meanwhile Stuart had seen the pile up and decided to tack left and come into the line on port, which was risky, but enabled him to gain more speed. The tactic worked as he snatched fourth place from George.

Bala Multihull Open 2025 - photo © John Hunter

Multihull Open results

With two first places and three third places to count, Gareth Ede was the clear winner of the Bala Multihull Open, a full nine points ahead of his nearest rival Scott Wilcoxx from Stewartby sailing a Dart 15 Sport, with the Tresaith pairing of Alan Gregory and Dimitri Antonio on a Dart 18 another two points back. George Evans and Stuart Ede also flew the flag for the Catapult fleet by taking fourth and fifth places, respectively.

Jon Montgomery Travellers Trophy Series

Gareth Ede added yet another Catapult TT win to his so far unbroken record this season with five first places out of six races. Having ventured out in the high winds of Saturday virtually guaranteed second place for George Evans and third for Stuart Ede. Paul Ellis made a welcome comeback after four years away, and showed he had lost little of his skill by adding a first and second place to his scoreline on Day Two.

Overall Results:

Alastair Forrest Personal Handicap Series

The Catapult Class Association runs a personal handicap series in parallel with the TT Series, working off the same set of results. George Evans won on handicap two points ahead of Stuart Ede, while Gareth Ede managed third despite his punishing rating. Chris Upton came fourth with two race wins to his credit. George's win maintains his position at the top of the Handicap Series leader board, tightening his grip on the Magenta Pennant.

Personal Handicap Results:

Bala Multihull Open 2025 - photo © John Hunter