FRED WOODLEY

    Stuart Ede (Chairman) "The Association has lost another stalwart with the sad death of Fred Woodley who had been bravely fighting leukaemia and prostate cancer for several years, but still competing on the Catapult circuit, even coming 4^th in his last TT series in 2006

  The Association was well represented at his funeral as true friends of Fred and his widow Eve. His effervescent good humour and genuine warmth had earned him the friendship of so many who sailed with him. As a tribute, the Association had made a donation to his family’s chosen charity, the hospice which cared for Fred in his final days."  (Tribute to Fred here)

  2011 and 2012  SAILING SEASONS (Stuart)

   Nigel Harrison’s Doodle capture of member’s intentions at the beginning of the season has proved a very useful planning aid that encouraged others to join in. Overall attendance is being maintained. Southern venues were less popular in 2011 and inland venues favoured over sea venues.

  Carsington now ranks alongside Bala and Bassenthwaite at the top of the popularity stakes. Bassenthwaite has been provisionally booked for the May Day Bank Holiday weekend. (see 2012 Programme here )

 The Rutland Open Meeting was reported by those attending as being very good, with a friendly welcome and courses largely suiting Catapults. (The Rutland Cat open falls too close to the Catapult event at Bassenthwaite.)

 Bewl had had an attendance of 5, not bad for an early season event, especially as there are so few southern events that attract sufficient numbers. It was a good inland starting event, although travelling any distance to a single-day event put members off. (The lake can be cruised the day prior to the TT racing.) All these will be included for 2012.

  Grafham will be investigated further  as a central alternative in summer The October event, as part of Grafham Cat Open would be retained as a final event in the year

  At Calshot the club has said they would welcome us again in future, and the three who went enjoyed the experience. Derwent Reservoir in County Durham was not pursued for 2011, because it would have meant too many far northern events Possible central sea sites are on the east coast,  such as Hunstanton and Snettlesham but the eastern coastal sites may be markedly affected by tides, with wide mud flats away from high water.

  Looking at the current membership, it is concentrated in the North, Wales and the SE. Most clubs have racing on Sundays only. One possibility was that of linking to another travelling event in another class, where the club was already prepared. Stuart agreed to look further into this.

 CATAPULT SAILS AND SPARES  (John Peperell, Secretary)

  Sails: There were now 3 Hyde sails being used by members and all three were very happy. At Calshot John reported good boat speed and high pointing ability. Another good point is the ease of sail hoisting.

  Hydes introduced the sail at a very competitive price, but there was a compromise in the batten specification. A set of Blue Streak stiff taper battens (£90 approx. from Contender UK 01329 849036) should be  right for the sail, and the screw batten tensioning adjusts batten tension to suit conditions.

  Hyde’s Richard Lovering heads their technical design team and has a copy of Jon Montgomery’s ‘RH’ sail drawing, to get the area close to the full 10 sqm.  Hyde’s current price for the sail ex-Southampton is £500 plus VAT (tel: 0800 389 9254).

 Used Catapult values and sales  4 Catapults were on the Website for-sale list (3 TI and a Comet) and at least two boats had been sold from the site in the year.
 
              Classic, Comet, Cannon for spares and cruising         up to £300
              TI’s for upgrade & cruising                                     up to £1000
              Round Heads in good condition and with race spec     up to £1800

  Parts status   Our stock of bare extrusions remains as last year:

                  4  lower masts (soft)
              10  upper masts (hard)
               6  cross beams
               4  main beams

  In discussion hard lower masts were needed to bring boats to full racing specification Some 100 had been produced, so they should come onto the market with secondhand boats It was agreed to write to known previous members to invite selling spares, and to highlight  this on the website Home Page.

  Hull Tubes Henshaws have Hypalon tubes at £440 + VAT each, and aanother firm is interested in making Catapult hull tubes – South Eastern Marine Services Ltd, Basildon, Essex. Tel: 01268 534427, www.aerosafe.co.uk (proposed price not yet known)

 Bow Boards are available from a stock of 20 plus (grey) to members at £70 each.

 CCA Web inquiries Most of these were from the UK rather than overseas, and about spares

 ACCOUNTS, SUBSCRIPTION and PRIZES (Paul Ellis, Treasurer)

  Accounts for the Year to December 2010 showed that the balance of income and expenditure had turned out to be very close.

  Membership fee for 2012   it was agreed this would remain unchanged at £20. This meant that the fee had been unchanged since 2004 (and before that there had not had an increase for 10 years)

  Prizes The prize levy at each event pays for the event prizes, and any surplus from the larger events goes towards the TT Series and Nationals trophies. The number of prizes awarded at each event were revised as follows:

         6 or more competing:       3 prizes
         5 competing                   2 prizes
         4 or 3 competing             1 prize

  ELECTION OF ASSOCIATION OFFICERS 

   Secretary.  Stuart noted that John Peperell had served as Secretary for around 25 years and paid tribute to John’s excellent work, which was unanimously supported by the members present. He was pleased to say that Nigel Harrison had agreed to take on the responsibility John would continue as Technical Officer, as a first point of contact on technical issues, and for information on sales and spares. (See presentation to John on Home Page)

 Chairman   Stuart was unaminiously supported in continuing as Chairman.

 Treasurer.  Stuart warmly welcomed Paul Ellis’s confirmation of his willingness to continue in this role

 Committee Members Alastair Forrest and Dave Jennings had both indicated their willingness to stay on the Committee In addition George Evans was nominated as a new member. These were unanimously supported.
   (See also introduction to the Association and committee introduction)

 COMMUNICATIONS  

  Email list Nigel holds an email list of all boat owners (including non-members) for general announcements and news. (The sailing programme details go to members only)

  The website continues to broaden its coverage. It is simple to add paragraphs and pictures to the existing pages, and Alastair would welcome contributions and photos. The site is high on Google ranking. In particular, it is usually the top-listed site when Googling “catamaran cruising UK” so accounts and photos of cruises and holiday trips would be welcome. He hoped to complete sections on assembling and on tuning the boat.

 
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