Jono Turns Up The Heat In The Summer Series

Gunfleet Sailing Club’s Summer Series started, on Wednesday 8 July 2026, in a pleasant east/south easterly evening breeze which took away the extreme heat of earlier in the day.

After a clean start it was a fetch up the coast, with the ebb tide assisting, to the Kingscliff buoy but with the RS Aeros of Tim Dye and Ken Potts arriving at the same time as Jono Dunnett in his Laser, it was a real bunched affair as they rounded the mark and then headed downwind to the Lilley Farm buoy.  It was during this leg that Dye managed to pull away but the other two refused to let go.  For Brian Allen  it was a less happy time as he capsized his RS Aero, righted it, and then death-rolled it; watching the other competitors sail past as he sorted himself out.  There then followed a beat out to the Seaward mark and this was the chance for Potts to try and overtake Dye, whilst slightly further back there was a battle between Paul Stanton in his Laser and Dave Ingle in his RS Aero.  Potts tacked early for the buoy, whilst Dye headed further out and, once he tacked, bore away, giving him an impressive speed as he rounded the mark for the reach into the Preston Park buoy.  The penultimate leg was a run to Eastcliff before a fetch to the line.  At the end of the first lap it was Dye leading on the water, followed by Potts some 15 seconds later and then Dunnett who was 24 seconds behind but, on handicap, it was Dunnett in top spot.  The second lap saw Dunnett put in an early tack when heading out to Seaward but this did him no favours and he promptly slipped back a little.  A determined Potts would not let off in his doggedness to overtake Dye but at the end of the day remained exactly 15 seconds behind; Dunnett now 1 minute after Dye but still managing to claim victory on handicap.

Summer Series 1:
1.    Laser – Jono Dunnett
2.    RS Aero – Tim Dye
3.    RS Aero – Ken Potts

Unfortunately the elements were less kind, on Sunday 12 July 2026, when members came to the Club to take part in the long-distance race for the Jim Suckling Trophy.  A few ventured onto the water but with a force 6 north/north-easterly wind against tide blowing, and large seas, the Officer of the Day hoisted the cancelled flag with the race to be re-run later in the season.