Unpleasant Conditions For Second Race In Spring Series

Fifteen dinghies took part in Gunfleet Sailing Club’s second race in its Spring Series last Sunday 13 April.  To those on shore the blue skies and unbroken sunshine made it look idyllic out on the water but with a wind that gusted from force 2 to 4, and also veered from west/north-west to south-west, it proved quite unpleasant conditions for the actual sailors.  As the clock ticked nearer and nearer to the start it became evident that the fluky winds and strong ebb tide were going to catch-out several of the competitors, many struggling to get to the line on time.  In-fact several minutes elapsed, once the starting horn had sounded, before all the boats were on their way to the St. Michael’s buoy, beating down the coast.  The dilemma for the crews was whether to stay close to shore to mitigate the adverse effects of the tide, but be in the lee of the cliffs, or to head further out to sea where the wind flowed more freely but the tide would have a greater detrimental impact; in fact, with the constant wind shifts there was no right or wrong and it became a real free for all.  First casualty was Robert Gutteridge, when he suffered gear failure in his Laser, and he limped back to shore with the aid of the Club Rescue Boat.  Once round the first mark the boats headed out to the Seaward buoy on a very broad reach/come run, and about three-quarters way out two of the Lasers capsized in unison as a strong gust blew through from a new direction.  One of them, Yvonne Gough, had trouble righting her Laser and accepted assistance from the Rescue Boat crew, forcing her to retire from the race.  Gybing round the offshore mark proved trouble-free before blasting in to the AWS buoy and back out to Seaward, but this second gybe saw Derroll Pedder almost lose it in his Solution.  There then followed a reach to the Kingscliff buoy before a beat back to the line.  The second lap proved no-more pleasant for the competitors than the first, with some more capsizes on route, but eventually resulted in Ken Potts taking the winning gun in his RS 600.