Early Morning Race Success

Members of Gunfleet Sailing Club were up with the lark on Sunday 19 June in order to be on the water in time for the second and final race in the early morning Egg and Bacon Series.  A mix of sunshine and grey cloud welcomed the competitors; coupled with a westerly force four wind, gusting to five.  Matthew Gough got a cracking start in his Laser and the fleet beat out to sea to gain the strength of the making tide as they headed down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy.  It was no surprise that the RS600 of Kelvin Morton was around the mark first and flying along on a very broad reach to the Seaward buoy, but the others were never that far behind.  There then followed a gybe that caught one or two out; first to capsize being Cadets Ben and Oli Withams in their Laser 3000, but within moments they had the boat upright and were careering towards the Kingscliff mark at a very impressive speed.  It was then back out to Seaward, down once more to Kingscliff, and then a beat back through the line.  Once again the gybe mark caught a few more out, including Morton, who then started to make a habit at this point on each lap of chucking himself in.  On the second lap Yvonne Gough had problems with her kicker at the Eastcliff buoy and promptly went over, but she got the craft upright, made a temporary repair, and carried on; only to capsize once again at the gybe mark.  Mark Venables was also caught out at this point and struggled to get his Solution back up, but at a final ditch attempt he made it and went on to finish the race.  Making it look very easy as he went round the course, John Tappenden handled his Laser to perfection and took an early lead on handicap, increasing it as the race went on.

Results: Egg and Bacon 2
1. Laser – John Tappenden
2. Solution – Simon Clarke
3. Laser – Paul Stanton

Overall
1. Solution – Simon Clarke
2. RS600 – Ken Potts
3. Laser – Andy Dunnett

The previous Wednesday evening the winds were a little lighter, and from the south west, when the Gunfleet held the fourth race in its Summer Series.  Fourteen boats took part and made short work of the course, with the faster boats taking under thirteen minutes to complete the first lap.  The gybe mark, which was once again out at the Seaward buoy, caught a few helms out with Paul Davis having a 50% success rate in staying up; capsizing twice in his Solution out of the four times he was required to attempt it.  This gave the chance for Venables to get ahead of him but by the end of the race Davis had pushed his way up to a creditable third place.  
 
Results: Summer Series 4
1. RS600 – Ken Potts
2. Blaze – John Tappenden
3. Solution – Paul Davis