Emily Cossens Has A Sting In Her Tail

A group of frustrated Gunfleet Sailing Club Cadets could only stare out to sea last Saturday 17 August as winds reached force 7, putting paid to the planned fourth SOS Sail and Race Training session.

 

By Sunday afternoon the winds had moderated, and were blowing force four, which provided ideal conditions for Gunfleet’s annual race for the Austin Ladies Trophy.  First away was Emily Cossens, with Simon Clarke crewing, in their Scorpion, followed closely by Beth Ford and Paul Davis in the RS 400.  However, disaster struck the 400 when, on the beat to the Eastcliff buoy, the boat capsized which allowed several of the other competitors to sail past.  Further back conditions proved a little too lively for Lydia Kurtulus in her Topper and she retired, whilst the rest of the fleet headed out to the Seaward mark, the Scorpion in the lead but closely followed by Yvonne Gough in her Laser and Moira London, also in a Laser.  The next leg was a broad reach to the Kinscliff buoy and at this point Cossens and Clarke decided to hoist their spinnaker, only to find the ropes tangled and so losing valuable minutes as they untied the knitting.  In the slow handicap group Lesley Sacre in her Sea Ranger was keeping Beth Elliott and Darcie Baker at bay in their Topaz.  The subsequent beat back out to Seaward proved quite a slog, and a second broad reach back to Kingscliff gave the Scorpion a real chance to fly its spinnaker, but as the boats beat back through the line it was Gough in first place, Cossens second and London third.  The second lap saw some interesting switches in position and with Ford now having the confidence to hoist the asymmetric kite in the RS 400, it saw her picking off her rivals as she moved up the ranks.  Similarly Cossens had the kite-work down to a fine art and pulled away sufficiently to take lead position; going on to win the race.