Andy Dunnett Wins Hertford County Shield

It was certainly full-on last Saturday 21 June for Gunfleet Sailing Club’s Cadets and Otters when they had their “Bring A Friend Day”.  With over 40 young people and seventeen boats afloat the waters off the Club made a magnificent sight.  Pairing-up, the experienced young helms took their friends for a sail around a triangular course and then handed the tiller over to their visitors for them to have a go.  In ideal conditions of sunshine, blue skies and a light breeze it didn’t take long for the friends to pick-up the very basics of sailing and feel the experience of commanding their own boat.  There then followed a small race, and this showed the fun that can be had from match racing, whether in Toppers, Topazes, 405’s or Lasers.  The day ended with burgers and hot-dogs and some potential future Olympic sailors getting their very first taste of sailing on the high seas.

 

The following day saw the re-running of the race for the Hertford County Shield, postponed previously due to bad weather.  An easterly force three to four wind, and unbroken sunshine saw a very bunched start, to the point where those over eager had nowhere to turn, but everyone just got away with it and they were off.  Paul Stanton, sporting a new sail on his Laser, let a few of his class through as he settled down on the beat to the Kingscliff buoy, whilst Matthew Gough seized the opportunity and pushed his Laser to the front of the fleet.  Ken Potts in his RS 600 struggled to keep Paul Davis and Beth Ford at bay in their RS 400, despite being the faster boat over the water; the opportunity to fly the asymmetric kite on the 400 only worsened the situation on the reach out to Seaward and the run down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy.  The second beat out to sea saw some interesting tactics and then it was down to the St. Michael’s buoy on a very broad reach.  As the boats sailed back through the line Matt Gough was hanging onto first place but being pushed hard by Andy Dunnett in his Laser, although Davis and Ford just squeezed between the two of them on handicap.  The second lap saw some interesting changes, with Dunnett easing ahead, whilst Yvonne Gough also managed to overtake her husband in her Laser, whilst pushing-up through the fleet the Blaze of John Tappenden looked like it too was heading for victory; however it was Dunnett that took the winning gun and the trophy.

 

 

In the afternoon it was the pursuit race for the Ken Potts Challenge – the first of a two series event, with sixteen dinghies taking part.  In this race the times are carefully calculated in advance so that the different classes start at different intervals and, at a fixed time the race ends when all the competitors should, in theory be neck and neck.  First away were the Toppers with Harry Swinbourne and Max Bates both being over the line.  The individual recall signal got them back to re-cross correctly but lost them several minutes in the process.  A little later it was the turn of the Topazes to set sail and Madeline Wyss and Daisy Swinbourne, sailing two-up, were level pegging with Daisy’s father Steve, who sailed his Topaz singlehanded.  Nine minutes later the Hobie 405’s were off, with Charlie and Harry Spence leading, followed just four seconds later by the Lasers.  Some minutes elapsed before the Blaze started, then the RS 400 and, finally, the RS 600; almost 25 minutes after the Toppers!

 

The course took the boats up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy, out to the Seaward mark, down to Eastcliff and along to St. Michael’s before a close haul back through the start line.  Halfway through the race Steve Swinbourne was sitting in the lead with Harry Swinbourne and Max Bates second and third respectively; a magnificent feat for Bates who has only been helming a very short while.  But it was shortly after this that the later starting fast dinghies really began to play catch-up.  The pursuit race is a great spectator sport as the boats are visibly “picked-off” one by one by faster craft.  The next person to take the lead was veteran sailor Andy Dunnett who powered his Laser, not only past the other five Laser sailors but also into a substantial lead.  The minutes ticked by and it began to look like this would be his second triumph of the day when along came Ken Potts in his RS 600 and, having flown by fourteen other competitors, started to challenge Dunnett.  It wasn’t too long before Potts was lead boat and with just two minutes to go before the finish John Tappenden in his Blaze just sneaked in front of Dunnett to take second place. 

 

 

The previous Wednesday evening Gunfleet held the fourth race in its Summer Series in light airs.  Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens in their Scorpion were busy holding back, to avoid being over the line but once they were off they proved very hard to catch.  Having sailed to the Kingscliff buoy, out to Seaward and back into the AWS buoy they remained the lead boat despite four competitors having faster handicapped craft.  At this point it looked like there was no stopping them but a race is never over until the finish line is crossed, and as it progressed they began to slip back.  By the end of the first lap they were lying in second place and the final lap saw them drop-back to fourth position.