Lively Conditions Perfect For The Bill Geddes Trophy

Gunfleet Sailing Club held its race for the prestigious Bill Geddes Trophy last Sunday 3 August, with eleven boats entering.  The sun shone on the sea, highlighting the small white caps, and the wind blew force five, gusting six, from a southerly direction.  Richard Walker sailed up the line in his Sea Ranger, on starboard tack, reaching the Outer Distance Mark just as the starting gun was fired; forcing a number of competitors on port tack to put in a quick tack.  Following close behind was John Tappenden in his Blaze, the two boats heading out to sea to gain maximum benefit from the freshly flooding tide.  From this point it was a close haul down the coast to the St. Michael’s buoy.  First round this was Ken Potts in his RS 600, Tappenden on his tail, and then Paul Davis and Beth Ford in their RS 400.  There then followed a broad reach back to the Eastcliff buoy before a slightly tighter reach out to the Seaward mark.  It was good to see Brogan Bates and Nick Cottee flying the asymmetric spinnaker in their Hobie 405 during the second leg, albeit Cottee had technical problems with his trapeze harness which prevented him going out on the wire.  Once out at Seaward the competitors had to gybe their craft before reaching down to the AWS buoy, gybing again and then running up the coast to the Kingscliff mark; this too required a gybe before beating back through the line.  The large seas made things more exciting but nobody capsized at the gybe marks, although there were a few close calls.  As they completed the first lap the crew of the RS 400 were forced to retire as a result of spinnaker troubles, and just as Eddie White was completing his second and final lap he capsized within a few feet of the line.  Competition throughout the race was particularly keen because the results of the race also counted towards class points for the Solutions, Lasers, Hobie 405’s, and Sea Rangers.

 

 

 

On the previous Wednesday evening the Club held the final race in the series for the Tony Chadd Trophy.  A southerly force four wind, coupled with blue skies and sunshine, providing a perfect backdrop to the event and the ten boats taking part made an attractive sight as they headed off, close hauled, down the coast to the St. Michael’s buoy.  Despite fighting the ebbing tide the competitors made short work of the first leg, before heading back to Eastcliff and out to the Seaward mark.  Andy Dunnett, who had unfortunately had a particularly poor start, was lagging sadly behind but was the only sailor shrewd enough to make the offshore buoy without needing to tack; the others finding the tide sweeping them past it.  Unfortunately for Kelvin Morton his RS 600 was filling up with water and whilst trying to put a tight tack round the mark, found the boat rearing up and placing itself on the buoy.  He then correctly rounded it and did the necessary 360 degree penalty but by this time had dropped back considerably.  As the fleet ran down to the Kingscliff buoy John Tappenden decided to round it to Starboard, rather than the prescribed port, and was therefore disqualified.  Morton, thinking that Tappenden must know best, followed suit and he too was disqualified.  There then followed a beat back out to Seaward before a second run to Kingscliff and then a fetch back over the line.  By the end of the first lap Dunnett had ploughed his way through the fleet and, as a result of Tappenden’s disqualification, was now lying in first place, followed by Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens in their Scorpion; Matt Gough, also in a Laser, just a gnat’s whisker behind.  Unfortunately on the second lap the wind fell away, this giving the opportunity for Peter Downer to slip into third place in his Comet, the top two positions remaining unchanged.  These places were not sufficient though, however, to take away the overall victory for the series from Ken Potts.