Winter Series Gets Underway

Gunfleet Sailing Club kicked-off its Winter Series last Sunday 15 October 2023 in a fresh, and bighting, offshore wind, with a separate Cadet Winter Series for the younger members; Ken Potts and Adam Kedge taking the winning guns respectively.

The blue skies and bright sunshine masked the low temperature as a force three, gusting five, north-westerly wind resulted in a flat sea but some rather vicious little squalls.  First away at the start of the main race was Brian Allen in his Laser, with Potts, also in a Laser, level with his transom, and John Heath in his Blaze to windward of them both and shortly to take the lead.  The first leg was a broad reach up the coast, against a strong flood tide, to the Kingscliff buoy and as the boats rounded the mark it was Heath leading, with Potts second and Dave Ingle, in his RS Aero, third.  Following a lively gybe, the second leg took the competitors on an even broader reach out to the Seaward buoy before beating in to the Eastcliff mark and then heading back through the line.  Unfortunately the gusty conditions proved a bit too much for Simon and Nicky Kedge in their GP14 and they decided to retire back to the shore.  Meanwhile Potts worked hard to close the gap on Heath and at the end of the first lap there was just seven seconds between them, across the water.  Heath, determined to pull away, then capsized at the Kingscliff buoy, righted the Blaze, and promptly capsized again; this gave Potts the opportunity to slip past and take top place.  From then on Potts proved unstoppable and try as he might, over the following laps, Heath was unable to make up the time.

Results – Winter Series 1:
1.    Laser – Ken Potts
2.    Blaze – John Heath
3.    Laser – Brian Allen

Ten minutes after the main race the Cadet Winter Series got underway with Adam Kedge getting a flying start in his Topper and leading the fleet to the KIngscliff mark.  The second leg was a run out to the Preston Park buoy, before a reach back down the coast to the Lilley Farm mark.  Laura Kedge took her Topper past Belle Hart, also in a Topper, but Belle overtook Laura on the beat from Lilley Farm to the Eastcliff buoy and held on to second place at the end of the first lap.  Whilst, by now, Adam had carved-out a good lead, the two girls were changing positions quite regularly until Belle capsized which gave Laura the opportunity to show her a clean pair of heels.

Results – Cadet Winter Series 1:
1.    Topper – Adam Kedge
2.    Topper – Laura Kedge
3.    Topper – Belle Hart