Simon And Nicky Sail To Victory

Gunfleet Sailing Club held its race for the Personal PY Trophy on Sunday 16 October 2022, calculated on the individual sailor’s performance throughout the season, which resulted in a well earned victory for Simon and Nicky Kedge in their Topaz.

With a force four, gusting five, south-westerly wind blowing it was little surprise that the Laser sailors chose to rig-down using radial or 4.7 sails, whilst the RS Aeros went for a mix of 5 and 7 rigs, and the Toppers put up their 4.2 sails.  An early casualty was the GP14 of Dave Fowell and Vince Crabtree, when the halyard holding-up the mainsail parted, putting them completely out of the race.  In the fresh breeze the competitors edged their way up to the line, but under a freshly flooding tide it became clear several were just a fraction to early, and as the starting flag was lowered so the General Recall flag was immediately hoisted.  Ten minutes later the start, proper, got underway with John Tappenden leading in his RS Aero as he headed towards the shore, Brian Allen and Yvonne Gough close to him in their Lasers.  Paul Stanton, in his Laser, was quick to slip past Gough and then tacked onto starboard and headed out to sea; the rest of the fleet following.  The first leg, a beat down the coast to the St. Michael’s buoy, saw boats crossing each other’s paths but it was Tappenden that rounded the mark first, followed by Robert Mitchell in his Laser, Stanton, and then Dave Ingle in his RS Aero.  The second leg was a reach back to the Lilley Farm buoy with the top four places remaining the same; Chris Maloney not far behind Ingle, in his Solo,but only to retire on the third leg, a run up the coast to the Preston Park buoy.  At the same time Mitchell levelled-up with Tappenden, Ingle closed the gap on Stanton, whilst further back the Kedges were quietly sailing a very clean course.  As the leaders fetched out to the Seaward buoy, Tappenden once again took the lead, and held it on the reach back to the Kingscliff mark; the final leg being a beat back through the line.  At the end of the first lap, on personal handicaps, it was Allen in top place, with Ingle second and the Kedges third but during the second lap the wind began to fall away and also backed a little southerly.  This saw Tappenden drop back, and both the Kedges and Gough move up the fleet to take the top two positions.

Results – Personal PY Trophy:  
1.    Topaz – Simon and Nicky Kedge
2.    Laser 4.7 – Yvonne Gough
3.    Laser Radial – Brian Allen