Start line gamble brings victory for Tappenden

With very light winds Gunfleet Sailing Club opted for its standard handicap race on Sunday 14 May instead of the scheduled pursuit race. However in the second lap the wind filled in from the south west producing some tight racing.

The start posed the usual problem for helms – should they cross the start line near the inner distance mark to minimise the effect of the foul tide or further out to sea at the outer distance mark where the tide would be running more strongly against them but the wind was also likely to be stronger. John Tappenden in an Aero 7 chose this option and although at first he made little progress against the tide it meant he had less distance to travel to the first mark at Eastcliff which he rounded first, well ahead of Brian Allen and Paul Stanton (Lasers), David Ingle (Aero 9), Ken Potts (Laser) and the other dinghies who had all chosen the inshore route. The order of the leading boats remained unchanged until the penultimate mark where Allen was forced to slow down to fix a technical problem allowing three boats to pass him. Further down the fleet Paul Jackson sailing single handed in a GP14 was losing valuable time every time he tacked as he struggled to control both main and jib sails.

The wind freshened in the second lap allowing the Lasers to close the gap on Tappenden. Stanton sailed a good downwind leg to the Kingscliff mark where he managed to get to windward of Potts who had taken the mark a little too wide. But after this uncharacteristic error Potts trimmed his rig to maximum efficiency more quickly than his rival and from a leeward position was able to get clear ahead demonstrating that (as in any competitive sport) it’s not necessary to make no mistakes. You just need to make fewer mistakes than your opponent.

The Officer of the Day shortened the race to two laps giving about an hour’s racing. On corrected time Tappenden was just three seconds ahead of Potts and Stanton, his decision made at the start proving decisive.

Results

1. John Tappenden
2. Ken Potts
3. Paul Stanton