Ken Continues To Dominate

Gunfleet Sailing Club held the third race in its Spring Series on Easter Sunday 20 April, the RS Aeros dominating the top three places.

With a force three to four north-easterly wind, and under a freshly flooding tide, the first leg meant punching into this to reach the Kingscliff buoy, and it was Simon Clarke that lead the fleet in his Europe; Brian Allen just behind in his RS Aero.  Ken Potts was to windward of Clarke, in his RS Aero, followed by John Tappenden in his RS Aero, and then John and Sarah Heath in their RS200.  All the boats were on starboard tack and hugging the shore, but tacking early were the Heaths, keen to break away from the pack and gain some clean wind.  The down side to this move was standing out into an adverse tide; a gamble that, unfortunately, didn’t seem to pay off; Tappenden was, however, forced to tack once he headed out when the Heaths, having tacked again, had him on starboard.  As the dinghies rounded the windward mark it was Potts leading, followed by Clarke and then the Heaths; Allen was next but Tappenden steamed past him, to his windward, and started to pull away.  Michael Gutteridge managed to allow the boom of his Solo to touch the buoy and, in doing his 360 degree penalty turn, capsized the boat and needed assistance from the Club’s Rescue Boat, so putting him out the race.  With the tide now under them, it was a quick run to the AWS buoy, a reach out to the Seaward mark, before gybing round and reaching down to Eastcliff.  This leg provided the chance for some really exhilarating speeds and the RS200, with its asymmetric kite flying, simply stonked along, leaving an impressive wake behind it.  Hardening up, on the beat back to the line, it was Potts that was first on handicap, followed by Tappenden, and then Clarke.  The second lap saw Derroll Pedder capsize his RS Aero on the run, due to over-easing the kicker, so allowing Dave Ingle to take his RS Aero past him.  Undeterred, Pedder righted the boat and gave chase.  The wind, which was now regularly hitting force five, heightened the tension, with boats changing positions quite often.  The completion of the second lap saw the same three top places, but the third lap saw Allen close the gap on Clarke and with the wind building into a force six, all eyes were on the final positions during the fourth and final lap, and whilst the top two remained unchanged, Allen beat Clarke by just five seconds.

Spring Series - 3:
1.    RS Aero – Ken Potts
2.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
3.    RS Aero – Brian Allen

On the Bank-Holiday Monday, 21 April, The Club ran the first race in the Class Points Series.  Conditions were very different from the previous day with a light, force two to three, north-easterly breeze blowing.  First away were the RS Aeros, then the Laser class, followed by the Comet class, and finally the Toppers.  Unfortunately the wind became light and fickle, veering easterly, and resulting in, what was supposed to be a reach out to the Seaward mark, turning into a beat; the neap flood tide proving very strong, and quite a handicap.

Winners:
RS Aero: Ken Potts
Laser: Paul Stanton
Comet: Chris Maloney
Topper: George Smith