Winter Series Gets Underway

Gunfleet Sailing Club held the first race in its Winter Series last Sunday morning 23 October with fifteen boats taking part.  Members were greeted by an ideal force four onshore breeze but a very lumpy sea with large waves making launching extremely difficult.  After a couple of incidents when boats were literally thrown back on the shore the Officer Of the Day hoisted the 15 minute postponement flag in order to allow sufficient time to safely launch.  At the start it was Andy Dunnett in his Laser that lead the fleet, closely followed by Tom Fadden, also in a Laser; the boats heading down the coast, against the ebbing tide, to the St. Michael’s buoy.  Within five minutes of the start Ken Potts had rounded this mark in his RS600, now the leading craft, and was heading out to the Seaward buoy at a good pace.  There then followed a run in to the Kingscliff buoy, a beat back out to sea before a second run into shore and a reach back through the line.  As the race progressed the wind fell away and the tide strengthened which, coupled with the lumpy sea, made for some quite slow tacks as the helms headed out on the Seaward leg.  In amongst the Lasers was Sebastien Matheson in his Byte whilst Conor and Finlay Williams led the Topzes.  However, some of the helms found the going just too painful and retired back to the shore and many helms were pleased to see the shorten course flag hoisted.

Results: Winter Series 1
1. RS600 – Ken Potts
2. Solution – Simon Clarke
3. Byte – Sebastien Mathewson