Clarke Has The Perfect Solution For Victory

A thick sea mist greeted members of the Gunfleet Sailing Club last Sunday 28 June when they took part in the race for the Bill Clarke Shield.  With the sun trying to burn through and a light easterly breeze filling in, it cleared the mist sufficiently for the Officer of the Day to be able to set a course.  All boats headed to the start line on starboard tack with the exception of Keith Lamdin in his Comet who ran along the line on port tack and then, as soon as the start flag fell from the yardarm, swung onto the opposite tack.  Fred Webster got a good start in his Sea Ranger with the rest of the fleet right behind him.  The boats then beat against the flood tide up to the Eastcliff buoy with Simon Clarke first round in his Solution, closely pursued by John Tappenden in his Blaze and Kelvin Morton in his RS600.  There then followed a reach out to the Seaward mark with some helms misjudging the strength of the tide and finding themselves being swept onto it.  The broad reach down to the AWS buoy proved uneventful, except when Morton hit the buoy and had to complete a 360 degrees penalty, and then it was a gruelling beat back out to the Seaward mark.  This was followed by a run to the Eastcliff buoy and a beat back to the line.  At the end of the first lap Clarke had a strong lead in his Solution with Tappenden second and Peter Downer third in his Comet, whilst leading the Laser fleet was Matt Murray-Downing.  During the second lap Sonny Hart drove his Solution into third place and whilst he continued to pull away from the rest of the competitors was unable to catch the leading two boats.

Results – Bill Clarke Shield:

1.    Solution – Simon Clarke
2.    Blaze – John Tappenden
3.    Solution – Sonny Hart

The previous Wednesday evening, for the second week running, the Summer Series race had to be cancelled due to very strong winds.  The race will now be rescheduled for later in the month of July.