Guy Fawkes and Winter Series at Gunfleet

Gunfleet's Guy Fawkes Night was a massive success when on Saturday 6 November well over 100 members turned-up to enjoy a great evening of fireworks, flavoursome food and fantastic fun!

However, very mixed weather greeted the members of Gunfleet Sailing Club on Sunday 7 November when they took part in the third race of the Winter Series.  Blue skies and sunshine changed to heavy grey cloud and rain, before brightening-up a little and then becoming overcast again.  The wind was also variable in both strength and direction, veering from north westerly to north easterly and back again.  The craft waited eagerly by the line and as the start flag fell from the yardarm Andy Dunnett found himself just on the wrong side in his Laser.  However, seeing the individual recall flag being hoisted Dunnett did a speedy about-turn and re-crossed the line correctly.  Fighting the last of a strong flood tide the boats made quite slow progress to the Kingscliff buoy and it was at this point that Peter Downer, performing particularly well in his Comet was caught on port tack by Kelvin Morton who was bearing down on him on starboard in his RS600.  Downer’s attempt to avoid Morton resulted in the boats becoming intertwined, capsizing, and throwing their helms into the water.  Meanwhile the wind was freshening and the other competitors were making the most of the conditions as they reached out to the Seaward mark.  By this time Simon Clarke had a strong lead in his Solution.  With the wind also veering at this point the intended beat into the AWS buoy did not split the boats as much as had been intended.  At the end of the first lap Clarke was first, with Sebastien Mathewson lying second in his Byte.  During the second lap there were a number of changes in positions, particularly notable was Dunnett who, having lost several minutes correcting his error at the start, had driven his Laser past several competitors and worked his way up third position by the end of the race.
 
Results – Winter Series 3:
1. Solution – Simon Clarke
2. Solution – Paul Davis
3. Laser – Andy Dunnett