Stanton Shines Through During The Summer Series

The previous Wednesday evening 10 boats took part in the penultimate race of the Gunfleet’s Summer Series.  The competitors were greeted by a light south easterly wind and, following a very low spring, a freshly flooding tide.  At a bunched start it was Paul Stanton that timed the whole thing to perfection, with the bow of his Laser crossing the line as the class flag fell from the yardarm.  The boats all stayed very close together as they headed for the Kingscliff mark, and were soon rounding it and heading out to the Seaward buoy.  The competitors seemed to settle down during this leg but as they then headed on a run in to the AWS buoy Eddie white capsized in his Solution, taking a little while to right the boat and pushing him back down the pecking order.  Towards the back of the fleet was the most exciting part of the race, in the slow handicap section, where the Cadets Robert Gutteridge and Ben Richardson were battling it out in their Toppers, alternating the lead and both rounding the AWS mark in harmony.  As the craft beat back out to sea the wind lightened a little making the leg quite a slog but the broad reach, with the tide under them, to the Eastcliff buoy was a far faster affair.  At the end of the first lap it was John Tappenden that had the overall lead in his Blaze, followed by Stanton and then Simon Clarke in his Contender.  During the second lap Stanton however, seemed to find a unique lift and his Laser surged forward to nudge ahead of the Blaze and give him victory.