Paul's Solution Takes Top Spot

Gunfleet Sailing Club held the race for the London Trophy, an event exclusively for the faster handicapped boats, last Sunday 15 May with Paul Davis claiming the trophy.

 

Conditions might well have seemed perfect for those taking part in a leisurely stroll along the seafront, blue skies and unbroken sunshine, but the light south/south-westerly wind really needed to be a little stronger for the enthusiastic sailors.  The start was an extremely impressive affair with the bunching of all the competitors next to the Outer Distance Mark; so tight was it that Andy Dunnett was forced onto the buoy and had to head back and start all over again.  On the other hand Paul Davis was so spot-on that it would have been difficult to have got a cigarette paper between the bow of his Solution and the line itself.  Tom Philpot, in a Laser, appeared to lead the fleet but was gaining boat speed by freeing off.  It wasn’t long before Robert Gutteridge slipped past him in his Solution but he too was sailing a little too free.  Davis pointed much higher as the boats sailed close hauled down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy, with Harry Swinbourne following suit in his Laser.  The boats continued to sail past the first mark before tacking and heading out, on a beat, to the Seaward buoy.  This leg split the competitors and at the buoy Philpot, who had got ahead of Gutteridge, lost his tiller as the pin gave way, and allowed his rival to slip by.  On the reach to the St. Michael’s mark Swinbourne held off Paul Stanton, also in a Laser, whilst Derroll Pedder and Dave Fowell went to hoist the spinnaker in their Scorpion, only to find the sheet had passed the wrong side of the jib, and they immediately saw any chance of winning the race fast disappearing.  After the gybe round St. Michael’s it was another reach to the AWS buoy and then a run to Kingscliff before a close haul back through the line.  At the end of the first Lap Davis had a modest lead, followed by Dunnett, and then John Tappenden third in his Laser.  The second lap, however, saw Ken Potts slip into third place in his Laser whilst Stanton moved up to fourth position.