Perfect Weather For Pursuit Race

It was victory once again for Andy Dunnett, at Gunfleet Sailing Club, when he won the first race in the Potts Pursuit Challenge Series last Sunday 8 May.

 

The fine weather certainly brought the Gunfleet sailors out to make the most of the force three to four north-easterly winds, coupled with a calm freshly ebbing spring tide.  Being a pursuit race it meant that each class of dinghy set off at staggered times, with the slowest handicapped boat leaving first, and the fastest one setting sail some 23 minutes later.  First away was the Topper fleet and Harry Swinbourne took a commanding lead; next away were the Topazes and they made an impressive sight as they beat up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy, all of them kneck and kneck.  Other boats followed until finally the Solution class gave chase, with the aim of picking-off the competitors one by one.  Once round Kingscliff it was a broad reach out to the Seaward buoy, in to the AWS mark, back out to Seaward and then down to the St. Michael’s buoy before a long beat back to the line.  Unfortunately Swinbourne, who was still leading the armada, headed from Seaward to Eastcliff in error and, having corrected himself and set the right course to St. Michael’s, really did lose out significantly.  Quick to take advantage of this faux-pas were Beth Elliott and Shona Goodchild in their Topaz and they slipped into the lead, working hard on the beat back up the coast in order to hold the other Topazes back.  Pushing through this Topaz fleet were Tom and Ed Philpot, whilst Eddie White maintained his apparent relaxed attitude but continued to constantly challenge the boys; Steve and Daisy Swinbourne, having had such a good start, could only watch as the competitors slipped by.  And as the clock ticked on so the gaps just kept closing, with the Lasers being the next group to go for the top spot; Andy Dunnett gaining first place just over an hour after the very first start.  Next was Yvonne Gough, also in a Laser, and finally, with just minutes to go until the end of the race, Robert Gutteridge slipped into third place in his Solution.