Ken Claims His Own Trophy

Gunfleet Sailing Club held its first pursuit race on Sunday 16 May, for the Ken Potts Challenge Trophy, with the winner being no less than the donor of the Trophy, Ken Potts in his Laser.  

It was good to see twelve dinghies take part in this race, which basically turns the traditional way of running a race on its head.  Instead of everyone starting at the same time, completing a set number of laps, and then positions being calculated on handicap, each class of dinghy starts at a different time (according to handicap), and after a predetermined set time all entries should be exactly level with each other; therefore the boat in front at that moment is the actual winner.  The course took the competitors out to sea on a beat to the Lilley Farm buoy before a fetch down to the St. Michaels mark, a reach out to the Seaward buoy, then a run to the Kingscliff mark before a close haul back through the line.  The wind was blowing a force three to four, south/south-east with a flooding tide.  

First away were Eddie White and Yvonne Gough, both sailing Laser Radials, followed less than a minute later by Michael Gutteridge in his Solo.  Just over two minutes passed before the Hobie 405 took off and then, 31 seconds later the six full-rigged Lasers were away.  There was then a slight pause in proceedings until John Tappenden set off in his RS Aero, and finally it was Rob Lockett’s turn to chase all the other dinghies in his Blaze.   Keeping a good distance between herself and her followers was Gough but unfortunately she lost valuable time when she mistakenly thought it was necessary to round the AWS buoy between St. Michael’s and Seaward; Potts seizing the opportunity to take the lead, having already overtaken the 405 and the Solo.  Gough valiantly held off the others for the first lap but dropped back a little in the second lap.  Meanwhile Robert Mitchell capsized his Laser from St. Michael’s to Seaward,  Brian Allen capsized his Laser at the Seaward gybe mark, and unfortunately turtled the boat, and Andy Dunnett capsized his Laser on the run from Seaward to Kingscliff; his boat also turning turtle.  This allowed several competitors to pass him as he righted it, including Paul Stanton who then had third place and doggedly clung onto it.  During the subsequent laps Tappenden pushed his way through his rivals and as the time drew near he just had Potts to trump, whilst Lockett moved up the pack, from starting last, to a strong fifth position but failed to take Dunnett, who was holding fourth place, as the finish horn sounded.

Results – Ken Potts Pursuit Challenge:
1.    Laser – Ken Potts
2.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
3.    Laser – Paul Stanton

The previous Wednesday evening the Club held the second race in the series for the Tony Chadd Cup.  In a force two to three south/south-easterly breeze ten dinghies jostled for the best position on the line but Beth Ford found herself just over and was forced to return and restart, whilst the rest of the fleet had a tight but clear beat towards the Preston Park buoy.  Rob Lockett overstood the mark in his Blaze, allowing Andy Dunnett to round it first in his Laser, followed by John Tappenden in his RS Aero and then Ken Potts and Robert Mitchell, both sailing Lasers.  There followed a broad reach to Lilley Farm buoy, by which time Tappenden had pulled ahead with Dunnett and Lockett just behind.  The next leg was a beat out to the Seaward mark, and then a run back to the line, at which point Potts was just in the lead on handicap, followed by Tappenden, Dunnett and Mitchell.  The second lap saw little change in the positions although at one point the RS Aero did start to pull away but not sufficiently to stop Potts taking the race, and Dunnett being ahead of Tappenden by just one second.

Results – Tony Chadd Cup - 2:
1.    Laser – Ken Potts 
2.    Laser – Andy Dunnett
3.    RS Aero – John Tappenden