Personal PY Pursuit Race Gets The Thumbs-Up

Gunfleet Sailing Club held a slightly unusual event when the Personal PY Pursuit Race took place on Sunday 21 August 2022.  Seventeen dinghies took to the water and every helm had a unique start time based on their performance in the racing they had taken part in, to date, this season; the normal results being calculated using the national dinghy class yardsticks produced by the Royal Yachting Association.  First away were Simon and Nicky Kedge in the Topaz, followed almost six minutes later by Eddie White in his Comet.  A further seven minutes went by and Dave Ingle was away in his RS Aero, followed just six seconds after by Clare Giles’ Europe, but unfortunately both “jumped the gun” and were over the line; Giles quickly returned to correct the error but Ingle just cracked on, resulting in a disqualification.  Then there seemed a whole host of starts with flag signals being hoisted and lowered as helms set off for the chase; at times just seconds separating them.  Last away was John Tappenden in his RS Aero, more than twenty minutes after the first dinghy had departed.

The course took the competitors on a beat down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy, then a broad reach out to the Seaward mark before a closer reach in to the AWS buoy.  From there it was a run up the coast to the Preston Park buoy, a short reach to the Kingscliff mark and a final beat back through the line.  With a fixed finish time for the fleet it meant around two and a half laps would be completed and, at the end of the first of these, the Kedge’s still held the lead but White was literally snapping at their transom; third was Yvonne Gough in her Laser and fourth was Giles, having done well to regain lost time after her false start.  As the second lap progressed so some of the later starters began to push their way through the fleet, noticeably Tappenden moving up to sixth place, Ken Potts taking his Laser into seventh place, and Jono Dunnett who had powered his way into second place.  Unfortunately Brian Allen capsized his Laser at the Preston Park gybe mark and saw the rest of the fleet sail past him as he righted his craft.  By now White had claimed top spot but as the minutes ticked away, and the third lap commenced, he could feel the pressure was really on him.  One by one, White found himself being overtaken and as the finish horn echoed across the water it was Dunnett clearly in front.

It was good top see so many of our Cadets and Otters out in their Toppers today, having real fun on, and in, the water.

Results:  Personal PY Pursuit Race
1.    Laser – Jono Dunnett
2.    Laser – Robert Mitchell
3.    RS Aero – John Tappenden