Peter Pips Paul To The Post

Gunfleet Sailing Club’s Fleet Championship race was held last Sunday 9 July in rather mixed weather conditions, with a very light wind picking-up before the start, a rain shower blowing through, and then a noticeable drop in wind strength as the competitors launched.

On a tight start line it was Paul Jackson and Lucy Powell in their GP14, and Paul Stanton in his Laser that cleared the fleet, Stanton heading down the coast on port tack, whilst Jackson and Powell sailed out to sea on starboard; both boats being right by the Outer Distance Mark.  In a south-westerly wind, the remaining boats stayed nearer the middle of the line with the majority heading out to sea and into the freshly flooding tide, but Ian Barker and Yvonne Gough, in their GP14, decided to try the port tack, as did Finley Taylor in his Topper.  However, as the craft reached the Eastcliff buoy it was Jackson and Powell that rounded it first, followed by Stanton, and then Simon Clarke in his Europe.  The second leg was a run back up the coast to the Preston Park buoy and Ken Potts and Clare Giles, in the RS200, hoisted their asymmetric spinnaker and downwind tacked close to the shore in order to mitigate the now negative effect of the tide.  This tactic unfortunately failed to gain much ground and Stanton was first round the mark, followed by Clarke and then Peter Downer in his Comet, having worked his way up the fleet past many faster handicapped dinghies.  Unfortunately the wind then backed southerly which allowed a one-sided beat to the Lilley Farm buoy, Stanton appearing to revel in the conditions and pulling away from his rivals; Clarke and Downer sticking to each other throughout.  Potts and Giles who, until then, had been rather holding back, began to pick-off boats on the broad reach from Lilley Farm to the Kingscliff mark, whilst Eddie White took his Comet past the GP14s.  The final leg took the competitors back to the line and at the end of the first lap it was Stanton that lead the boats on the water, but on handicap the Comet, sailed by Downer, had a strong lead.

During the second lap Brian Allen upped his game and took his Laser into fourth place on the water, and after the handicaps had been applied found himself just missing-out on the top three places.

Results:
Fleet Championship:
1.    Comet – Peter Downer
2.    Laser – Paul Stanton
3.    Europe – Simon Clarke