Robert Takes The Summer Series

The last race in Gunfleet Sailing Club’s evening Summer Series was held on Wednesday 9 August in a fresh onshore breeze with Mitchell taking the winning gun in his Laser.

The force four to five south-easterly wind made launching and recovery slightly challenging, but once on the water the sailors just lapped-up the conditions.  Andy Dunnett lead the fleet down the coast in his Laser, on a reach against a freshly ebbing tide, to the Eastcliff buoy, followed by Ken Potts and Yvonne Gough in their RS200, next the RS Aero of John Tappenden, and then Mitchell.  This remained the order as the craft headed back to the Outer Distance Mark before beating out the Seaward buoy; however, by this time Potts and Gough had dropped back to fifth place with Simon Clarke now fourth in his Europe, and Paul Jackson and Lucy Powell sixth in their GP14.  Tacking out to sea resulted in a split in tactics with some craft hardening-up and remaining on starboard tack, whilst others immediately went about, taking port tack and using the tide to pull them onto the offshore buoy.  As the craft neared the mark it was still Dunnett leading but, possibly in his determination to stay ahead, he rounded the buoy the wrong way and headed off on a different course.  This opened up the opportunity to lead the fleet and Mitchell seized it, running smoothly down to the AWS mark, Potts and Gough back in second place, Clarke now third , followed by Tappenden, and then Brian Allen in his Laser, and Dave Ingle in his RS Aero; Dunnett, having corrected his error, now had to be satisfied with seventh place.  The reach to Preston Park buoy saw little change, followed by a short run to the Kingscliff mark, before reaching back through the line.  At the end of the first lap, on handicap, it was Mitchell leading, followed by Tappenden, and then Clarke.  Having their own battle, at the far end of the fleet, were Peter Downer in his Comet and Finley Taylor in his Topper.  The second lap saw a bit of a tussle between Jackson and Powell, and the GP14 of Ian Barker and Vince Crabtree; the former eventually showing a clean pair of heels, despite almost capsizing at Preston Park on the third lap.  Irrespective of some clever tactics the top three positions remained the same until the end, and Mitchell’s win assured him of victory in the series overall.

Results:
Summer Series Overall:
1.    Laser – Robert Mitchell
2.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
3.    Laser – Brian Allen