Tim Takes Top Spot

Gunfleet Sailing Club members took on some lively conditions on Sunday 21 May in order to take part in the race for the Bill Geddes Trophy, with Tim Dye winning, in his Laser, after a hard fought battle.

In a fresh, force four gusting five, north-easterly wind the competitors tacked up and down the line in an attempt to determine the best place to be, but at the start all boats were sheeted hard in on starboard tack as they headed up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy.  Paul Stanton lead the way in his Laser, being close to the Inner Distance Mark, tacking close to the shore to minimise the negative effect of the flooding tide.  To seaward of him was Robert Mitchell, and parallel to him was Dye, Ken Potts trailing just a little; all three sailing Lasers.  John Tappenden began to carve his way through the fleet in his RS Aero, whilst Dave Ingle capsized his RS Aero early on.  As the boats reached the windward mark it was Dye first round, followed by Mitchell, Potts, and then Tappenden.  Brian Allen was an early casualty when the boom of his Laser caught him close to his eye and forced him to retire.  The second leg saw Potts overtake Mitchell, gaining an inside overlap at the AWS buoy, whilst misfortune saw two GP14s get entangled, resulting in Paul Jackson, and Simon and Nicky Kedge retiring; this allowed Ian Barker and Yvonne Gough to slip by in their GP14.  The third leg was a part beam reach out to the Seaward mark and Dye was in his element, continuing to pull away.  After a lively gybe it was a long run to the St. Michael’s buoy and this saw a number of capsizes; Carlo Bardetti going over in his Laser twice.  The four top places remained the same as the fleet beat back to the line to conclude the first lap.  At this point Potts had pulled himself into the front of the fleet, but being the only sailor to be using a full sail, as opposed to a radial, the margin proved insufficient.  Further retirements followed but the lead sailors doggedly kept going, with wind having now increased to force five gusting six.  With such effort and determination the competitors were all relieved to see the shorten course flag flying from the yardarm as they completed the second lap. However, try as the others might, they were unable to stop Dye taking the winning gun.

Results - Bill Geddes Trophy:
1.    Laser – Tim Dye
2.    Laser – Ken Potts
3.    RS Aero – John Tappenden