John Tappenden Takes The Honours

Gunfleet Sailing Club held its long distance race for the Jim Suckling Shield, held under quite trying conditions, which resulted in victory for John Tappenden in his RS Aero.

The forecast wind speed of force three to four appeared rather over-optimistic but the westerly direction, predicted, was certainly there.  The course for the main fleet was down to Clacton Pier, and then up the coast to the Frinton AWS buoy off the Walings before returning home.  The Toppers had their own course down to the Pier and back home, and they started first.  Belle Hart lead the Topper fleet out to sea, beating into the last of the flood tide which assisted her progress, but it wasn’t long before Izzie Heath slipped ahead and pulled away.  Meanwhile, ten minutes after the Toppers started it was the turn of the main fleet and Tim Dye lead this in his new RS Aero, followed by John Tappenden and Martin Chivers, both in RS Aeros, and then John and Sarah Heath in their RS 200; in amongst them were Dave Fowell and Keith Lamdin in their GP14.  However, as always with any form of offshore wind, both the direction and strength varied as it was disturbed by the buildings and the cliffs.  As the Toppers reached the Pier buoy it was Belle Hart that rounded it first, followed by Charlie Heath, whilst in the main fleet it was Derroll Pedder in his RS Aero that lead the way round the mark, and then Dye, Tappenden, and the Heaths.  By this time it was slack water and, shortly after, the tide began to ebb, assisting all the dinghies back up the coast on a run to broad reach, keeping all helms on their toes.  The Heaths set their asymmetric spinnaker and tacked down wind, as did Ken Potts and Clare Giles in their RS 200, the two boats making a fine sight.  Pedder, having held on to his lead, then had concerns about passing a buoy off the Club on the right side and tacked out to sea unnecessarily, losing him a few minutes.  As the Toppers headed to the line to finish their race the three lead boats were neck and neck but Charlie Heath slid ahead and took the winning gun.  Meanwhile the wind was beginning to fall away quite noticeably and the course ffor the main race was scaled down; the turning mark now being the AWS Haven Outfall buoy.  First to round this was Tappenden, and then Dye, with Dye staying out and stemming the tide, but with a cleaner wind.  Potts and Giles took their RS 200 close to the shore, so reducing the negative effect of the tide but losing some wind, whilst Tappenden took the middle ground; this proving to be the best course of action as he took the winning gun.

Jim Suckling Shield:
1.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
2.    RS 200 – Ken Potts and Clare Giles
3.    RS Aero – Derroll Pedder

Topper Long Distance Race:
1.    Charlie Heath
2.    Belle Hart
3.    Izzie Heath