The Summer Series Goes From Strength To Strength

Gunfleet Sailing Club members made the most of the fine weather last Wednesday evening, 17 July, when they eagerly rigged-up for the fifth race in the Summer Series.  A force 3 - 4 onshore wind greeted the competitors as they headed out to the start line, and with a flood tide holding them back against their first leg up the coast, it was hoped that nobody would “jump the line”.  Unfortunately, with the necessary reaching start, both Derroll Pedder and Brian Allen were just a little too eager, in their RS Aeros, and crossed the line a second too early.  Up went the Individual Recall flag, but both cracked on, rather than returning to correct their error, resulting in disqualification.  Tim Dye, on the other hand, nailed it in his Laser, followed very closely by Andy Dunnett and Paul Stanton in their Lasers.  The fleet headed up to the Kingscliff mark with Ken Potts and Yvonne Gough flying the asymmetric kit in their RS200, but the best angle to maximise speed took them deeper towards the shore and so lost any possible benefit of a three sail reach.  John Heath, in his Blaze, sailed past his rivals and was soon leading the fleet.  There followed a short beat out to the Preston Park buoy before a reach back to the AWS mark.  On this leg Potts and Gough really had their act together, and with the spinnaker drawing nicely, they started making inroads.  Dunnett appeared to have slipped in front of Dye whilst Adam Kedge, in his Laser Radial, and Tom Bartlett, in his Topaz Race X, were both ahead of Simon Kedge in his GP14.  The next leg was a beat out to the Seaward buoy and as the boats tacked offshore it was clear that the tide caught a number of helms out.  Heath fell short on his layline and had to put a further two tacks in to get round, whilst Dunnett suddenly seemed to stall his Laser but it subsequently transpired he had suffered a broken tiller.  Heath, who was comfortably leading the rest of the fleet, broad reaching to the Eastcliff buoy, rounded it to starboard rather than the required port, and then began heading for the line.  Fortunately those behind him did not follow suit and correctly took the mark and beat out to the Lilley Farm buoy, before then heading to the line.  Heath realised his mistake, tried to correct the error but confused himself, and the Race Officer, and so retired.  Meanwhile Paul Jackson was holding his own in his Solo and trying to pick off as many other boats as possible, and Dave Ingle quietly and cleanly pushed his RS Aero into a solid position.

At the end of the first lap it was Dye who was leading, followed by Stanton, and then Ingle, and with the wind falling away during the second lap, the course was shortened from three to two laps and the top three places remained the same.

Results – Summer Series - 5:
1.    Laser – Tim Dye
2.    Laser – Paul Stanton
3.    RS Aero – Dave Ingle