Dye Does It Again

The second Autumn Series race at Gunfleet Sailing Club last Sunday 21 September 2025 saw the top three places being a repeat of the first race the week previous, with Tim Dye again claiming victory in his RS Aero.

A stiff offshore, force four, wind meant a flat sea but gusty conditions for the competitors who prudently chose their rig size to give them maximum performance, counterbalanced by firm control.  The first leg of the race was a reach up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy and it was Jono Dunnett that led the fleet from the start line in his Laser, followed by John Tappenden’s RS Aero, Dunnett’s father Andy, also in a Laser, in third place but soon overtaken by Dye in his RS Aero; Paul Stanton’s Laser just behind.  Having battled a flood tide, first round Kingscliff was Dye who pulled away as he then gained the advantage of the tide on the slightly broader reach to the Lilley Farm mark, Jono Dunnett settling into second place on the water, and the Laser of Adam Kedge now laying third.  From there it was yet another reach to the AWS buoy with Kedge closing the gap on Jono Dunnett, the RS Aeros of Derroll Pedder and Dave Ingle close behind.  A run then followed, straight out to the Seaward mark and, despite the gusty conditions, it proved uneventful.  By now, Pedder was second on the water but with quite a task to catch Dye who continued to pull away from the rest of the fleet.  Slightly further back was Simon Kedge in his Laser, Tom Bartlett in his new RS Aero, and then Gary Hollis’s Laser and Finley Taylor’s Topper.  The penultimate leg was a beat in to the Eastcliff buoy and tactics were split with some sailing offshore, parallel to the coast before putting a tack in, whilst others tacked early and used the tide to pull them onto the mark. From Eastcliff it was back through the line and, on handicap, after the first lap it was Dye just leading, followed by Jono Dunnett and then Adam Kedge.  Dye continued to pull away on the second lap, and Pedder, who was still second on the water, unfortunately touched the Lilley Farm buoy and dropped two places carrying out a 360 degree penalty turn.  Hollis had the misfortune to capsize out at Seaward, whilst on the third lap Dye just got everything right and stormed home to a convincing win.

Autumn Series 2:
1.    RS Aero – Tim Dye
2.    Laser – Jono Dunnett
3.    Laser – Adam Kedge