Exciting Pursuit Race - Right to the End

Seventeen boats from the Gunfleet Sailing Club took part in the annual pursuit race for the Potts Shield last Sunday 14 June.  Weather conditions appeared quite idyllic as the competitors prepared their craft, with a light southerly breeze, flat sea, blue sky and unbroken sunshine.  This event turns the race on its head and staggers the start for each class, so the slowest handicapped craft goes first, and at fixed time intervals the faster handicapped boats get underway.  At a given time the race ends and in theory all the competitors should be at exactly the same point.  First off were the Sea Rangers, followed sixteen minutes later by the Topazes.  Eight minutes after this the Lasers went off, shortly followed by the Solutions and the Xenon, then a little while later the Sport 14 and the Blaze and finally, nearly 34 minutes after the very first boat, the RS600’s depart.

As the race went on the breeze freshened a little and the craft romped around the course, the helms all trying to play catch-up.  An hour after the very start, Fred Webster lead the fleet in his Sea Ranger and maintained a considerable lead.  Battling it out behind him were the Blaze of John Tappenden, and Paul and Katie Davis in their Xenon; but with very impressive spinnaker work for much of the course it was the Xenon that appeared to have the upper hand.  In the Laser class Andy Dunnett had the lead for much of the race but John Heath nudged in front; although none of the class appeared a real threat to the leaders.

As the race progressed there was a sudden wind shift that confused a number of helms and resulted in few positions changing.  With just six minutes before the race ended Webster lost his lead to the Blaze and then within the last few minutes a Solution, the Xennon and a Laser also slipped past him.

Results – Potts Pursuit Trophy:
1.    Blaze – John Tappenden
2.    Solution – Simon Clarke
3.    Xenon – Paul and Katie Davis

The previous Wednesday evening the Club held the third race in its Summer Series.  In a steady south easterly wind both Andy Dunnett in his Laser, and John Tappenden in his Blaze, jumped the start line and despite a flag signal denoting this fact they both failed to return to correct their error and were therefore disqualified.  After that the race settled down to a pleasant but uneventful sail.

Results – Summer Series 3:
1.    RS600 – Kelvin Morton
2.    Solution – Simon Clarke
3.    Laser – Paul Stanton