Tappenden Notches Up Another Wednesday Win

The fifth race in the Wednesday evening Summer Series, on 23 July 2025, saw another close battle between the RS Aeros with John Tappenden claiming his third victory.

The early arrivals at the Club were greeted by a very light offshore wind and a forecast that it would drop but as they rigged up, and more members appeared, so the wind veered to north-easterly and freshened.  The competitors, once afloat, were met by a freshly flooding tide and flat sea as they staked out the best place on the line to start from.  It was of little surprise that everyone massed at the Outer Distance Mark and as the class flag fell from the yardarm, signifying the start, so the fleet beat towards the shore as it headed up the coast towards the Kingscliff buoy.  Brian Allen led the way, with Ken Potts windward of him and Tim Dyes sandwiched between the two; all three sailing RS Aeros with their 9 rigs up.  Allen sailed slightly freer whilst Dye managed to ease ahead of Potts but it wasn’t long before Potts regained the lead.  First to put in a tack was Robert Gutteridge in his Solo but in gaining clean wind he also had to face a slightly stronger adverse tide.   First to round the windward buoy was Potts, followed by Allen and then Dye, before a reach out to the Seaward mark; on this leg it was surprising to see John Tappenden appear to be dragged down by the tide in his RS Aero whilst the others made full allowance for it.  In the light force three wind, the offshore gybe caused no problems and soon the fleet was heading into the AWS buoy.  Tappenden, despite his wider approach earlier, and carrying a 7 rig, remained fourth on the water, whilst behind him were the RS Aeros of Derroll Pedder and Dave Ingle.  The wind had continued to veer a little and was now more easterly, requiring a second gybe around AWS before a very broad reach to Lilley Farm buoy, originally set to be a run prior the wind shift, and yet a third gybe; a short reach followed, to Eastcliff, before hardening up and beating back to the line.  As they cut through to start the second lap, on handicap it was Potts first, followed by Allen, and then Tappenden.  The second lap saw little change although the wind continued to veer and then back a little; the pecking order on the water remaining the same but Gutteridge retired in his Solo.  With the commencement of the third lap, Potts still commanded first place on handicap but Tappenden had now just slipped into second place and he continued to work hard to slowly claw away at Potts’s time difference.  Dye managed to overtake Allen on the beat to the Kingscliff buoy but Allan was having none of it and reclaimed his place a little later.  As the boats headed to the finish, Tappenden pointed high and tacked almost on the shore as he headed to the finish line and victory.

Results – Summer Series - 5:
1.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
2.    RS Aero – Ken Potts
3.    RS Aero – Brian Allen