Champagne Sailing At Gunfleet Over The Bank Holiday

Fifteen dinghies took part in Gunfleet Sailing Club’s race on Sunday 24 August 2025 for the Toppo Single Helm Trophy, coupled with the race for those under 18 years of age for the Cadet Single Helm.

With a force three, gusting four, southerly breeze, the race officer set an offshore mark with a gate start; the pathfinder dinghy being the RS Aero of Tim Dye, with the Club’s Safety Boat tailing close behind and the rest of the competitors tacking behind.  The first leg was a long beat out to sea and as the fleet reached the windward buoy it was Simon Clarke leading in his Contender followed by John Tappenden, Ken Potts, and then Dye, all sailing RS Aeros.  They were followed by a close bunch of more RS Aeros and Lasers.  Whilst the flood tide had helped draw the boats towards the offshore mark, the second leg was a run into the Eastcliff buoy and helms found themselves being dragged towards Clacton Pier as they made their way to the shore.  One or two tacked downwind and so used the tide, and increased speed, to obtain a better approach to the mark; so resulting in some interesting bunching at the point of converging.  It was then a reach up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy followed by a beat out to Seaward; everyone sheeting hard in and, again, letting the tide draw them to the buoy.  Clarke tacked and set a perfect lay line, whilst Tappenden, Potts and Dye all tacked too early and were forced to put an additional tack in.  Further back, Paul Stanton lead the Laser fleet, followed by Andy Dunnett, whist even further back were the Toppers, lead by Finley Taylor and then Belle Hart. The final leg was a run back to the line and, on handicap, it was Tappenden first, followed by Ella Langfeldt in her RS Aero, and then Potts.  The second lap saw the boats spread out a little but as they came to the finish it was neck and neck between the RS Aeros of Brian Allen and Martin Chivers, and Dunnett’s Laser.  It looked like Allen had it but Dunnett slipped behind him to take his wind and claim water at the mark, whilst Chivers seized the opportunity to slip between the two of them and pip Allen by just one second.  The star of the show, however, was Lanfeldt who not only took first place for the Cadet Single Helm, but gained third place overall in the main race.

Toppo Single Helm Trophy:
1.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
2.    RS Aero – Ken Potts
3.    RS Aero – Ella Langfeldt
Cadet Single Helm Cup:
1.    RS Aero – Ella Langfeldt
2.    Topper – Finley Taylor
3.    Topper – Belle Hart

The Bank Holiday Monday 25 August saw the final Class Points race of 2025 and, with so much at stake, it was good to see such a mass of dinghies eagerly waiting their class start.  Weather conditions were almost a repeat of the day before with an onshore force three to four breeze and unbroken sunshine.  First away was the RS Aero fleet and unfortunately Tim Dye jumped the gun and up went the individual recall flag, forcing him to return.  John Tappenden led the fleet down the coast, with the tide under them, to the St. Michael’s buoy.  Five minutes later and it was the turn of the Lasers, with Andy Dunnett leading, Paul Stanton just behind, and then Yvonne Gough and Gary Hollis following.  Michael Gutteridge led all the way in the Solo class, and last to go were the Toppers.  Finley Taylor was just a touch over-eager and found himself crossing the line a second too soon so, again, up went the individual recall flag; this allowed Belle Hart to take poll position on the first leg, which was to the Eastcliff buoy.

Meanwhile, positions were already changing in the RS Aero fleet, Tappenden still leading, Derroll Pedder second, and a tussle going on between Martin Chivers, Brian Allen and Dave Ingle; Dye trailing but giving it his all to catch-up.  The second reach, back to Lilley Farm and onto AWS saw Chivers now in third place but the race still had a long way to go.  In the Laser fleet, Dunnett was unable to shake off Stanton but, on the other hand, he kept consistently ahead of him.  Taylor overtook Hart in the Topper fleet, on the beat out to the Lilley Farm buoy, and opened up quite a gap during the first lap.

Back with the RS Aeros, Dye chose to tack out to the Seaward buoy in the opposite direction to the other helms, defied the tide, and started to move up the pecking order, holding third place on the run back to AWS.  It was on the next leg, reaching down to the Kingscliff buoy that Tappenden, continuing with his comfortable lead, rounded the mark the wrong way and, realising his mistake, redressed his passage but failed to then circumnavigate it the right way.  At the end of the first Lap, Dye was now first Aero, Dunnett first Laser, Gutteridge first Solo, and Taylor first Topper.  Whilst places continued to change with the Aeros, the Lasers settled but in the Toppers, Hart closed the gap on Taylor and on the beat of the penultimate leg, was almost alongside him but she was forced to take avoiding action when he suddenly tacked to make the Preston Park buoy, so maintaining his lead.  

Class Points Series – Overall Winners:
RS Aero:  Tim Dye
Laser:  Paul Stanton
Solo:  Michael Gutteridge
Comet:  Chris Maloney
Topper:  Finley Taylor