Busy Bank Holiday At Gunfleet

Gunfleet Sailing Club had a busy two days of racing over the May Bank Holiday, 3 & 4 May 2026, with the Coronation Trophy event kicking things off.  In a force 3 south/south-westerly breeze the helms hovered around the line, carefully holding the craft back as the flood tide edged them forward.  With almost perfect timing, as the class flag dropped from the yardarm, the tight bunch was unleashed.  Cutting down the coast on port tack was Paul Stanton in his Laser with Gary Hollis, also in a Laser, just behind him; the Gutteridge brothers, Robert and Michael, following suit in their RS Aero and Solo respectively.  The rest of the fleet headed out to sea on starboard, getting the full advantage of the tide as they beat to the Lilley Farm buoy.  First to arrive at the mark was John Tappenden in his RS Aero, followed by Stanton and then Ken Potts, also in an RS Aero, who was neck and neck with Andy Dunnett's Laser.  The second leg was a reach out to the Seaward buoy, by which time Potts had moved up to second place and Dunnett was now being challenged by Tim Dye in his RS Aero.  There then followed a gaggle of RS Aeros with Brian Allen, Dave Ingle, Paul Jackson, Derroll Pedder and Robert Gutteridge all competing for the lead.  After Seaward it was a second reach back to Eastcliff when it appeared that the boats had started to settle down.  The penultimate leg took the craft to the Preston Park buoy before a fetch back to the line.  At the end of the first lap, on handicap, it was Tappenden in top position, with Stanton second and Dunnett third.  During the second lap there appeared to be a private battle between Allen and Pedder with places changing, and then changing again, whilst the wind fell away to a force 2.  The light airs unfortunately frustrated Dunnett who dropped back several places on the third and final lap, so allowing Potts to take third place.

Coronation Trophy:
1.    RS Aero - John Tappenden
2.    Laser - Paul Stanton
3.    RS Aero - Ken Potts

The following day saw the second race in the Class Points series in a light breeze that started as northerly but had already veered north-easterly by the time the racing got underway.  First away were the ten RS Aeros with Ella Langfeldt being smack on the line although soon passed by Tim Dye who was hotly chased by Ken Potts.  An early casualty was Martin Chivers who got caught in his mainsheet and capsized, putting him at the back of the fleet.  The boats stayed close to shore in order to mitigate the negative effect of the spring tide as they beat up to the Kingscliff buoy with John Tappenden rounding it first, holding a strong lead.  Potts was now second and Brian Allen third.  The top places remained like this until the fifth leg from Seaward to the St. Michael’s buoy when Potts overtook Tappenden but failed, on handicap, to steal his lead at the end of the first lap.  However, during the second lap, Potts continued to pull away, and Dye slipped ahead of Allen.

Five minutes after the Aeros had started, the Lasers were unleashed with Jono Dunnett taking an early lead, followed by Arlo Atkins and Gary Hollis.  As they rounded Kingscliff, Paul Stanton was hot on the heels of Dunnett and Atkins but realised he had quite an up-hill battle on his hands.  In fact it took until the second lap for Stanton to pass Atkins but was unable to make any inroads into Dunnett.

The Comet and Topper classes followed the Lasers where it was a whitewash for Keith Lamdin and Finley Taylor respectively.

Class Points 2:
RS Aeros:
1.    Ken Potts
2.    John Tappenden
3.    Tim Dye
Lasers:
1.    Jono Dunnett
2.    Paul Stanton
3.    Arlo Atkins
Comets:
1.    Keith Lamdin
Toppers
1.    Finley Taylor