John Flies Into First Place

Gunfleet Sailing Club attracted seventeen entries to the first pursuit race of the season, for the Ken Potts Trophy, on Sunday 17 May 2026.  The race, which had a fixed finish time, saw a number of staggered starts with the Topper dinghies the first away.  In a south-westerly wind, blowing force 3 to 4, Finley Taylor lead as they beat down the coast to the St. Michael's buoy with Debbie Chivers hot on his heels.  Next away, some ten minutes later, was Gary Hollis in his Laser 4.7, followed by the Laser Radials; some of the helms being a little trigger happy and having to return to the line to correct their faux-pas.  Minutes ticked-by before five RS Aero 7's set off, along with an RS200, and finally, twenty-three minutes after the Toppers began, the RS Aero 9's were giving chase.  By now the wind had backed south/south-westerly giving a great reach from St. Michael's to the Seaward mark, followed by a gybe and then a run into the AWS buoy.  With the tide still flooding it was surprising that a few competitors hardened up and headed towards Clacton before tacking and fetching back out to Seaward.  Those that chose to tack tight round AWS found that the tide took them onto the offshore buoy and immediately gave them an advantage.  By now places were starting to change as they broad reached to the Kingscliff buoy and then headed back to the line.  On completion of the first lap it was Taylor that hung onto the top spot in his Topper, followed by Jono Dunnett and then Adam Kedge, both sailing Laser Radials; the Aero 9’s of Ken Potts, Tim Dye and Brian Allen still having to make-up a lot of time to stand a chance of getting to the forefront.  But on the second lap positions really did start to change and a number of small incidents occurred.  Debbie Chivers retired, as did Andy Dunnett in his Laser Radial, Simon Kedge capsized at the Seaward mark in his Laser full rig whilst Martin Chivers just caught Yvonne Gough’s Laser with his RS Aero 7 and lost time carrying out a 720 degree penalty turn.  By now Jono Dunnett was leading with Adam Kedge close behind and refusing to let go.  Unfortunately Jono capsized between Seaward and Kingscliff allowing Adam to continue through the line in first place after the second lap; by now John Tappenden was in a strong third place in his RS Aero 7.  It was evident the time signal to conclude the race was going to be some halfway round the third lap and Tappenden really turned-up the heat, simply steaming past Adam and Jono on the reach out to Seaward; Jono taking the opportunity to slide his Laser onto the stern-wave of the Aero and draw level with Adam. As the horn echoed across the water to signal the end of the race, it was a convincing win for Tappenden.

Ken Potts Pursuit:
1.    RS Aero - John Tappenden
2.    Laser - Jono Dunnett
3.    Laser - Adam Kedge