Clarke gets A First By A Second

Summer conditions prevailed for the second race in the Gunfleet Sailing Club’s Autumn Series held last Sunday morning 27 September.  Blue skies, bright sunshine, but unfortunately a distinct lack of breeze greeted the ten boats that set off from the beach and very gracefully headed towards the start line.  Then, from nowhere, came a very light south/south westerly breeze which took the boats slowly, against the tide, down to the Eastcliff buoy.  Simon Clarke in his Solution, and Peter Downer in his Comet both lead the way but on the reach out to the Seaward mark Paul and Katie Davis hoisted the asymmetric kite in their Xenon and slipped past them both.  Further back, in the slow handicap fleet, Sebastien Mathewson in a Topaz tried to catch Roy Wyatt in his Comet Zero and whilst he did not overtake him on the water Mathewson beat Wyatt on handicap.  With very little tide running it was an uneventful race for most competitors but Clarke and the Davis’s had a close battle on both laps with Clarke taking the winning gun by just one second.

Results – Autumn Series - 2:

1.  Solution – Simon Clarke
2.  Xenon – Paul and Katie Davis
3.  RS600 – Ken Potts