Phew - What A Scorcher, But Very Little Wind

It was a packed two days last weekend 22 & 23 May for members of the Gunfleet Sailing Club.  On Saturday 20 dinghies plus the two Club Rescue Craft headed up the coast, Walton way, on the first of the season’s cruises.  A light easterly breeze and unbroken sunshine made it a memorable day and the armada of small boats certainly made a spectacle to those on the shore, particularly when they all landed for lunch.  After taking refreshment the boats returned to the Club on the first of the flood tide.

The next day the sun was shining even brighter, and the wind was even lighter than the previous day.  At 12:00 noon the Club planned to rerun the Spring Series 2 Race postponed from a few weeks earlier due to unsuitable conditions, but such was the lack of wind a half hour postponement was signalled by the Officer of the Day.  A little while later a light sea breeze appeared and at 12:30 the race commenced.  Fighting the ebbing tide the boats made slow progress as they sailed close hauled to the Eastcliff buoy but there followed speedier progress on the reach out to the Seaward mark.  In the light and variable conditions there were some interesting positions with Peter Downer in his Comet once again up amongst the faster handicapped boats.  As the race settled down so it proved impossible for the rest of the competitors to shake Downer off and he took the winning gun by a comfortable margin.

Results: Spring Series - 2
1. Comet – Peter Downer 
2. Solution – Paul Davis
3. Solution – Simon Clarke 

Spring Series - Overall
1. Solution – Paul Davis
2. RS600 – Ken Potts
3= Solution – Simon Clarke
3= Blaze – John Tappenden

The second race of the day was then held, this time for the London Trophy.  The event, exclusively for the fast handicapped boats, was also the first class points and amongst the competitors were five Lasers and four Solutions.  The tide was by now flooding and in a southerly breeze the eleven entries made reasonable progress to the Eastcliff buoy.  There then followed a slow reach out to Seaward before an even slower run down to the Kingscliff mark.  During this leg the boats at the back caught up with the leading ones and everything seemed to then stop as the light airs dropped away to nothing.  After heading back out to sea all traces of wind disappeared and the competitors started to drift backwards forcing the race to be abandoned.  This will therefore be rerun at a later date.