Fun Packed Weekend For Gunfleet Members

Monday, July 8, 2013 - 11:03

Last Saturday 6 July the Gunfleet Sailing Club’s Cadets and Otters took part in their first race of their SOS Class Points Series under blues skies, unbroken sunshine, and a pleasant easterly breeze.  First away were the Toppers and with seven boats taking part it made for some exciting sailing as they battled round the course.  As the dinghies beat up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy it was Robert Gutteridge that took an early lead and as they rounded the mark and reached to the Seaward buoy it looked as though he was comfortably settled into the top spot.  Slightly further back Maddie Wyss, who had a very good start, was holding off Will Marsh and just behind them was Korben Symmonds.  They all successfully gybed round the offshore mark and headed into the AWS buoy before a run to Eastcliff and a beat back to the line.  It was on the penultimate leg that Tommy Martin, who had been closing the gap on Gutteridge, eased his Topper into the lead and, having cut tightly round the Eastcliff buoy, he continued to pull away and take the winning gun, leaving Gutteridge in second place and a very creditable third position for young Abigail Hayes who had sailed very cleanly round the whole course.  Five minutes after the Toppers had started it was the turn of the Topazes; sailing the same course as the Toppers it was Beth Elliott and Darcie Baker that led the way to a clean win, with brothers Brogan and Max Bates coming in second.  The Bates boys should be very proud of their achievement as they have only just started sailing and will clearly be ones to watch in the future.  The next fleet to go was the Hobie 405 of which the Club now has four.  These racing skiffs are designed specifically for young sailors and include a trapeze for the crew and a powerful asymmetric spinnaker, making an impressive sight on the water.  Quite uniquely all four boats are owned and sailed by brothers.  With some exceptional sailing it was Zak and Jake Kurtulus who lead the fleet around the course, which took the boats up to Kingscliff, out to the Seaward mark, down to the St. Michael’s buoy and back through the line.  Although never able to really challenge the Kurtulus boys, Fabio and Sebastian Sanchez put up a good performance to come second.  Finally the Menagerie Fleet set off and top young sailor Bethany Ford swept to victory in her Laser.

Then in the evening it was boats away and out with the crabbing lines as Gunfleet’s annual crabbing contest took place.  This hotly contested event saw prizes for the largest, smallest and funniest crab, plus the crab that did the best Abba karaoke etc.  There then followed an Hawaiian Night with the limbo, hoola-hooping and other wacky games plus delicious pie and mash, or sausage and mash.  Some 70 members turned-up to take part and everyone had a great time.
 
On Sunday six boats sailed round to Brightlingsea to take part in the Clacton Sailing Club Double Dan race – a passage race from Brightlingsea to Holland Haven.  With a north easterly breeze and glorious sunshine the boats made it round to Brightlingsea in record time, but it was a hard beat back in freshening winds that saw Paul Davis take second place in his Solution. Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens were third in their Scorpion and Derroll Pedder sixth in his Solution; Paul Stanton coming seventh in his Laser.
 
The previous Wednesday evening the Gunfleet held its first race in the Tony Chadd Series in a light west/north-westerly wind and a flood tide.  Ten boats took part and at the start Paul Davis’s Solution and the Scorpion of Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens were neck and neck.  By the time the fleet had reached the Eastcliff buoy it was the Scorpion in the lead, its ability to point higher than other dinghies meaning it made the first leg without having to tack.  The competitors started to split-up on the next leg out to Seaward whilst Davis slipped past Clarke and Cossens, only for the positions to reverse as the boats returned back to Eastcliff.  Davis then found he had a new challenger as they ran to the AWS buoy with Andy Dunnett driving his Laser hard to be, at one point, level-pegging with the Solution.  At the end of the first lap Davis had pulled ahead sufficiently to take the lead and managed to hold back the others in the second lap to claim victory.    
 
Results – Tony Chadd Trophy - 1:
1. Solution – Paul Davis
2. Scorpion – Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens
3. Laser – Andy Dunnett
 
Tommy Martin closes the gap on Robert Gutteridge and eventually wins the Topper race in the first of the Cadets SOS Class Points
Eyes down for a quick bite!
Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens go for the line in their Scorpion at the start of the Double Dan race at Brightlingsea