Peter Proves To Be A Pocket Rocket

Gunfleet Sailing Club held the fourth, and penultimate, race in its Spring Series last Sunday 23 April with blue skies and bright sunshine masking the chill in the air, despite very light airs.  The onshore wind was, in fact, registering force 1 as the dinghies hung round the line and, as the start gun sounded, it was Peter Downer that lead the way in his Comet.  The fleet made slow but reasonable progress, fighting the freshly ebbing tide, as it headed down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy.  Barely had the race got underway when Tom and Ed Philpot retired in their 405, as did Shona Goodchild and Daisy Swinbourne in the Topaz.   By the time the first mark was made it was Andy Dunnett in front in his Laser but as the boats tacked out to the Seaward buoy he seemed to find it virtually impossible to shake-off Downer.  Various tactics were deployed as the dinghies headed out to sea and it was cunning Downer that rounded the outer buoy first, followed by Dunnett who then tried to block Downer’s wind on the run in to shore, but to no avail.  It was on the next beat out to sea that Harry Swinbourne sailed his Laser into second place, Dunnett just touching the Seaward buoy as he rounded it, so forcing him to do a 360 degree penalty turn.  On the very broad reach up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy Dave Fowell and Jeremy Goodchild flew the spinnaker on their GP14 and managed to maintain a lead over Eddie White in his Laser.  Although the race was set for two laps the wind, whilst freshening a little, was still a bit fickle and the competitors breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the shorten course flag fluttering from the yardarm.  Downer, who sailed the slowest handicapped boat in the race, was first to cross the finish line so even before the Portsmouth Yardsticks were applied it was evident he had achieved a convincing win.

Results:
Spring Series - 04:    
1.    Comet – Peter Downer
2.    Laser – Harry Swinbourne
3.    Laser – Andy Dunnett