Ken's A Convincing Winner

Gunfleet Sailing Club held its race for the London Trophy last Sunday 30 May in, what turned out to be, quite lively conditions, resulting in a clear win for Ken Potts in his Laser.

A fresh force four north-easterly wind greeted the competitors as they rigged-up on the beach but by the time they had launched it was regularly hitting force five.  First casualty was Michael Gutteridge when the centreboard on his Solo snapped which immediately forced him to return back to the beach.  Even before the start Brian Allen capsized his Laser but it wasn’t long before he was upright and back in the thick of things; the helms desperately keen to find the best position to attack the line from.  The freshly flooding tide helped to ensure everyone was the right side of the line as the start got underway. Potts in his Laser, with John Tappenden in his RS Aero, both chose to take a port tack from the Inner Distance Mark, Potts just windward of Tappenden, whilst Robert Mitchell and Allen, both in their Lasers, bore down on Starboard but were too late to force the port sailors to put in a tack.  Then, once again, Allen was over and, having lost valuable time righting his boat, decided to call it a day.  Eddie White, also sailing a Laser, found the wind gust just a bit much and he too headed for the shore.  Potts found the conditions just to his liking and he was first to round the Kingscliff buoy, ahead of Tappenden who misjudged the mark and had to put an additional tack in.  The next leg was a run to the AWS buoy before a close haul up the coast to the Preston Park mark.  Potts tried to lay the buoy in one but came just short, tacking twice to round it but still maintaining a healthy lead,  Slightly further back saw a battle between Mitchell in his Laser and Clare Giles sailing her Europe, whilst the Laser of Yvonne Gough was just a little way behind.  If the reach out from Preston Park to Seaward was fast then, after a lively gybe offshore, the subsequent reach to the Eastcliff buoy was really exhilarating; Tappenden in particular simply flew down this leg.  It was then a beat through the line to complete the first lap and it was no surprise that Potts had carved-out a strong lead.  The second lap saw little change in position but the gaps did close as the helms pushed themselves to the limit; the subsequent shorten course flag, reducing the number of laps from three to two, coming as a welcome relief to many.

Results – London Trophy:
1.    Laser – Ken Potts
2.    Europe – Clare Giles
3.    RS Aero – John Tappenden