Tappenden Sails To Victory In Jubilee Trophy Race

Gunfleet Sailing Club members faced a strengthening wind from the south-west as they arrived on Sunday 1 June 2025 to take part in the race for the Jubilee Trophy; John Tappenden gaining a clear victory in his RS Aero after a gruelling two laps.

The forecast wind was a force four to five with little change but it was evident that, as the boats got rigged so the wind picked up.  Fourteen helms entered the race and as they launched, so the craft shot out at an impressive speed; making for the start line.  Whilst the south-westerly wind held the craft back on the line, the freshly flooding tide pushed them close to the edge.  As the class flag fell from the yardarm, indicating the start, both Adam Kedge in his Laser and Tim Dye in his RS Aero were over; the individual recall flag was immediately hoisted and Dye returned to correct his error but unfortunately Kedge continued on his way.  Tappenden courageously headed to the line on port tack, defying the rest of the fleet that were away on starboard, but was forced to quickly tack as there was just nowhere to go without hitting another boat.  Simon Clarke blasted his Contender out to sea, so picking up on the tidal benefit whilst behind him there were a couple of casualties.  Gary Hollis capsized his Laser and had some difficulty righting it, whilst Finley Taylor’s mast snapped on his Topper, leaving him just drifting; both retired.  Within a couple of minutes of the race getting underway, the wind picked up to a force six, resulting in a few more retirements, whilst the rest of the competitors beat down the coast to the St. Michael’s buoy.  After a lot of cross-tacking it was Clarke first to round the windward mark, followed by Tappenden  and then Brian Allen in his RS Aero.  The second leg was a run back to Eastcliff before a broad reach out to the Seaward buoy, by which time Clarke had appeared to have pulled away quite significantly.  Following him around the offshore mark was Tappenden and then, neck and neck, were Allen and Dye, the latter gaining third place on the reach into the AWS buoy.  It was on this leg that Dave Ingle capsized his RS Aero, righted it and then capsized again before retiring back to the shore.  Having headed back out to Seaward, Allen then capsized as he gybed round the offshore mark, turtled the boat, and so allowed Derroll Pedder to take his RS Aero past him.  The penultimate leg was a further reach to the Kingscliff buoy before beating back through the line.  At the end of the first lap, on handicap, it was Tappenden leading, followed by Dye and then Pedder; try as the remaining sailors might, the top positions failed to change in the second and final lap.

Jubilee Trophy:
1.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
2.    RS Aero – Tim Dye
3.    RS Aero – Derroll Pedder