Wednesday Evening Racing - A Winning Formula

Gunfleet Sailing Club held the second race in its Tony Chadd Series on Wednesday evening, 14 May, in mixed conditions.

On arrival at the Club, the wind was blowing force four to five from the north-east and there were several white horses visible.  Even before the start there were a couple of capsizes whilst the boats reached up and down, looking for the best position to place themselves.  As the seconds ticked away, whilst most competitors hovered by the Outer Distance Mark, John Tappenden sailed down the line in his RS Aero and as the class flag dropped from the yardarm, hardened up and headed on starboard tack towards the shore.  With just half an hour before low tide, it could be assumed that it was slack water, and Ken Potts lead the rest of the fleet away from the ODM in his RS Aero, also heading into shore.  Tappenden having by now tacked, and on port, managed to avoid the fleet bearing down on him on starboard; the boats all heading up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy.  Derroll Pedder was just behind Potts in his RS Aero, and directly behind him was Clare Giles in her Europe.  The battle was definitely on although an early casualty was Michael Gutteridge in his Solo when he discovered his centreboard would not stay down, forcing him to retire back to the shore.  First round Kingscliff was Potts, followed by Tappenden and then Giles who had slipped ahead of Pedder.  The second leg was a reach out to the Seaward buoy where Brian Allen, in his RS Aero, found himself being challenged by Adam Kedge in his Laser.  Simon Kedge, in his Laser, was leading on the capsize front, but was righting the boat and back in the thick of things in record time.  As the boats gybed round the offshore mark it was Tappenden that had taken the lead and he was certainly really making his Aero go.  A double reach, down to the AWS buoy and back out to Seaward resulted in some exhilarating sailing before a second gybe and another broad reach to the Eastcliff buoy.  Despite Tappenden now looking unstoppable, when the competitors started the beat back to the line there was clearly a split view.  Some, including Tappenden, tacked and headed out to sea, trying to capture the last of the ebb tide and also gaining the full benefit of the cleaner wind.  However, Potts and a few others just sheeted in and headed for the shore, confident the tide had turned but was slacker close in.  As it happened, Potts and company won the day, and on the next tack he crossed in front of his rival, despite being on port, and lead at the end of the first lap.    During the following two laps the wind abated and the flood tide built in strength.  Simon Kedge unfortunately capsized again, as did Dave Ingle in his RS Aero.  Allen played the tide right and got in front of Pedder on the beat up to Kingscliff but slipped back on the reaches, whilst Finley Taylor sailed a clean course as the lead in the Topper class.  As the competitors crossed the finish line, Potts had kept his lead, whilst Tappenden held onto second place, but beating several more experienced helms to come third was Cadet Adam Kedge in his Laser.

Results – Tony Chadd Series - 2:
1.    RS Aero – Ken Potts
2.    RS Aero – John Tappenden
3.    Laser – Adam Kedge