Easter Fun Down At Gunfleet

The Easter weekend proved a busy time for members of the Gunfleet Sailing Club.  On the Sunday 5 April it was the first race in the Spring Series, with a stiff south-westerly wind that veered west/south-west during the event and a sea of white caps.  The fleet bunched by the Inner Distance Mark, all with the same aim; as the start gun fired so the helms hardened-up and tacked out to sea, taking full advantage of both the flood tide and the cleaner wind.  Having beat down the coast it was Tim Dye leading in his RS Aero, with Ken Potts just behind him, also in an Aero.  After rounding the St. Michael’s buoy, the second leg was a run to the Eastcliff mark and then a reach out to the Seaward buoy.  Dye pulled away from Potts but disaster struck as he gybed round the offshore mark, capsizing and allowing Potts to pass, the latter playing it safe and tacking round.  However, Dye fought hard to catch Potts and continued to close the gap, whist Brian Allen capsized his RS Aero out at sea and after losing several minutes in righting the boat, bowed out gracefully and headed back to shore.   At the end of the first lap Potts had the lead by just three seconds but by the time the two made Seaward, Dye had, once again, taken the lead.  He continued to pull away and looked unstoppable until disaster struck for the second time and Dye death-rolled his boat on the penultimate leg from Seaward to the Kingscliff buoy.  With the wind gusting to force 6 there were a number of capsizes, of which Derroll Pedder took the award for three separate incidents before deciding retirement was the safest option.  

Spring Series - 1:
1.    RS Aero – Ken Potts
2.    RS Aero – Tim Dye
All other entries retired

The following day, Bank Holiday Monday 6 April, it was a case of “what a difference a day makes” when Gunfleet held the first race in its Class Points Series.  Blue skies, sunshine and a very light breeze greeted the competitors, and first away were the RS Aeros.  Pedder lead the fleet to the Kingscliff buoy, with Lotte Langfeldt and Potts parallel with him at the start.  It was then the turn of the Lasers, followed by the Comet and Solo classes.  Paul Stanton took an early lead in the Lasers but Arlo Atkins kept the pressure on him, and at the end of the first lap there were just a few seconds between them.  However, all eyes were on the eight Aeros as places changed throughout the race.  The flood tide caught a few sailors out in the Aero fleet as they headed from Kingscliif to the Seaward buoy on a beat, and as the boats ran down to the Eastcliff mark it was Potts now leading with Dye second.  Just slightly further back was quite a skirmish between Pedder, Allen and Martin Chivers, but it was Chivers that pulled ahead.  There was also some clear rivalry between the Langfeldt girls with Lotte and Ella staying close together.  At the end of the first lap, whilst Potts and Dye had the top two places, Ella and Lotte had third and fourth respectively.  The wind freshened in the second lap which gave Lotte the chance to slip into third place at the finish line.

Class Points 1 - Winners
RS Aero:  Ken Potts
Laser:  Paul Stanton
Comet:  Keith Lamdin
Menagerie:  Solo - Michael Gutteridge