Simon celebrates a convincing victory (From Gazette)

Simon celebrates a convincing victory

7:10am Wednesday 19th November 2008 in

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Gunfleet Sailing Club held the fourth race in their Winter Series and the winner was Simon Clarke.

Conditions again proved very uninviting with a complete lack of wind, heavy grey sky and steady drizzle.

However, this did not deter the enthusiastic competitors and, as if to reward them, a light offshore breeze appeared just before the start and it stopped raining.

On a closely bunched line, the first away was Clarke, in his Solution, followed by Geoff Battersby, in his Blaze.

Further back, cadets Bethany Ford and Deanna Cannavan, sailing their Topaz Race, kept up with both Peter Downer, in his Comet, and Mark Venables, in his Solution.

They held this position for three legs of the course before the other two managed to pull away, showing the club that these youngsters are going to be a real challenge to the more seasoned sailors next year.

With such light airs there was no fear of capsize, although the breeze did just freshen a little as the race progressed.

The biggest risk was failing to compensate for the strong flood tide as the craft headed out to the Seaward mark from the AWS Buoy.

After the first lap it was Clarke in a convincing first position with Downer second and Venables third and, despite the second lap being a quicker affair, the top three positions did not change.

Results: Winter Series Four: Solution - Simon Clarke, Comet - Peter Downer, Solution - Mark Venables.