GUNFLEET Sailing Club’s Peter Downer had mixed fortunes but emerged as a winner in the end.

On Sunday morning, the club held the second race in their Autumn Series.

Very light offshore airs destroyed any chance of a lively sail, but the freshly flooding tide resulted in Steve Swinbourne, Beth Elliott and Daisy Swinbourne finding themselves on the wrong side of the start line in their Topazes.

An individual recall flag soon had them correcting their error.

It was then a reach down the coast to the first buoy, with Robert Gutteridge out in front in his Solution.

However, it wasn’t long before John Tappenden slid past him in his Blaze, leading the fleet on the broad reach out to the Seaward mark.

By now, the wind was beginning to back to a westerly and what should have been a beat into the AWS buoy became a close haul.

Sailing a perfect course, and almost up with the faster-handicapped craft, was Downer, in his Comet.

He doggedly hung-on-in, overtaking Gutteridge.

Many of the other slow-handicapped boats were sailing extremely well to their yardstick and continued to adjust their techniques as the wind backed still further and started to freshen.

At the end of the first lap, Downer had a strong lead, followed by Harry Swinbourne, in his Topper.

As the slow-handicapped dinghies returned to the beach, the faster-handicapped boats went on to complete their second lap.

With this, the wind continued to freshen and it was soon evident the increase in speed would certainly put paid to Downer’s once certain victory.

In the end, the much-improved conditions pushed him down to third place and gave top spot to Tappenden.

Results: Autumn Series - race two: 1 Blaze – John Tappenden, 2 Solution – Robert Gutteridge, 3 Comet – Peter Downer.

The wind continued to blow a steady force three for the start of the afternoon’s race for the Jubilee Cup.

With this race also being the final in the Cadet’s Spirit of the Wind series, it was not surprising to see 11 cadets taking part.

The wind had settled from the south and meant the competitors were quick to tack out to sea as they headed for the windward mark, so getting that extra lift from the flood tide.

The faster-handicapped boats found the conditions just to their liking and Ken Potts, in his RS 600, pulled away right from the start.

Further back, Rob Lockett, in his Laser, was having an exciting battle with Ross and Caleb Aylen, in their Hobie 405.

When the latter got on a broad reach, the asymmetric spinnaker was hoisted and they were away. Meanwhile, in the slow-handicap fleet, the Topazes were having their own race, with Beth Elliott and Daisy Swinbourne holding off Tom and Ed Philpott and also Shona Goodchild and Jude Aylen.

As the single-lappers finished their race, the elements started to reverse what had happened in the morning and the wind began to fall away.

This, coupled with the strengthening tide, resulted in a much slower second lap and Downer, who had seen his possible morning win slip away, now watched with a large smile on his face as his nearest rivals dropped back.

The elements assisted him to pick up a well-deserved first place.

Results – Jubilee Cup: 1 Comet – Peter Downer, 2 Blaze – John Tappenden, 3 RS 600 – Ken Potts.

Spirit of the Wind Series: Overall: 1 Solution – Robert Gutteridge, 2 Topaz – Tom and Ed Philpot, 3 Topper – Harry Swinbourne.