GUNFLEET Sailing Club held the third race in their Winter Series, with victory going to Ken Potts, in his RS 600.

A fresh south/south-easterly wind greeted competitors as they rigged-up on the beach.

Club members welcomed visiting sailors from both Clacton Sailing Club and Brightlingsea Sailing Club.

The traditional 11am start was moved to 11.20am, in order to allow the club to observe a two-minute silence, and the crews then skilfully launching through quite large waves.

First away at the start was Potts, with Andy Dunnett close behind in his Laser, while Robert Mitchell and James Parsons immediately cut past many of the slower-handicapped craft on their Dart 16 catamaran.

The first leg was a close reach down the coast and Potts caught the wing of his boat on the buoy and was forced to undertake a 360-degree penalty. This allowed Robert Gutteridge, in his Solution, to greatly close the gap.

The fleet then headed out to the offshore mark but it became apparent that no-one would make this in one as the strong ebb tide was sweeping everyone up the coast.

Mitchell and Parsons were first to realise this and tacked early, in order to compensate, while others left it until they were much closer to the buoy.

Gybing on to the next leg, down to AWS, Tom Philpot capsized his Topaz, costing him valuable time while righting the craft.

It was then a very broad reach, followed by a second beat back out to sea, before heading up the coast and back through the line.

Throughout the first lap, there was also a very good battle going on between Rob Lockett, in his Laser Radial, and Ryan Thomas, in his Pico.

The wind then veered southerly, for a little while, and freshened, which meant it was a fetch on the first leg of the second lap.

Potts took full advantage to get the perfect angle when he then headed out to sea, making the offshore buoy in one.

This skilful piece of sailing was sufficient to nudge him into first place and he hung-on-in to receive the winning gun.

Results: Winter Series - race three: 1 RS 600 – Ken Potts, 2 Laser – Andy Dunnett, 3 Dart 16 – Robert Mitchell and James Parsons.