GUNFLEET Sailing Club members had a lively Winter Series race in strong offshore winds, culminating in a clear win for Ken Potts, in his Laser.

With a flat sea, blue sky and unbroken sunshine, it looked idyllic for the competitors as they rigged their boats on the beach.

However, to the more trained eye, the visible conditions masked a force four to six west/north westerly wind.

Prior to the start, the craft hurtled up and down.

The crews clearly loved the exhilaration of fast sailing and, when it came to the off, it was Andy Dunnett that led the fleet, in his Laser, on the fetch down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy.

However, the first leg was not without incident and Rob Lockett capsized his Laser, righted it, got going and very nearly capsized again as the boat lent almost horizontal to the water.

The second leg, a very broad reach out to the Seaward mark, saw further capsizing in the gusts.

First over was Dunnett, who righted his Laser, only to experience it flipping over the other way, and, as he made the second attempt to right it, he was aware of his competitors flying past.

Then it was Lockett’s turn again when it appeared to be a game of who could capsize the most.

By this time, Potts had got the bit between his teeth and was absolutely storming ahead, helped by the fact he was able to keep his Laser upright.

A beat to the AWS buoy and a close haul back to Eastcliff saw further capsizes from the “tippy-twins” who were clearly aiming to go for the record for the most capsizes in any one race.

Back out to sea, a reach up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy saw some more settled sailing and then it was straight back to the line.

At the end of the first lap it was clearly going to be Potts’ race, provided he avoided any mishaps during the second lap. Many of the others, who had been dogged by issues in the first half of the race, settled down for the second half.

Dunnett even managed to creep back up to third place, while in among the chaos Derroll Pedder achieved a “dry” second overall in his Solution.

Results: Winter Series - race three: 1 Laser – Ken Potts, 2 Solution – Derroll Pedder, 3 Laser – Andy Dunnett.