GUNFLEET Sailing Club held the fourth and penultimate race in their Spring Series.

Blue skies and bright sunshine masked the chill in the air, despite very light airs.

The onshore wind was registering force one as the dinghies hung round the line and, as the start gun sounded, it was Peter Downer that led the way in his Comet.

The fleet made slow but reasonable progress, fighting the freshly ebbing tide, as it headed down the coast to the Eastcliff buoy.

Barely had the race got underway when Tom and Ed Philpot retired in their 405, as did Shona Goodchild and Daisy Swinbourne in the Topaz.

By the time the first mark was made it was Andy Dunnett in front in his Laser.

However, as the boats tacked out to the Seaward buoy, he seemed to find it virtually impossible to shake off Downer.

Various tactics were deployed as the dinghies headed out to sea and it was cunning Downer that rounded the outer buoy first, followed by Dunnett.

Dunnett tried to block Downer’s wind on the run in to shore, but to no avail.

It was on the next beat out to sea that Harry Swinbourne sailed his Laser into second place, with Dunnett just touching the Seaward buoy as he rounded it, so forcing him to do a 360-degree penalty turn.

On the very broad reach up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy, Dave Fowell and Jeremy Goodchild flew the spinnaker on their GP14 and managed to maintain a lead over Eddie White in his Laser.

Although the race was set for two laps the wind, while freshening a little, was still a bit fickle and the competitors breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the shorten-course flag fluttering from the yardarm.

Downer, who sailed the slowest handicapped boat in the race, was first to cross the finish line so even before the Portsmouth Yardsticks were applied it was evident he had achieved a convincing win.

Results: 1 Comet – Peter Downer, 2 Laser – Harry Swinbourne, 3 Laser – Andy Dunnett.