Clarke sails to shield win (From Clacton and Frinton Gazette)

Clarke sails to shield win

8:00am Friday 3rd July 2009

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A thick mist greeted members of Gunfleet Sailing Club when they took part in their race for the Bill Clarke Shield, which was won by Simon Clarke.

With the sun trying to burn through and a light easterly breeze filling in, it cleared the mist sufficiently for the officer of the day to be able to set a course.

All boats headed to the start line on starboard tack with the exception of Keith Lamdin, in his Comet, who ran along the line on port tack and then, as soon as the start flag fell from the yardarm, swung on to the opposite tack.

Fred Webster got a good start in his Sea Ranger, with the rest of the fleet right behind him.

The boats then beat against the flood tide up to the Eastcliff buoy, with Clarke first round in his Solution, closely pursued by John Tappenden, in his Blaze, and Kelvin Morton, in his RS600.

There then followed a reach out to the Seaward mark, with some helms misjudging the strength of the tide and finding themselves being swept onto it.

The broad reach down to the AWS buoy proved uneventful, except when Morton hit it and had to complete a 360 degrees penalty, and then it was a gruelling beat back out to the Seaward mark.

This was followed by a run to the Eastcliff buoy and a beat back to the line.

At the end of the first lap, Clarke had a strong lead in his Solution with Tappenden second and Peter Downer third in his Comet.

Leading the Laser fleet was Matt Murray-Downing.

During the second lap, Sonny Hart drove his Solution into third place and, while he continued to pull away from the rest of the competitors, he was unable to catch the leading two boats.

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