GUNFLEET Sailing Club held the first two races in their Spring Series.

The sun shone for the first and a light force two, touching three, easterly breeze eased the sailors gently into the start of the 2015 season.

Because of the coast protection works, in the vicinity of the club, it is necessary for the permanent marks to remain ashore this year.

In their place, a set of inflatable buoys will be laid prior to each race.

Paul Stanton led the fleet across the start line but was shortly overtaken by Ken Potts, in his RS 600, along with Paul Davis and Beth Ford, in their RS 400.

The dinghies beating up the coast to the windward buoy were first to round the mark.

There then followed a fetch out to a seaward buoy and then a dead run to AWS, followed by a beat against a flooding tide back out to sea.

By this time, Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens, also sailing an RS 400, had pulled ahead of Potts and were out to challenge Davis and Ford.

However, they had little success.

Meanwhile, in the slow-handicap fleet, Tom and Ed Philpot led the way in their Topaz.

At the end of the first lap, Davis and Ford had carved themselves a comfortable lead and, on the second lap, with winds freshening slightly, they increased the gap, so taking a comfortable victory.

Results: Spring Series - race on: 1 RS 400 – Paul Davis and Beth Ford, 2 RS 400 – Simon Clarke and Emily Cossens, 3 Laser - Paul Stanton.

On Easter Monday, as the sailors rigged their boats, the sun once again shone for the second race in the series.

However, by the time they launched, grey cloud had appeared and there was a real nip in the air.

A force three north-easterly wind reminded everyone that it was still early April.

This time it was Potts who got the best start, but it wasn’t long before Davis and Ford had pushed their way ahead. Making the best of the steady breeze were Dave Fowell and Daisy Swinbourne, in their Scorpion.

In the slow-handicap fleet, Harry Swinbourne struggled to catch the Philpot’s Topaz, in his Topper.

However, he did manage to get ahead on the run back to AWS.

The medium fleet was, once again, dominated by Stanton, in his Laser.

After two laps it looked like Davis and Ford had the race in the bag, but they then fell victim to a spinnaker line coming undone.

This, and a freshening wind, gave Potts the perfect opportunity to blast ahead and pull away from his rival, slipping into first place at the 11th hour.

Results: Spring Series - race two: 1 RS 600 – Ken Potts, 2 RS 400 – Paul Davis and Beth Ford, 3 Laser – Paul Stanton.