GUNFLEET Sailing Club celebrated the start of the 2016 season with their fitting-out supper on Saturday.

Commodore Richard Walker welcomed a full house and thanked the record number of members that had helped with both the cliff clearance and the club’s work weekend.

The committee have worked hard to put together an impressive programme of activities on and off the water, with the focus being on the wonderful new beaches as part of the sea-defence scheme.

The Gunfleet Regatta, to be held on July 2 and 3, is already attracting interest from sailors from outside the district and the club’s cadet week, always a sell-out, has several exciting new activities in the planning.

Commodore Walker then presented Ken Potts with the Winter Series Trophy for his victory in 2015.

The rest of the Easter holiday was disrupted by Storm Katie, with winds gusting to 71mph.

The club’s permanent race marks, all laid just the previous week, were washed ashore and several boats were blown over in the compound.

The two races that had been planned to be held will now be re-run at a later date.