GUNFLEET Sailing Club held the concluding race of their Winter Series, which was also the final race of 2016.

The blue sky and sunshine helped mask the cold easterly wind which was blowing between force four and six.

At a rather scattered start, Ken Potts, in his Laser, was the only competitor to be right on the button, heading up the coast to the Kingscliff buoy in almost total isolation.

At just the wrong time, Andy Dunnett suffered with gear failure on his Laser but stayed at sea to fix things before chasing after the rest of the pack which, by this time, were well ahead of him.

The second leg, a reach out to the Seaward buoy, gave the opportunity for the fleet to really fly, with the flooding tide helping the boats on their way.

Everyone handled the gybe well, at the offshore mark, and then it was a broad reach into the Eastcliff buoy.

The helms just had time to get their breath back before a beat out to AWS and then a run back to Eastcliff, the final leg being a close haul back through the line.

As the dinghies went round the Eastcliff buoy for the first time it was noticeable that Rob Lockett was handling his Laser especially well and was level-pegging with Derroll Pedder, in his Solution.

By the time the two had made the AWS mark, Lockett had gained a good lead but unfortunately he then headed back out to the Seaward buoy, in error, while Pedder and the other competitors correctly ran back to Eastcliff.

At the end of the first lap it was of little surprise that Potts was leading, but further back things weren’t quite so black and white.

Positions changed, then changed again, and just as Lockett looked to be making a comeback he capsized and allowed Yvonne Gough in her Laser to move up a place.

Determined not to be at a the back of the fleet after his terrible start, Dunnett had been picking-off his rivals, one at a time, and by the end of the second lap was lying in third place, just behind Pedder.

Potts convincingly took both the race and the series overall.

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