Showers and gusty winds greeted the sailors on the second race day of the August Frolic on Sunday 8th August with winds from the south-west bearing round to the south and around Force 4 gusting to 5. The race officers, Jilly Blake and Pat Blake set a simple course with a heavily skewed start line to favour the sailors starting near the Buckinghamshire bank. From the start line the wind direction meant a broad reach and run down to the A buoy set just below the two large willow trees and positioned towards the Buckinghamshire bank. This buoy was taken to starboard before a series of close hauled tacks to reach the B buoy positioned upstream of the Cookham bend. The sailors then returned to the C buoy positioned mid-stream and at the downstream end of the club jetty. This last buoy was taken to starboard.
Only two sailors took a delayed start which started with both nowhere near the start line. James Long (OK 1990) took an immediate lead ahead of Jerome Dreux (LN 155). Both sailors found pockets of no wind on the Cookham bend and searched routes through the course to avoid these with varying luck. James managed to pull away during the race and took the win.
For the second race, there were again two starters with both making good starts and sailing through the line at the horn. Jerome took an initial lead around the bend, but James came back and was the first to jibe around the A buoy. They were closely matched back up the course and round the B and C buoys together. On the second lap, James pulled out a small gap which was extended slowly during the race, however, on the final lap he got stuck in one of the wind pockets on the Cookham bend and Jerome closed the gap, James managed to pull some of the gap out again during the rest of the lap and they finished separated by 1m27s and Jerome won by 5 seconds on corrected Handicap scores.
After lunch, Martin Evans (LN 150) and Clive Evison (OK 1695) joined the race. The course was altered with a D buoy positioned downstream of the bend and taken to starboard on the way up the course. The bottom C buoy was also changed to be taken to port to force another jibe and give the sailors a choice of continuing on their jibe across to the Buckinghamshire bank or immediately tacking back towards the club jetty.
Martin Evans made the best start and led the four sailors to the D buoy. By the end of the first lap, Martin led James, Clive and Jerome. On the second lap, Clive passed James on the run between the D buoy and the A buoy and the pair battled over the next couple of laps before Clive passed Martin and pulled away. James and Jerome dropped back a good distance and the race finished with Clive first across the line but Martin took the win on handicap. James finished third on the water, but finished behind Jerome on handicap.
The wind picked up the final race with some strong gusts which caught out some of the sailors during the race. All four sailors were closely matched on the first lap, before Clive pulled away from the pack and the gap continued to grow through the race. Martin initially held a strong second place, but James caught up and on the third lap, Martin got caught in a shifting gust which caused him to capsize. He was quickly upright, but not before he’d been caught by Jerome who was suffering in the wind pockets around the course. On the fourth lap, Martin pulled away from Jerome and closed the gap to James on the run between D and A. As James rounded the A buoy he was caught in another gust which overpowered the boat and he did a complete 360 before continuing with Martin closing the gap even more. Clive won the race with a 4 minute gap to second placed boat James’s OK and Martin 10 seconds behind in third which meant he finished second on handicap. Jerome finished a distant fourth.
With Andrew Boxer not sailing, James has now closed the gap in the points to three behind with Jerome third a further three points behind.