The annual Masters Trophy saw a great day of sailing with a good turnout and lots of close racing.
The day’s sailing counted scored points in the Autumn Series with the two races in the afternoon also scoring towards the Master Trophy. Racing was again delayed with very little wind at the normal start time of 11am, but shortly after 11am the wind appeared with winds around 10mph from the south. The race officer, Jerome Dreux assisted by Maddie Harris, Cara Ivers and Valère Dreux set a course from an upstream start (ie. away from the normal club OD box). The start was placed after the Cookham Bend with the start down the river to a C buoy on Cookham bend which was taken to port. The sailors then sailed downwind to a B buoy which was taken to starboard, they then returned about 40-50 metres downstream to a D buoy which was taken to port and then return back upstream to the A buoy which taken the port and tacked upwind back to the C buoy.
Six sailors took the start of the first race with Gary Adshead (OK 1998) making the best start just ahead of Dave Phillips (LN 259), Clive Evison (LN 412), Duncan Watts (LN 431), James Long (OK 1990) and Tanja van Wyngaardt (LN 155). The sailors took different tacks to get to the first buoy and it was busy as they rounded the buoy with several sailors needing to take wide lines at the contested buoy. The sailors encountered light winds in the centre of the course on the downwind leg and many took different routes down the course hunting out the wind with lots of jybing on the way down to the dog leg. Gary had pulled a good lead on the rest of the fleet when he rounded the first part of the return leg with Dave second, Clive third and James fourth. The positions were unchanged as they rounded the top A buoy and started their tacks downstream, with light winds in various parts of the course the sailors tacked to different parts of the river trying to hunt out the wind. Gary led with almost a thirty second lead by the end of the lap with Dave second and James managing to take third on the upwind leg ahead of Clive, Duncan fifth and Tanja sixth. The sailors were evenly matched on the downwind leg and the positions were the same as they reached the top of the course but on the tacks back up the river, James closed the gap to Dave and passed just before the C buoy and crossed the line to start the third lap. Tanja retired at the end of the second lap. Dave managed to retake second on the downwind leg of the third lap and a gap with some good positioning through the dog leg section in the light winds. Gary crossed the finish line to win the race with Dave just holding off James for second, Clive fourth and Duncan fifth.
The wind dropped slightly for the second race of the day with five sailors starting as Tanja didn’t start. Duncan and Gary made the best starts with Clive and Dave battling for third and James making a terrible start after finding there was no wind from his start position on the Berkshire bank. Gary took the lead by the end of the lap ahead of Duncan with Clive who now held a clear third position, Dave fourth and James fifth. On the second lap, Duncan managed to close the gap to the lead on the downwind leg with Clive still a clear third and Dave closing the gap slightly as they rounded the A buoy. Gary held on to take the win with Duncan second. On the tacks back up to the line Dave closed the gap to Clive and passed just before C buoy and crossed the finish line five seconds ahead of Clive. James came home a distant last.
The wind picked up considerably during the lunch break, it now being strong enough to see ripples on the water on the water in front of the club jetty. With the afternoon’s races counting towards the Masters Trophy, four sailors joined the five who had finished the second race with eight of them contesting the Masters Trophy and James sailing for points in the Autumn Series. With wind across the river, the nine sailors jostled at the start for position and sailed to the C buoy at the start with different tacking lines being taken as with the morning’s races. James had started closest to the Berkshire bank and had water advantage on the initial tack, calling starboard on the other sailors as they tacked back from Buckinghamshire bank. He passed all of the sailors until he got to Dave Phillips who fell in during his tack away when the mainsheet jammed and both came to a grinding halt. Dave was quickly back in the boat and they continued with most of the sailors now ahead. The sailors rounded the buoy and headed downwind to the B buoy with Gary, Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) and Duncan contesting the lead and the rest just behind. During the rest of the lap, Dave sailed his way back through the field up to third, Gary leading at the end of the lap by thirty seconds ahead of Andrew, Dave and Duncan. During the second lap, Dave had further problems with his mainsheet and fell back to sixth. The stronger winds were helping the boats with the larger sails and the OK sailors managed to pull away from the field and James passed the Lightnings on the upwind legs of the course to get into third with Marcus Robb crewed by Martin Church (M 3632) in their Merlin also making good progress, passing James at the C buoy, but then losing the place back on the downwind sail past the line. The Lightnings had dropped back and were led by Clive Evison with Dave just behind. Gary held the lead during the final lap and took the win ahead of Andrew with James closing the gap to the leaders and coming home third. Marcus finished fourth with Clive fifth, Duncan sixth, Dave seventh, Nick Reuter (L 125425) eighth and Christine Roy (LN 403) ninth. On Handicap (Masters Trophy), Gary was first, Andrew second and Clive third.
The final race of the day saw the strongest winds. Dave had spent the gap between the two races trying to fix his mainsheet and had rigged it with a simple rig from boom to a single block. The sailors tacked down to the first buoy and rounded a very busy first buoy with Marcus taking an early lead from Andrew and Clive. Andrew managed to pass Marcus on the tacks back downstream on the first lap and held a small lead at the end of the lap with Marcus second and Clive third. These three had a good lead over the rest of the fleet with James and Gary hotly contesting fourth and Nick just behind. On the second lap, Marcus retook the lead and pulled a small gap on Andrew and Clive dropping back in third. Gary was now fourth, James fifth, Nick sixth and Dave seventh and struggling with his underpowered mainsheet. Marcus maintained his lead on the final lap and took a clear win with Andrew second. Gary caught Clive on the tacks back to the C buoy and crossed the line a second ahead. Nick had caught James on the downwind leg of the final lap, but James managed to pull a gap on the tacks back to the finish line and finished fifth with Nick sixth, Dave seventh, Duncan eighth and Christine ninth. On Handicap scores for the Masters Trophy, Clive won the second race with Andrew second, Dave third and Gary fourth.
The overall scores meant that Clive Evison and Andrew Boxer were tied on points, but Clive won due to his higher placing in the final race of the day. Gary Adshead finished third. Clive also won the Masters class (ages 55 to 64) and Marcus Robb won the Great Grand-Masters age category with Christine Roy second.