Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) took two excellent wins out of two races to lead the Winter Series after the first day’s sailing in the Series.
Racing was delayed at Cookham due to very strong winds from the south-west with shifting gusts of around 50mph in the early morning. Luckily, this subsided and when the two sailors started racing winds were around 20mph gusting to 30+mph from the south-south-west shifting round to southerlies. The race officer, Mary Webb assisted by Nigel Webb, Andy Comber and Clive Evison set a course with a B buoy on the Berkshire side of the bend taken to starboard, an A buoy taken to port, a D buoy just upstream of the B buoy on the Buckinghamshire bank which was taken to port for the first race, but switched to starboard for the second race and then finally a C buoy in the middle of the stream at the clubhouse taken to starboard.
In the first race, Jerome made the best start and led with a clear gap going down to the C buoy. The two sailors took different lines with Jerome immediately tacking after the buoy and James Long (OK 1990) sailing towards the Berkshire bank before tacking giving him a longer run back to the bend before tacking at the Bucks bank. This allowed James to close the gap and they were separated by 3 seconds at the end of the lap. Jerome extended his lead on the second lap as James took on water when he was caught in a gust rounding the A buoy and they were separated by 45 seconds at the end of the lap. On the third lap, James caught back up with a good downwind plane to the A buoy in a gust and he took Jerome with his tack to the Bucks bank and longer line back to the bend. James led the fourth lap, but on the fifth lap he lost the lead when he capsized, luckily managing a dry capsize and quickly recovering the boat, albeit now full of water. Jerome extended the lead on the sixth lap as James was slowed with the extra weight. On the final lap, Jerome extended his lead further and won easily as James capsized again as he was caught in a gust during a tack between the A buoy and D buoy.
As the sailors prepared for the second race by emptying their OKs, the wind appeared to gain in strength and some serious gusts came through the race course during the race. Jerome again made the better start and they planed downwind to the A buoy with some strong gusts powering the boats down the course. James managed to take the lead during the tacks back downstream to the C buoy and led with a small gap as they crossed the line. They were separated by a tiny gap during the course of the second and third laps. On the fourth lap, a very strong gust hit them as they approached the A buoy and James had trouble holding the overpowered OK as he reached the buoy and he was pushed the wrong side of the buoy requiring a tack and a jybe to get back round and take the buoy to port. Jerome took the lead and led at the end of the fourth lap, he caught back up during the sixth lap and retook the lead on the tacks to the D buoy. As they rounded the A buoy on the final lap, it was very close with James narrowly leading but another gust caught him out as he made his second tack as they passed the D buoy and he capsized again, managing another dry capsize and quick recovery and capsized a second time, this time into the water. Jerome won the race with James coming home a distant second.