Sunday 24th April saw a day of gusty and heavily shifting winds from the north-east. Only four sailors decided to go out in the odd conditions after the weather forecast had predicted very strong wind for the weekend, however, when the sailors arrived at the clubhouse the wind was considerably lighter and mostly found upstream past Cookham bend. The race officer, Martin Evans assisted by Maddie Harris and Merelene Davis set a three buoy course with an upstream start, the bottom C buoy was set above the start line due to the complete lack of wind at the club jetty. The sailors sailed from the start line up to a B buoy set on Cookham bend and taken to starboard, then up to an A buoy set between Cookham bend and Andrew’s beach, this was taken to starboard and the sailors returned down the course, taking the B buoy to starboard before rounding the bottom C buoy to port.
The four sailors set off with very little wind at the bottom of the course, Dave Phillips and Martin Church in Enterprise 21099 with the three OKs, Jerome Dreux (OK 2007), Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) and James Long (OK 1990) chasing behind. The three OKs battled up the course to the bend with Jerome opening up a gap just below the bend and pulling away from Andrew and James who were closely matched. The upper part of the course saw a lot better wind conditions with winds in the early teens gusting to around 20 knots. Dave and Martin had opened a considerable gap by the time they rounded the top buoy and also found the best route back downwind rounding the buoy at the end of the lap with over a minute’s lead. They continued to extend the lead on the second lap with Jerome maintaining his lead over James and Andrew. At the end of the lap, Andrew had a small gap over James as they rounded the bottom C buoy and he headed straight for the Berkshire bank, but James followed and the wind dropped on the buoy and James spent around ten minutes trying to sail up from the buoy before a small puff managed to drive him forward and he was now trailing far behind. Dave completed the next lap with Jerome second, but at the top buoy Andrew was hit by a gust and got tied up his mainsheet and capsized. James passed him for third. Dave started his final lap with a ten minute lead and sailed to take the win with Jerome second and James managing to close up his huge deficit to find three minutes behind in third. Andrew had retired after his dip in the Thames.
The course was changed for the second race after the problems with the C buoy. The start line was taken up river and positioned at the dead tree above the Cookham bend. The B buoy would now be the bottom mark and taken to starboard. Dave again made an excellent start with the three OKs behind and battling up the course with the four boats tacking across various parts of the river searching for the gusts. The heavily shifting winds which had plagued the sailors in the lower part of the course in the first race, now moved up above the bend as the wind direction had shifted slightly and the bottom of the course saw both the lightest and the most shifting wind directions. This would catch out the sailors at various times through the second race. Dave led across the line at the end of the first lap with Andrew second, Jerome third and James last. The three OKs were closely matched and Jerome took second place from Andrew on the second lap. Dave extended his lead throughout the race and won with Jerome holding on to second. At the end of the final lap, James managed to snatch third from Andrew.
The course changed again for the third race and the bottom B buoy was now taken to port. Dave again took an early lead which he held throughout the race, with the only potential problem being a forced tack to avoid a cruiser. Behind the Enterprise, Andrew took second place and battled with Jerome throughout the race. James settled into fourth place and was got into several difficulties with a cruiser causing a forced tack on the Bucks bank, then another cruiser pinching him at the B buoy in the middle of the race and finally two rowers and their launch blocking him at the top buoy on the penultimate lap. He trailed home last.
The final race of the day was by far the best with the wind picking up and the tricky wind shifts appearing to disappear from most of the course. Dave again took the lead and pulled away from the OKs which battled throughout the race changing positions several times a lap. Each of the OK sailors tried different tacking routes up the course and the top buoy challenged all the sailors as the wind direction had changed and required the sailors to sail above the buoy on the Berkshire bank before sailing across to the buoy and round it. Jerome led the OKs around the top buoy at the end of the first lap, but hit the buoy as he rounded it and had to do a 360 penalty. This allowed James through to claim second at the end of the first lap, Jerome managed to retake the position and was second for the next two laps with James third and Andrew fourth. At the top buoy on the penultimate lap, Jerome held second, James just behind in third and Andrew had dropped back quite a bit in last. On the downwind leg, Andrew managed to ride a gust and planed downwind closing some of the gap. They started the last lap with Dave leading by some distance, Jerome second, James third and Andrew fourth. On the tacks back up the course, Andrew managed to find some good lines up the course and closed the gap and the four OK sailors rounded the buoy together. Jerome misjudged his tack around the jybe around the buoy and hit it and Andrew crept past James to take third. Jerome served his penalty and resumed in third with James chasing just behind. He managed to gain on the downwind and had an overlap at the bottom buoy taking the inside line around the buoy. Andrew tacked back up to the line to take second place with James third and Jerome fourth.