The weather forecast for Sunday 1st May predicted little to no wind for sailing at Cookham Reach, but luckily they got it wrong. South-easterly winds of around 10mph meant sailing could go ahead and race officer Clive Church assisted by Sue and Martin Church set another of Clive’s challenging and unusual courses. This one consisted of a sail from the start line at the OD box up to the top A buoy set about 100 metres above Cookham bend which was rounded to port, the sailors returned down to the B buoy set between the bend and the A buoy and rounded that to port. They then returned back up the A buoy rounded that to port and sailed back down the course to the bottom C buoy positioned about 20m out from the bottom end of the club jetty, they rounded this to port and sailed back up to a D buoy set about 10m above the jetty and rounded that to port. Then they returned to the C buoy, rounded that port and sailed back up to the start-finish line to start another lap. On paper, this course seemed very complicated, but on the water all the sailors agreed it was easy to comprehend and keep track of where you were going next. The only confusion was caused by Clive who changed all the buoys to starboard in the afternoon’s final race.
Four sailors started the first race with very light winds at the start line. The two Lightning sailors made the best start and Martin Evans (LN 150) immediately raced off into the lead with Duncan Watts (LN 431) behind. The two OK sailors found going slower in the light winds with Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) and James Long (OK 1990) closely matched. The sailors found a few patches of stronger winds going up the course with the best wind found just above Cookham bend. With slightly shifting winds and some light gusts coming through the course, the sailors moved around the river trying to find the best going on a broad reach before reaching the top mark and jybing around the buoy. Martin had built up a good lead by the top buoy with the two OK sailors together having caught up Duncan and the three jostled around the buoys. They returned back down the course with tacks across the river to find the wind, some choosing the Berkshire bank once they had got past the bend and others choosing to sail down the Bucks bank avoiding the willow trees on a tight close haul. Martin crossed the end of the first lap in first with almost a minute’s lead with James now second and Andrew just behind in third. Duncan had got stuck in a wind dead pocket and trailed. Back up at the top buoy, James caught the top buoy and had to do a turn which proved hard in light winds and dropped to the back. This separated out the sailors and Martin sailed home to take the win with Andrew a distant second, Duncan third having caught up some of his gap and James a long way behind in last having got stuck in a dead wind pocket on the bottom buoy.
The wind was lighter for the second race and the Lightnings again made the best start with Duncan giving Martin a closer race this time, the OKs were closer in the lightest winds in the bottom of the course and Andrew opened a good gap on James. The two Lightning were still battling as they reached the bottom of the course, but Martin made better going round the bottom buoys and led across the line by fourteen seconds to start the second lap. Behind, Andrew had a sizeable gap over James who had recovered some of his gap once the wind picked up the middle of the course but was still fifty seconds ahead. On the second lap, James dropped back getting caught in a dead spot on the Berkshire bank, Duncan managed to close up all of the gap to Martin at the buoys and the battle for the win was now on. Martin managed to hold on as they rounded the buoys at the bottom of the course and he crossed the line to take the win with Duncan ten seconds behind. Andrew came home a lonely third with James a very distant last.
At the lunch break, new member Andrew Yuille launched his brand new Lightning (LN 446) to join the Lightning racers. Martin Church put the club OK (OK 1695) onto the water to join the OK sailors. The wind was a bit better for the third race and appeared to be increasing with a slight change in direction around to the east. These stronger winds allows the OK sailors to make better going and Andrew Boxer made a brilliant start to lead away with the rest of the chasing pack. The sail upstream to the first buoy was more of a run than the morning’s broad reach and at the top buoy Andrew Boxer had a clear lead with Martin Evans second, James third, Martin Church fourth and Andrew Yuille and Duncan next up. The five chasing sailors were very closely matched causing congestion around the buoys and James managed to pass Martin for second taking a wide line around one of the buoys and picking up some momentum. They returned to the bottom of the course with sailors close hauling around the top mark, sailing across the river to the Bucks bank and tacking back across to the middle of the river or across to the Berkshire bank before sailing close haul down to the bottom of the course. This meant that lots of differing lines were taken to try and find the fastest route with consistent wind to the C buoy. Andrew held a clear lead and rounding the C buoy for the second time by the time the rest of the sailors arrived, he completed the first lap with a forty second lead with James just ahead of Martin Evans and Martin Church with Andrew Yuille ahead of Duncan in the other two Lightnings. Andrew Boxer extended his lead on the second lap ahead of Martin who had got ahead of James at the top buoy, rounding the buoy James hit Martin’s stern had to take two penalty rotations falling back behind Martin, Andrew Yuille and Duncan. The C buoy was congested and Andrew Yuille managed to sneak up the inside of Martin Church at the buoy, James copying this to pass Duncan at the buoy too. As they were doing this, Andrew Boxer had already crossed the line to take the win with Martin Church finishing second. The battle around the buoys and then back up to the finish line saw Andrew Yuille cross the line third, Martin Church fourth, James Long fifth and Duncan last.
The wind finally appeared to be consistent and of decent strength for the final race and the sailors tacked around at the start line setting themselves up for the start. Andrew Boxer again made a good start, his boat quickly picking up speed and racing off into a good lead with Martin Evans second and the rest close behind. The buoys were busy again with overlaps causing sailors to take different lines to avoid contact and try and find a quicker route in and out of the marks. Andrew Yuille managed to make good headway at the buoys and starting the second lap had moved into third place with James fourth and Martin Church close behind. Duncan had got into a wind pocket in the middle of the course on the route up to the first buoy and trailed. Andrew Boxer and Martin Evans continued to pull away with Martin holding on to Andrew and maintaining his gap in second place. They had several minutes lead on the rest of the pack, Andrew still held third and Martin Church got ahead of James going down to the C buoy from the top of the course. On the third lap, Andrew Boxer extended his lead over Martin who had a slower lap and allowed Andrew Yuille to close in, although the gap between the two was still almost two minutes. Martin Church pulled away from James who had sat at the bottom buoy at the end of his lap. The sailors moved into their final lap and Andrew Boxer continued to lead around the final circuit and took the win with over a minutes lead to Martin Evans in second. Behind, Andrew Yuille and Martin Church slowed considerably sailing up to the top buoy when the wind dropped below the buoy. This allowed James to close in after taking a direct route from the bottom buoy to the top and was about a minute behind the pair as they rounded the top buoy. He continued to close the gap on the circuits round the top buoys and back down the course to the bottom buoy. Martin Church passed Andrew Yuille as they rounded the bottom buoy with James sneaking past on the route up to the D buoy. James was now on the tail of Martin as they rounded the D buoy but Martin had managed to ensure there wasn’t an overlap and maintained this down to the bottom and final buoy. Martin got a lift back up to the finish line and they crossed the line with Martin eight seconds ahead of James and Andrew Yuille just behind. Duncan trailed home last.