A smaller than usual fleet for the Spring Series saw both Andrew Boxer and Martin Evans consolidate their leads in the Spring Series. Sunday May 22nd again saw fairly light winds of around a little of 5 knots, this time a little more southerly than recent weeks, but still shifting round towards the east, particularly with the gusts which were around 10-12 knots. Race officer Richard Cartwright, assisted by John Bridges and Clive Church set a simple course with an upstream start, passing a B buoy set on the Cookham bend towards the Berkshire bank, then rounding an A buoy set just above the bend again to starboard. Then the sailors returned to the bottom of the course passing a D buoy set in the middle of the river at the bend taken to port and rounding the bottom C buoy to starboard which was set mid-river just below the start line.
The reduced fleet comprised of four Lightnings and three Handicap boats with Clive Evison (P 1355) making the best start and quickly opening a gap on the rest of the boats. Behind, Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) quickly settled into second place in the Handicap race ahead of Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) and James Long (OK 1990) who were battling over third. The Lightnings were closer with Martin Evans (LN 150), Mary Webb (LN 372), Andrew Yuille (LN 446) and Nigel Webb (LN 372) battling over the class lead. At the end of the first lap, Martin led the field by a small margin to Andrew, Mary with Nigel trailing. However, on the second lap, Andrew managed to sneak ahead and assume the lead from Martin. The dice continued on the third lap with Martin resuming first place and it was to go horribly wrong on the last lap for Andrew when he got stuck in an area of the course with little wind and dropped back through the field, with first Mary passing him and then Nigel passing him for third. Martin, meanwhile had opened up a healthy lead and crossed the line to take the win, with Mary second, Nigel catching up in third and Andrew fourth. In the Handicap class, Clive held a huge lead at the end of the first lap as his Phantom powered through the light winds and Clive managed to find the best routes around the course to find the wind. Andrew was second with a small gap to Jerome and James who were separated by the tiniest of gaps. On the second lap, Jerome managed to find some wind and extended his gap over James and managed to catch Andrew, passing him for second. Andrew was not beaten though and fought back, passing Jerome and resuming second with James a long way back in last place. Clive continued to extend his lead over the others to win by a lap with Andrew and Jerome continuing to battle over the last lap and Andrew finished second and Jerome third. On Handicap, Andrew was first, Jerome second, Clive third and James fourth.
The wind was fairly similar for the start of the second race as the sailors jostled on the line, however closer to the start the wind dropped and it was hard going down to the bend. In the Lightning race, on the run from the middle B buoy to the A buoy the sailors tried different parts of the river to find wind and Nigel managed to exploit a different route from the rest down the Berkshire bank, but closer to the A buoy the middle of the river was windier and the sailors caught back and the A buoy became very busy as sailors tried to negotiate a route around with some having to jybe whilst others moved from a broad reach to close haul around the buoy. Back at the line, Andrew Yuille led Martin with Nigel third and Mary fourth. Martin passed Andrew on the second lap and Mary took third, although the battle of the Webbs was very close. With the lighter winds, the laps were considerably slower and only three laps were run before the shortened course hooter was heard, Martin won with Andrew second, Mary third and Nigel just behind in fourth.
In the Handicap race, Clive had already opened up a sizeable gap on the downwind leg with the three OKs battling over second. Back at the line, Andrew was second, James third and Jerome fourth, all separated by small gaps. Andrew took advantage of the lighter winds and opened up his second place gap to the rest leading by a couple of minutes at the end of the second lap. Behind this, Jerome continued in third with James chasing just behind in fourth. On the final lap, Andrew managed to close in some of the gap to Clive but Clive crossed the finish line first with a gap of a minute and forty seconds to Andrew. James had managed to pass Jerome on the final lap after Jerome took a wide line into the bottom C buoy and stalled in a wind pocket allowing James to sneak inside rounding the buoy. James extended third place on the final lap. On Handicap, Andrew won with Clive second.
The typical stronger winds blew through the course during lunchtime giving the sailors hope for a better afternoon. However, as per usual they dropped again just before the ten minute call. Martin Evans sat out the afternoon races leaving Andrew, Nigel and Mary to battle out the Lightning class.
Mary got the better start in slightly stronger winds than the second race, although the winds dropped again as the race progressed. At the bend, Nigel continued to exploit the Berkshire bank to his advantage, although it appeared to be an intermittent advantage. At the end of the lap, Mary led, Andrew second and Nigel third. On the second lap, Mary lost her advantage in a wind pocket, allowing Andrew to take over the lead and he held this to the flag with Mary and Nigel fighting over second. Mary held on to the end and took second with Nigel third. In the Handicap fleet, Clive powered away from the start and immediately opened up a gap in the lead, the OKs again fought for second place with Andrew again sailing well in the light wind conditions to move into second place once they’d sailed the downwind leg and rounded the A buoy. Behind, James and Jerome fought for third place and were closely matched as they crossed the line at the end of the lap. Clive pulled away on the second lap, opening up a huge gap over Andrew, James held on to third with Jerome close behind. On the third lap, the battle for third closed up and Jerome passed James leading by a few seconds as they started the penultimate lap. Clive was now closing in on the third place battle and lapped James as they completed the lap. Clive won the race with a six minute lead over Andrew with Jerome third a further two minutes behind. On. Handicap, Andrew won ahead of Clive.
Race officer, Richard decided to shorten the course for the final race of the afternoon and removed the A buoy from the course. It would now be a course of the B buoy taken to starboard, D buoy taken to starboard and C buoy to starboard. Nigel and Mary sat out the final race of the day leaving Andrew Yuille to sail alone in the Lightning class and gauge himself against the Handicap fleet. Clive also decided to give the OKs a chance of a race win. All four sailors were closely matched as they set off and the battle continued all the way to the bottom of the course rounding the D buoy. Andrew pulled ahead on the tacks back up the course, leading James with Jerome battling with Andrew Yuille. The wind dropped on the second lap and the four sailors closed up with the three OKs very closely matched as they rounded the C buoy to complete the lap, Andrew leading James by a couple of seconds with Jerome another two seconds behind, the race win looked like it would go to any one of the sailors. This would all change on the third lap when a group of Canadian canoes from Longridge appeared on the race course and the battle was over. James had just pulled ahead with a good gap over Jerome and Andrew who were battling over second as they sailed broad reach down past the B buoy and found the canoes blocking the route around the bottom buoy. James had to tack to find a route through the canoes and this allowed Andrew to retake the lead as he managed to find the best route through the canoes. At the end of the lap, Andrew had a minute and a half lead over the other two OKs who were now battling for best of the rest. He continued to lead the final lap and took the win with James second, Jerome third and Andrew Yuille fourth.