The Coronation Trophies were held on Sunday June 19th after being postponed from two weeks prior due to the Jubilee celebrations. The postponement benefitted the sailing as the wind was excellent, with northwesterly to northerlies of a pretty consistent 15mph with some stronger winds in parts of the sailing course, but very few gusts or shifting winds passing through the course. The race officer, Tricia Evison assisted by Gary Adshead and June Bridges set a course with a start/finish line at the club jetty, a B buoy set about 30m upstream of Cookham Bend on the Berkshire bank taken to starboard, a top A buoy set about 50m downstream of Andrew’s Beach and a C buoy set about 10m below the start/finish line and again taken to starboard.
Four sailors competed in the Handicap class and three in the Lightning class for the first race and the strong winds seemed to benefit the Handicap sailors as they led away from the start. Clive Evison (P 1355) made the best start leading away from Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) with James Long (OK 1990) just behind. By the time they’d got to the first buoy, Clive had a clear lead with Andrew and James very closely matched and battling all the way up the course as they tacked back and forth trying to find the best spots of wind. On the upper part of the course, the wind was as its best and they reached the top buoy with Clive pulling away from the field, Andrew second, James third and Nick Reuter (L 125425) fourth. The Lightnings followed with Duncan Watts (LN 431) ahead of Mary Webb (LN 178) and Nigel Webb (LN 372) third. They started the downwind leg from the top A buoy back to the C buoy with the wind direction meaning a couple of jybes on the way down the course to pick up the wind direction on the run. Clive rounded the bottom buoy and led across the line by a minute, Andrew and James were still very closely matched as Andrew crossed the line second and one second ahead and Nick followed in fourth a minute behind. Duncan was next up and first of the Lightnings with Mary second and Nigel third. The positions were the same at the end of the second lap with Andrew still only just ahead of James. The final lap saw Clive cross the line to win the race by over six minutes, behind James had managed to pass Andrew around the top buoy by taking a different line to the buoy. Andrew had tacked across to the Berkshire bank just before the buoy and headed closehauled up the bank to the buoy whilst James sailed across to the Bucks bank and seemed to find some stronger winds and despite it being a longer route with the A buoy being positioned closer to the Berkshire bank he sailed inside Andrew and rounded the buoy second. They raced down to the finish line with Andrew initially pulling alongside James, but as they passed the bend, Andrew took the Bucks side and James sailed the Berkshire bend and pulled away to cross the line second. Nick crossed the line fourth. After Handicap adjustment, James won the race with Andrew second and Clive third. Having led the Lightning race for two laps, Duncan lost the lead when he got stuck in a dead patch of wind on the final lap and Mary managed to take the lead which she held to the line. Duncan came home second and Nigel third.
Nigel decided to sit out the second race and so six sailors took the start with lighter winds at the bottom of the course hampering the sailors. Clive again made a good start, but Andrew held on to his tails as they tacked up the course. James and Nick battled for third up to the first buoy, but James managed to pull out a small gap on the bend and pulled clear in third which he held around the first lap. Behind Nick fell back and joined the two Lightnings which were battling for the class lead. Mary crossed the line at the end of the lap in the class lead with Duncan second. The bottom of the course was causing some problems for all the sailors and meant that the second lap would be the last of the race. Clive continued to pull out a lead with Andrew sailing well in second and pulling away from James in third and they finished in those positions with Nick retiring from fourth place when the tiller on his Laser snapped. Mary pulled clear of Duncan who was suffering in the light winds and Mary took the class win with Duncan second.
After the lunch break, the sailors prepared for the third race of the day, the race officers decided to move the C buoy upstream and it was positioned 30 metres upstream of the jetty meaning if the sailors got a shortened course flag , they would have to sail past the C buoy to starboard before sailing down to the finishing line. Nick Reuter switched to the club OK (OK 1695), the Wyatts joined in their Enterprise (E 22828) and Nigel rejoined the racing in his Lightning meaning eight started the race. The wind gusted through the jetty area before the start promising much for the race, but it dropped as the five minute horn sounded and at the start it was hard going in light winds. James again made a good start from the Bucks bank whilst on the Berkshire bank Nick Reuter made a very good start and led Clive, Andrew, the Wyatts and Duncan as they hugged the bank alongside the moored cruisers. By the bend, Clive had moved into the lead with James just behind in second place and just about sneaking past the wooden post at the bend on a starboard tack before tacking at the bank and picking up the wind. He followed Clive across the river and they both pulled clear of the rest of the fleet. Behind, Andrew was battling with the Wyatts for third and as they rounded the top buoy he held a small gap over the Enterprise. Nick was adjusting to sailing an OK for the first ever time and racing amongst the Lightning fleet, however Duncan was having a blinding race and pulling clear of Nick and the other two Lightnings to take a clear class lead. The Webbs were involved in a close tussle for second in class and crossed the line separated by a couple of seconds. As with the second race, the slow going in light winds meant this would be another two lap race. James was managing to hold on to Clive as they started the second lap, but nearing the top of the course, Clive pulled clear and James was slowed by light winds near the A buoy and struggled to round the buoy. Andrew and Peter Wyatt closed the gap, James rounding the buoy with about twenty seconds lead over the other OK and the Enterprise. He managed to hold on to take second place with Andrew third just ahead of Peter. Nick came home fourth in class with a boat full of water after discovering the club OK’s self bailers were leaking. Duncan had continued to sail a fantastic race and came home with a very convincing win with over seven minutes On the final lap, Mary pulled away from Nigel to take second in class.
Both Coronation Trophies were still contested for the final race, with Andrew Boxer and James Long tied on points and capable of taking the Handicap win and Mary Webb and Duncan Watts tied on points to win the Lightning trophy. Clive and Nigel decided to sit out the final race of the day. The winds were light at the start line with wind a little stronger about 30m above the line. James again made a good start from the Bucks bank with the other sailors starting further towards the Berkshire bank. As he reached the middle of the river, the wind direction shifted and allowed him to pull into the lead by sailing directly up river. On the Berkshire bank, the Wyatts held second ahead of Andrew and Nick and Duncan led the Lightnings. As they tacked up the course, Peter managed to close in on James by sailing across to the Bucks bank and sailing directly up the bank closing a lot of the gap. They rounded the A buoy battling for the lead with Duncan third and leading the Lightnings and Andrew fourth and third in the Handicap class. James held the lead on the run downwind to the C buoy and rounded to start the second lap in the lead by sixteen seconds. Andrew was a minute and a half behind in third. Duncan continued to sail another good race and held third on the water with a three and a half minute lead over Mary. On the second lap, James managed to pull clear in the lead and had over three minutes lead as they entered the final lap. Duncan had sailed brilliantly and taken the Enterprise for second on the water with an amazing downwind plane in a gust. The Wyatts were third with a minute and a half lead over Andrew third in class. Mary had retired from the race leaving Duncan to sail on alone in the Lightning class.
Going into the final lap, James held a very healthy lead and sailed back up the course with good consistent wind up to and past the bend all the way up the B buoy. Above the B buoy, the wind started to drop and as he approached the top of the course he ground to a halt with the light winds shifting all over the place. Duncan, the Wyatts and Andrew closed in to about 50m behind, Andrew had made impressive going as he was some distance behind the Wyatts going into the final lap and was now contesting second place in class. James managed to get going again slowly having found that the point of sail was now a run which varied back and forth between run, broad reach and close haul. He managed to edge up to the buoy where he found a light breeze which allowed him to edge around the buoy. The gap was maintained all the way back to the finish line and he took the win. Behind, Duncan rounded the buoy second on the water ahead of the Enterprise and Andrew contesting second place in class around the A buoy. The battle for second in the Handicap race continued all the way back down to the course to the finish with Andrew just edging it. However, Duncan was second on the water and winning the Lightning class. Nick came home fifth with another boat full of water, but had enjoyed his first OK sail.
The Lightning Coronation Trophy could not have been closer, with both Mary and Duncan winning two races each and a second each too. Duncan won having dropped another second place whilst Mary dropped a retired finish. Mary finished second in class and Nigel third. In the Handicap race, James won the Handicap Coronation Trophy after taking three wins and a third with Andrew second and
The four races of the day also scored points towards the 2022 Summer Series and James Long now leads the Summer Series Handicap class with Clive Evison second and Andrew Boxer third. In the Lightning class, Andrew Yuille continues to lead with Mary second and Duncan third.