The strong winds which seemed to evade the Spring Series appeared for the first Sunday of racing in the Summer Series, although as is typical of Cookham they weren’t consistently strong or in the same direction. Sunday June 12th was the first racing of the Summer Series after the first Sunday’s racing was cancelled due to the Jubilee celebrations in Cookham, the weather was warm and mostly sunny with a westerly wind of about 10 knots with occasional gusts. As is typical of Cookham, the surrounding trees and hills by the river contributed to some unusual wind directions on the river with some dead pockets and in extreme circumstances, the wind bouncing off the trees and causing the wind to reverse direction.
The race officer, Jerome Dreux assisted by Cara Ivers and Duncan Watts set a course with the start line upstream from the OD box, a B buoy set towards the middle of the river on the Berkshire bank just below the Cookham Bend taken to starboard, then a D buoy set close to the Bucks bank at the bend and rounded to port. The top of the course A buoy was set in the middle of the river about 75m above the D buoy and taken to starboard before the sailors returned down the course to round the C buoy set about 50m below the jetty and taken to starboard. This C buoy was moved up towards the jetty for the second race as the sailors encountered a dead area of wind near to the buoy during the first race.
Four Handicap sailors and three Lightning 368 sailors took the start of the first race and Clive Evison made the best start in his Phantom (P 1355) with the two OKs chasing after him. The sailors were on a broad reach down to the first buoys, although the wind bounced off the trees and meant they were constantly changing their point of sail to keep powered up. Clive quickly pulled out a good gap on the rest, exploiting the gusts to accelerate away with James Long (OK 1990) battling closely with Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) for second just ahead of Mary Webb (LN 178) who had a clear lead in the Lightning 368 class. Andrew Yuille (LN 446) was involved in a close battle with Nick Reuter (L 125425) with Nigel Webb (LN 372) bringing up the rear. At the end of the lap, Clive led by three minutes from James, Andrew Boxer, Mary, Andrew Yuille, Nick and Nigel. On the second lap, James managed to eke out a gap over Andrew as he found a route back from the C buoy to the finish line on the Bucks bank whilst Andrew got stuck on the Berkshire side of the river. Mary had got into similar difficulties and Andrew Yuille and Nick passed her battling for fourth on the water. Clive had lapped the entire field by the end of the second lap and continued to win the race with James second with a good gap to Andrew third, Andrew Yuille fourth and winner of the Lightning 368 class, Nick fifth, Mary sixth and second in class and Nigel seventh, third in class. On Handicap, Clive won the Handicap class with James second and Andrew Boxer third.
The wind picked up the second race and Gary Adshead joined the race in OK 1998. The race start was close with the Handicap sailors exploiting the wind to lead away with Gary and Andrew battling for the lead just ahead of Nick in his Laser. The Lightnings were next up closely battling with James bringing up the rear in his OK after making a bad start after thinking there was still a minute to go until the start. Clive was late on the water, but quickly sped through the fleet. At the end of the lap, Gary had a small lead over Andrew Boxer, Nick was third and Clive speedily making up time in fourth. Andrew Yuille led the Lightning fleet ahead of Mary and Nigel. The wind dropped on the second lap and Clive continued to make up time taking the lead from Gary at the end of the lap who pulled out a gap over Andrew who held third. James had recovered from his awful start and made his way past the Lightnings to catch Nick. Rounding the bottom C buoy he had taken fourth place on the water on the tacks back to the start line. Mary had passed Andrew Yuille for the Lightning class lead with Nigel just behind in third. Clive lapped the Lightnings on the third lap and started his final lap with just over a minute’s lead ahead of Gary who continued to distance Andrew in third. Nick and James battled for fourth place in the Handicap fleet and as they rounded the C buoy the wind died completely. Both sailors sat at the buoy trying to pick up the wind which was visible 20m up the course. Andrew Yuille joined them and all three ended up floating back downstream. James decided to tack across to the Berkshire bank and managed to find a small puff of wind to move away from the buoy and with some roll tacks back and forth managed to escape the dead pocket. The wind came back just as Clive headed towards the C buoy and Andrew Yuille powered forwards. Nick was lapped just before the line as Clive came home to win with Gary following home second two minutes later and Andrew Boxer third only 24 seconds later having closed the gap on the final lap. James was a distant fourth as he was the last Handicap sailor to be unlapped and completed a slow lap in light winds. Andrew Yuille won the Lightning race with Mary second and Nigel third. On Handicap, Gary won the race with Andrew second and Clive third.
After lunch, the Wyatts joined the race in their Enterprise (E 2282) and Nigel sat out the afternoon races. The wind was stronger for the third race and more consistent compared with the morning lighter and shifting winds, so all the sailors were hopeful of some hiking and a bit of planing in the stronger winds. The race start was busy with sailors trying to find the windiest bit of the start line to exploit the start. Gary made the best start and led away with the rest of the fleet battling behind. Clive was late onto the water again and brought up the rear. At the C buoy, the fleet was very close together and they headed across to the D buoy. The Wyatts, James and the Lightnings rounded the buoy all together and pinched together to round the buoy. Mary squeezed into Andrew Yuille and he was pushed in front of the fleet pushing most of the boats across into the bank. Peter in his Enterprise and Andrew Boxer managed to squeeze through with the rest trying to recover behind. This meant that at the end of the lap, Gary had a lead of over two minutes ahead of Peter, Clive who had also avoided the carnage and taken third and Andrew Yuille, Andrew Boxer, James and Nick closely racing behind. Mary trailed back after being stuck on the bank for a long time and retired. During the second lap, Peter was slowed at the bottom of the course by light winds and Clive and Andrew Yuille passed with James, Nick and Andrew Boxer catching. At the line, Peter, James, Andrew and Nick crossed the line together. They spread out a little on the third lap and started catching third place Andrew Yuille, with Peter in fourth place, James fifth, Nick sixth and Andrew Boxer seventh. Clive eventually caught Gary on the fourth lap and passed just as they were crossing the line to start their penultimate lap. Behind, Peter had taken third place and James had passed Andrew Yuille for fourth. Andrew Boxer had found a dead spot and Nick had taken fifth. Clive powered away on the final two laps to take the win on the water with Gary second and Peter third. Andrew Yuille had sailed an excellent fifth lap and taken back fourth on the water. Clive passed James on the line to lap him meaning Andrew was the last sailor on the lead lap. James finished fourth in class with Andrew catching on his last lap to finish fifth and Nick sixth. On Handicap, Gary won the third race ahead of Peter with Clive third. Andrew Yuille won the Lightning class.
The final race of the day again saw decent wind strength. Mary sat out the final race leaving seven boats to start the race. James made the best start and led the sailors to the first buoy with the rest chasing, it was a short-lived moment of glory as Andrew passed him just before the D buoy. Clive again starting late was chasing the fleet and at the end of the lap, Clive had already passed the fleet to take the lead. Behind Andrew was sailing excellently and held a healthy second place with James third and Peter fourth. On the second lap, Peter passed James for third, Gary fifth, Nick sixth and Andrew Yuille sixth. On the third lap, Clive now held a significant lead over Andrew boxer and the battle for third hotted up as Peter, James and Gary closed up. Gary managed to pass both by the end of the lap. James dropped back through the fleet on the fourth lap after hitting the D buoy and having to carry out a penalty turn only to find he’d chosen an area of the river with no wind to do it. Andrew Yuille recovered to fifth place and James battled Nick for the rest of their final lap. Rounding the C buoy Nick took sixth. Clive lapped everyone Gary on the penultimate lap, so Clive, Andrew and Gary sailed lonely final laps with Peter coming home fourth, Andrew Yuille fifth, Nick sixth and James last after such a great start.