The sailors arrived at Cookham Reach Sailing Club to a glorious Summer’s day on Sunday 10th July with just enough wind to allow racing to go ahead. Winds of a few mph from the west and shifting to southerlies allowed the sailors to proceed around the course with gusts of 5-10mph randomly appearing across the course meant racing was unpredictable and kept the sailors on their toes.
The race officer Richard Cartwright assisted by Leo Salem and Andrew Grainger set a simple course of a B buoy taken to starboard positioned just above the Cookham Bend on the Berkshire side of the river, a top A buoy about 50m above this in the middle of the river again taken to starboard, a D buoy positioned at the bend and taken to port and a C buoy taken to starboard positioned in the middle of the river in front of the jetty. Four Lightning 368 sailors took the start whilst the five Handicap boats waited below the start line for their separate start.
Lightning 368 class races
Mary Webb (LN 178) and Duncan Watts (LN 431) made the best start in very light winds and hugged the Berkshire bank up the course with Nigel Webb (LN 372) following just behind. Andrew Yuille in LN 446 initially managed to power forward, but about 20m above the line, the wind in the middle of the river where he started died and he was left trying to find the wind to progress and ended up floating back down the course below the line before finding a gust to start his race. By this time, Mary and Duncan were up at the B buoy with Nigel half way up to the first buoy. Mary led at the end of the lap with Duncan behind, Nigel third and Andrew trailing in fourth. There would be a dramatic change on the final lap of the race when the sailors at the front suffered in the light winds going up the course, allowing Andrew to close up some of the gap. Andrew got a further gust on the downwind leg and caught and passed both Duncan and Mary to cross the line and take the win. Nigel had also found the gust and passed them both to take second with Mary coming home third and Duncan last having been clearly leading only minutes before!
Andrew managed to find the wind on his second start and the four sailors sailed away from the line together with Mary initially holding the lead. Andrew took the lead by the end of the lap with Mary second, Duncan third and Nigel fourth. The winds were very light on the first lap and continued to be so going up the course on the second lap, but picked up as they sailed back down the course to the finish line and Andrew had a good downwind leg to hold on for the race win, Duncan found a good gust to take second from Mary and Nigel came home fourth.
The wind picked up during the early part of the lunchbreak and it looked hopeful for the afternoon, despite what the weather forecast was saying. However, by 1.30pm it had dropped again and it was very light for the first afternoon race. The race officers set a shorter course by removing the A and D buoys from the course.
Only three Lightnings took the start in the afternoon with Nigel dropping out. The three sailors were closely matched with Andrew taking the lead by the end of the lap and he pulled away during the second lap to take the win. Behind, Mary had taken second and pulled out a very healthy gap over Duncan who was suffering in the light wind.
Mary decided to sit out the final race of the day, leaving the two Mark 3 Lightnings to battle it out for the final win of the day. They were closely matched as they set off up the course, Andrew leading by the end of the lap and he held on for the rest of the race to take the win ahead of Duncan.
Handicap class races
The Handicap race started with three of the sailors sitting near the Berkshire bank and two across the river. There didn’t appear to be any advantage as the sailors met up about halfway up to the first mark. The sailors found the strange wind conditions that the Lightning sailors discovered and the point of sail allowed them to round the B buoy to go hunting for gusts up to the top buoy. Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) rounded the buoy first with James Long (OK 1990) following immediately behind, a small gap had opened behind with Nick Reuter (L 125425) contesting third with Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) and Tanja van Wyngaardt and Cara Ivers just behind them in their Enterprise (E 5980). James managed to overtake Andrew by taking a different line downwind to the Cookham bend and rounded the C buoy and crossed the line first with Andrew second, Nick third, Jerome fourth and Tanja+Cara fifth. The light winds across the course were causing problems for everyone and meant a slow lap. James continued to lead and extended his lead up the course to the top buoy, behind, Nick and Jerome had closed the gap and a battle for second place was on. James started his downwind sail to the line, but at the bend found the wind had died completely and the three sailors behind closed up to battle for the win. Andrew got a gust and caught James moving alongside as James was trying to find the wind and let his boom out clattering Andrew’s boat. He served his two turn penalty dropping him to fourth. Jerome had also managed to catch this gust and moved past Nick into second. They all sailed down to the line with Andrew crossing the line first, six seconds ahead of Jerome in second and then a gap to Nick third and James fourth. Tanja and Cara had suffered in the light winds on the final lap and decided not to complete the race.
The second race started in lighter winds with the three OKs and the Laser making the best start and exchanging positions up to the first buoy. Andrew pulled a good lead by the top buoy and held it to cross the line at the end of the lap first with almost a minutes lead ahead a closely battling Nick, Jerome and James. Tanja and Cara had dropped a few minutes back in the light winds. The three chasing sailors had a better second lap and continued to battle with James passing first Jerome and then Nick on the tacks up to the top buoy. The wind picked up in the bottom of the course and James picked up speed to catch Andrew on the downwind leg, but Andrew held it to the line to take the win with James second and Nick third, but only just holding off Jerome for fourth. Tanja came home fifth.
The Handicap fleet was reduced to two sailors and Andrew and James were closely matched up to the top buoy with Andrew arriving first. However, he hadn’t noticed the course change and continued on up the course, James shouting to warn him. He tacked back but James had taken the lead and would hold it until the end of the race.
Andrew again led away James in the final race of the day, but was pushed over to the Buckinghamshire side of the river at the bend by Andrew Yuille, in his Lightning on the downwind leg back to the C buoy on the first lap. James following decided to take the Berkshire side and found more wind, allowing him to take the lead and pull away on the second lap to take the win.