The final Sunday of racing in the 2022 August Frolic continued with wind conditions as it had done all month with light winds and awful changes of wind direction. With winds mostly from the east, it favoured a course set downstream of the club grounds and the race officer, Clive Evison assisted by Clive Church and several others set a downstream start from the OD box to a C buoy set about 250m downstream and set about 20m out from the Berkshire bank, this buoy was rounded to starboard. The sailors returned upstream past the club jetty up to just below Cookham bend where the A buoy was set a similar distance out from the Berkshire bank and rounded to starboard before returning downstream to the start/finish line. Winds were very light, around 5-7 knots with very occasional gusts into the early teens and huge southerly or westerly wind shifts, particularly downstream of the jetty.
Eleven boats took the start of the first race with Dave Phillips sailing James Dyas’ OK 212 for the first time and he took an immediate lead from the start, heading the other sailors. The OKs seemed to make the best of the very light winds and Gary Adshead (OK 1998) and Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) moved into second and third places respectively early in the race. Behind them, James Long (OK 1990) headed Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) as the rounded the A buoy at the top of the course and crept downwind past the club jetty. The tricky winds in the lower part of the course opened up the gaps as the sailors tried different parts of the river to hunt for wind and particularly consistent wind. At the end of the lap, Dave had a lead of a minute over Gary with Andrew a small gap behind, then a significant gap to James and Jerome. The OKs had opened up a gap over the rest of the fleet with Andrew Yuille (LN 446) filling the gap a minute behind Jerome and then a five minute gap to the next boat; Nick Reuter in his Laser (125425) who had a small lead over Tricia Evisnn (LN 412), Mary Webb (LN 178), Duncan Watts (LN 431) and Nigel Webb (LN 372). If the sailors had considered the wind bad on the first lap, the remaining two laps were worse! Andrew Boxer exploited the light winds excellently and passed Gary for second place and closed the gap to Dave by the end of the second lap, behind Gary the gap to James Long held at almost two minutes who had pulled away from Jerome after finding a good route around the bottom part of the course by hugging the Berkshire bank. Jerome was sailing a lonely race in fifth place with Andrew also alone in sixth. Dave passed the rest of the fleet to lap them during the second lap and started his final lap of the race, holding on to his lead as the light and shifting winds continued as Andrew struggled at the bottom of the course and got stuck in a dead spot. Gary managed to find some wind and passed him to take second place, Andrew finding the wind just as James closed on him and he sailed back to the jetty to take third with James fourth. Jerome was a lonely fifth and Andrew Yuille came home sixth. A lap behind, Mary had sailed an excellent second lap and passed Tricia and Nick for seventh, Tricia was eighth, Nick ninth, Nigel tenth and Duncan eleventh.
Many of the sailors weren’t looking forward to the second race after the frustrations of the first race and Nigel decided to sit out the race. Dave again made the best start with Gary following and the rest of the fleet closely matched down the course, although James Long and Nick Reuter had misjudged the start and trailed the fleet. Most of the sailors used the Berkshire bank to get down to the C buoy with a late tack across to the Buckinghamshire bank where a permanent area of wind could be found which allowed the sailors to tack back across the river and round the buoy. Dave led Gary around the buoy with Andrew third, Jerome fourth and James recovered to fifth. As the OKs sailed back the river, they hunted for the correct wind direction in the shifts and Andrew jybed his sail on to James’s boat incurring a double turn penalty. The boats crept past the jetty finding another horrible dead spot at the club grounds before sailing up to the A buoy. Back at the end of the lap, Dave led Gary by almost a minute with James third twenty seconds back and Jerome just behind in fourth. A gap had opened to the rest with Andrew leading Tricia after serving his turns, Mary seventh, Andrew Yuille eighth, Duncan ninth and Nick a lonely tenth. The race closed up in the second lap as Gary slowly closed the gap to Dave finding some good routes around the tricky course and on the return from the C buoy on the final lap, he closed up to battle for the lead. As they both passed the jetty on their upstream leg, Gary continued to close the gap and he closed right in, passing just below the A buoy and rounding the buoy in the lead with a direct route to the buoy whilst Dave took a wider line. Gary tacked round the buoy and sailed out wide using the power of the tack around the buoy whilst Dave immediately tacked as passed the buoy. The race was now on back to the finish line and Dave’s route back downstream found some better win and he took the hooter first with Gary just behind in second. Behind, James has lost third place after his mast struck Andrew Boxer’s as they passed each other in opposite directions at the bottom of the course, with Andrew on the starboard tack and James on port. This allowed Jerome to close in and he passed at the jetty in the dead spots, Mary and Andrew continued to battle for fifth with Mary just ahead. Behind them, Andrew Yuille and Tricia battled for seventh. It was all change on the final lap as this time Jerome found the dead spots and both James and Andrew Boxer passed. James again struggled on the upstream pass of the jetty on the final lap allowing Andrew to close right in and he accelerated better out of the tack after the A buoy to pass James on the line with them separated by a second. Jerome was fifth, Mary sixth, Andrew and Tricia battled all the way to the line with Andrew crossing a second ahead of Tricia for seventh, Nick was ninth and Duncan tenth.
As the boats moored up for the lunch break, the wind picked up and it looked hopeful for the afternoon races. However, by the time the start of the third race came it had died down again. Peter Wyatt and Sally Bunce joined in their Enterprise (E 22828) whilst Tricia decided to sit out the afternoon, perhaps a sensible choice after the frustrating day so far. Dave again made the best start by sailing on a port tack from the line down to the Berkshire bank and edged close haul along the bank, by the time he rounded the C buoy he had a considerable lead already. The rest of the pack followed, but on the route back upstream was difficult and there were some changes of position as some found wind to proceed whilst others sat in dead spots. Jerome exploited it best and moved into second with a small gap to Gary, James third and Andrew Yuille fifth. The wind dropped considerably on the second lap and everyone’s pace slowed. This particularly caused problems in the lower parts of the course where many were stuck for several minutes trying to read the very light winds which kept shifting direction, sometimes continuously. Gary moved into second, whilst Andrew Boxer passed three boats to moved into third with Andrew Yuille fourth, Peter Wyatt fifth, Jerome sixth, Mary seventh, James eighth, Duncan ninth and Nick tenth. The wind picked up slightly for the next lap, Dave coming home to take a dominant win. Andrew Boxer continued to sail well in the very light winds and passed Gary for second on the final lap and closed down the gap to Dave crossing the line three minutes behind. Gary was a lonely third, Peter Wyatt fourth, Andrew Yuille fifth, Jerome sixth, James seventh, Mary eighth, Nick ninth and Duncan tenth.
The torture was almost over as the sailors lined up for the final race of the day, although Mary avoided it by sitting out the final race. The OKs again made the best start, although Dave wasn’t having it so easy this time. All five rounded the C buoy on the first lap close together, but on the return back up the course the awful shifts opened up the fleet. Dave, Andrew Boxer and Gary pulled away from the rest with the others stuck in dead spots on the lower part of the course. James decided to retire from the race after suffering particularly badly and falling from fourth place to the back of the fleet. At the end of the lap, Peter had closed the gap to the three OKs and Dave led Andrew by half a minute, another half a minute to Gary and another half a minute to the Enterprise. Jerome was in fourth, Nick fifth and Andrew Yuille and Duncan were a long way back in seventh and eighth. Andrew closed up on Dave during the second lap and passed for the lead, the Wyatts also passed Gary for third. Dave regained the lead on the final lap and pulled away to take another clear win with Andrew Boxer again slowed by some dead spots and losing second place. Gary and the Enterprise passed and battled for second place with the Wyatts pipping Gary on the line, Andrew Boxer finished fourth, Jerome a lonely fifth, Nick sixth, Andrew Yuille seventh and Duncan eighth.
Final race results to follow. This article will be updated when they are published.