Another day of light winds for the Winter Series meant a delayed race start due to the high flow after the heavy rain the week. Race officers Kevin Singleton, Ash Stevens and James Dyas set a course with an upstream start from the OD box. A B buoy was positioned on the bend just off the Berkshire bank, then an A buoy about 100m upstream of the bend was also taken to starboard before the sailors returned to the C buoy which was midstream in line with the club jetty ramp and taken to port.
Eight boats took the start and Dave Phillips (OK 2123) made the best start and moved into a clear lead by the B buoy. Behind him, it was fairly close initially, but by the bend Andrew Boxer (OK 64 aka 2196) and Gary Adshead (OK 1998) had moved clear of the rest with James Long (OK 1990) in the gap between these two and rest of the pack. Andrew started catching Dave as they reached the A buoy and at the end of the lap, Dave had a small lead over Andrew with Gary dropping back and then a gap to James in fourth. The rest were several minutes behind after missing out on some small gusts between the B and A buoys, with Clive Evison (P 1355) fifth, Duncan Watts (LN 431) sixth, Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) seventh and Martin Evans (LN 150) eighth after a quick capsize when he tacked during a wind shift. Dave’s lead grew hugely on the second lap to lead by almost four minutes by the end of the lap. Gary passed Andrew for second and Clive recovered from a late start to pass most of the field and crossed the line at the end of the lap on the tail of Andrew. James continued in fifth place never quite catching the others but maintaining his gap to the three behind with Martin recovering from his dip and passing both Duncan and Jerome. On the third lap, Clive passed Andrew and Gary to move into second and James caught up with Andrew. Dave was now starting to catch the backmarkers to lap them. On the fourth lap, Andrew pulled clear of James again and caught Gary passing him for third as Gary chose the wrong line up to the B buoy on the Bucks bank and got stuck in a dead patch. But on the fifth lap, he recovered his pace and repassed Andrew for third who found a dead patch in a similar spot between the start line and the bend allowing James to catch up. Dave caught them both as they sailed up to the A buoy and lapped them rounding the buoy and then coming home to take a dominant win. Behind, Clive sailed a lonely race in second, Gary was third and James pipped Andrew for fourth on the line. Martin was sixth, Jerome seventh and Duncan eighth. After Handicap adjustment, Dave was first, Gary second, Martin third, James fourth, Andrew fifth, Clive sixth, Duncan seventh and Jerome eighth.
The sailors lined for the second race with an adjusted start line meaning a heavy bias upstream and so most sailors started on Bucks bank. Martin Evans and Dave Phillips were both across the line at the start, but they quickly returned back to the line and set off only just behind the rest with the winds being so light. Clive quickly moved into the lead as they headed to the bend and was first past the B buoy with the following pack finding it difficult to get to the buoy as the wind was very light on the Berkshire bank at the bend. The wind shifted at the bend and many hugged the bank up to the A buoy, some taking a wide line around the buoy on the jybe and some taking a more direct line. James and rounded the B buoy close together, but Clive extended his lead on the run to the A buoy and around it and back at the line had a clear lead with James second, Andrew third and Dave fourth. A gap had opened to the others with Gary leading, Martin and Duncan and Jerome trailing after a poor start. James struggled on the run up to the B buoy and Dave passed Andrew for second with Gary passing James on the return leg to move into fourth. In the middle of the race, Clive caught and lapped the back of the pack, Dave held a clear second and Gary started to catch Andrew. Jerome passed the two Lightnings into sixth. On the third lap, Andrew moved into a clear third place whilst Duncan found a series of good gusts to pass Jerome and started to catch James in fifth. Clive continued to lap the field and had passed most of the fleet by the fifth lap with only Dave managing to sail a similar pace. The gap between Andrew and Gary kept growing and shrinking as the gusts appeared and disappeared. James was managing to maintain his fifth place but Duncan lost his sixth place when Martin and Jerome found a good gust and caught and passed him. Clive finally passed Gary and Andrew on the penultimate lap and finished a convincing winner with only Dave on the same lap. Gary started to close in Andrew on the final lap but Andrew held on to third place just ahead of Gary fourth. James was a few minutes behind in fifth, Duncan recovered and passed Martin and Jerome and took sixth, Jerome seventh and Martin eighth. After Handicap adjustment, Dave won, Clive second, Andrew third, Gary fourth, Duncan fifth, Martin sixth, James seventh and Jerome eighth.