The 2023 Cookham Reach Sailing Club August Frolic will be decided on the final weekend of sailing after the two leaders in the Series finished the penultimate day of racing tied on points.
Race officers, Carole Dixon, Mandy Taylor and Clive Evison set a simple three buoy course on a course with southwesterly wind varying between 5mph and the early teens. The sailors would start in front of the club, sail up to an A buoy set up near the willows and rounded to starboard, then return passing a B buoy set on the Berkshire side of the bend and taken to port before rounding a C buoy set just above the finish line and taken to port.
Five sailors took the start, Andrew Boxer (OK 204) making the best start and taking the lead ahead of Gary Adshead (OK 1998), James Long (OK 2130), Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) and Christine Roy (LN 13). By the time they rounded the A buoy at the top of the course, Andrew had pulled out a small lead over Gary and they headed back down the course to the B buoy. James managed to get a good lift from the Bucks bank across to the buoy and rounded it inside Gary to take second place. They ended the lap with Andrew in the lead, James second, Gary third, Jerome fourth and Christine fifth. Andrew held the gap to the rest static during the second and third laps and he started the final lap with a seventeen second lead. He pulled out a significant lead on the final lap as the following sailors found a significant wind drop heading up to the A buoy. Gary caught James on the final lap and passed rounding the A buoy. Andrew finished with a lead of several minutes with Gary second, James third, Jerome fourth and Christine fifth.
Peter Withrington (LN 442) joined the sailors for the second race. The start was a better contested this time and Andrew, Gary, Peter and Jerome sped away from the line whilst James had to return to the line after starting over. All four sailors contested the lead as they headed up to the A buoy with James closing the gap and latching on to the back of them half way up the course. He moved to the Bucks side of the river and found some extra wind, managing to pass all four sailors and rounded the bend in the lead. He led still back at the line, Gary was second, Andrew third, Peter fourth, Jerome fifth, Mary sixth and Christine seventh. On the second lap, James got stuck in a dead patch of wind just above the bend and lost the lead which was now contested by Gary and Andrew who were tied as they crossed the line at the end of the lap. On the third lap, Gary was the one to suffer with the dead patches and Andrew took the lead with James following through into second. Behind, Peter and Jerome were contesting fourth place. James took the lead on the fourth lap and Christine decided to retire. James held his lead to take a second win of the day with Andrew coming home second, Gary third, Peter fourth, Jerome fifth and Mary sixth.
Christine decided to sit out the rest of the day, so six sailors started the final race of the day, James was over the line at the start and had to return to the line. Gary led by the bend with Jerome, Andrew, Peter and Mary contesting second as they passed the bend. James caught the others by the time they rounded the A buoy and passed Andrew, Peter and Jerome moving into second by the time they crossed the line, Andrew was third, Peter fourth, Jerome fifth and Mary sixth. James closed the gap to Gary on the second lap and they contested the lead for the rest of the race, Gary winning by a margin of thirty seconds as James got stuck in dead wind on the run to the line and being passed by Peter and Andrew at the line. Jerome was fifth and Mary sixth.
Mary decided to sit out the final race, so five started. Gary and Andrew vied for the lead straight from the start with the other four sailors slow to start, James being stuck at the line head to wind facing the jetty. By the end of the lap, Gary held a lead of 18 seconds over Andrew, James was third having made some time back on the tacks back down from the A buoy, Peter was fourth and Jerome fifth. James closed in on the two leaders heading up the B buoy and decided to take a different route up to the A buoy and managed to pass both sailors by the time they rounded the buoy and Jerome passed Peter for fourth. James extended his lead on the penultimate lap with Gary holding a forty second gap to Andrew in second. On the final lap, James was slowed heading for the A buoy as the wind dropped and Andrew found a gust lower down the course to close in on Gary. James held a lead of around a minute as they rounded the buoy and held it to the finish line. Behind, Andrew closed right in on Gary as they got to the bend and passed on the run to the line for second place. Jerome came home fourth and Peter fifth.
Gary and James tie on points going into the final race day of the Frolic. Peter is third elevent points behind.