Another weekend of light winds affected racing in the Summer Frolic at Cookham Reach Sailing Club. The race start was delayed by almost an hours due to a lack of wind and started when the wind picked up, but only to about four to five knots of mostly from the east and south-east.
The race course consisted of a short course (due to the conditions) of two buoys in a figure eight configuration and the first race of the day started with a downstream start (rare at CRSC). A chaotic start saw Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) penalised due to a collision with Nick Reuter (L 85428) which left both boats trailing and Mary Webb (LN 178) opened up an immediate lead on the fleet with James Long (OK 1990) chasing and Nigel Webb (LN 372), Nick and Andrew chasing. Mary and James opened up a gap on the rest of the fleet and battled for the next three laps finishing separated by six seconds with Nick third closely followed by Andrew (after a second collision penalty) and Nigel bringing up the rear.
The wind had dropped after lunch to a couple of knots maximum and so the course had been shortened with the downstream buoy brought upstream closer to the club. Dena Pearce (S 3408) and Mandy Taylor (LN 52) joined the racers with Nigel sitting out the afternoon. With the light winds, judging the best start position was key and Dena got a flier at the start with Andrew following and they both pulled out a considerable distance on the rest of the fleet. Dena continued to sail well during the race and won the race by almost a minute from Andrew with Nick a distant third and the rest of the fleet lapped.
The final race of the day saw a congested start close the club jetty with two sailors (James Long and Nick Reuter) over the line at the start. Andrew and Dena again pulled away from the fleet with Mary chasing. James, Nick and Mandy followed behind and were involved in a close battle for most of the race with light gusts causing frequent changes of position between the three sailors. Up front, Andrew pulled a gap on Dena over the final lap and crossed the line first with Dena second and Mary a distant third. Mandy got stuck in a wind pocket with a backing sail on the last lap leaving Nick and James to battle it out on the final downstream leg with Nick crossing the line in fourth just ahead of James.