Gary Adshead won the Summer Frolic after an exciting final day of the Summer Frolic series in which he convincingly won all three races in windy conditions.

Going into the final round of the series, four sailors could win the Summer Frolic with Andrew Boxer and Mary Webb tied in the lead and Gary Adshead and Jerome Dreux able to catch due to their better discard profile. The final day of the series was held in strong winds of 15-20mph gusting to over 30mph from the north-west bearing round to the north during the day. The gusty conditions put off many sailors, including Mary Webb and five sailors took the start of the first race with OD, Peter Wyatt setting a simple figure eight course with two buoys to minimise the need to launch the safety boat as per the club’s Covid racing guidance.

Gary Adshead (OK 1998) made his usual excellent start and held a good lead up to the first buoy with Jerome Dreux (OK 2007), Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) and James Long (OK 1990) chasing. Clive Evison (LN 412) made a late start and retired early in the race after problems with the tiller extension. Midway through the race Andrew capsized whilst in second place and retired from the race, so James took over second place, at the finish Gary finished twenty seconds ahead. Jerome finished third after problems with water in his OK’s front tanks after a capsize before the race start.

After lunch, Martin Evans (LN 150) and Nick Reuter (L85428) joined and Clive Evison sailed club boat LN 304. Gary made another excellent start ahead of Martin Evans, Nick Reuter and Jerome Dreux. A congested jetty before the start saw Andrew Boxer, James Long and Clive Evison all start late, with James and Clive’s boats still out of the water when the starting hooter sounded. Gary quickly pulled out an impressive lead ahead of Jerome with Andrew battling Nick and Martin, who had a dry capsize on the first lap and James and Clive chasing. Clive capsized and dropped to the back of the race, then Nick capsized and retired with boat problems. James passed Andrew, who then capsized, but managed to recover quickly. Going into the final lap, Gary held a huge lead over Jerome with James following with Martin some distance behind ahead of Andrew. James managed to pass Jerome just before the top buoy and the pair raced downwind to the finish with some impressive plaining during a strong gust. Martin was close enough at the finish to finish second on handicap. Andrew and Clive finished a lap down in fifth and sixth respectively.

The wind picked up for the final race and saw a chaotic lead up to the start with the sailors speeding up and down the start line trying to avoid collisions in the minutes leading up to the start. The wind dropped just before the start and Gary made another good start from the middle of the river ahead of the two Lightnings and James, Andrew and Jerome closely battling behind. During the second lap, Andrew and Jerome passed James on the upwind leg, James repassing Jerome at the top of the course and chasing after Andrew on the downwind leg. James passed Andrew on the upwind leg of the next lap and chased after Clive and Martin, who were holding a good gap on the rest of the fleet, but trailing Gary. Gary won the final race ahead of Martin, Clive, James, Andrew and Jerome.

With his three wins, Gary overtook Andrew, Mary and James to win the Summer Frolic series with Andrew second, Mary third and James fourth. Congratulations to Gary on some impressive sailing throughout the series and well done to all the sailors who competed in the Summer Frolic, particularly those who raced for the first time.

Racing at Cookham Reach Sailing Club continues with the Autumn Series commencing on October 4th.

• Series results
• CRSC calendar