Sunday 25th April proved an extremely challenging day for all sailors with many sailors saying these were some of the most shifting winds they’d sailed in at Cookham. Winds were 15mph with gusts up to 30mph, the wind direction changed throughout the course with a north to east shifting wind being observed at the clubhouse windex. The race officer, Nigel Webb assisted by Martin Ashworth and Mary Webb set a downstream course from the clubhouse with a bottom C buoy about halfway between the club jetty and Cookham bridge, this was taken to port. Upstream of the clubhouse a top D buoy just around the river bend was taken to port and a middle B buoy on the bend taken on the return leg, again to port.
The first race started rather chaotically with many of the sailors not on the water at the race start. Gary Adshead (OK 1998) and Martin Evans (LN 150) took an early lead with Duncan Watts (LN 431), Christine Roy (LN 403), Jerome Dreux (LN 155) and Nick Reuter (L 12005) giving chase. Clive Evison (LN 281) and Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) were delayed starting due to being late onto the water and James Long (OK 1990) was late onto the water and then found he hadn’t rigged his mainsheet so was delayed by several minutes. All the sailors had issues with inconsistent wind across the course and routes had to be taken carefully with winds erratically changing direction and frequent changes between short heavy gusts, light wind or sometimes no wind at all.
Early in the race, Gary and Martin pulled away from the fleet and had their own battle throughout the race. At the end of the first lap, Andrew stopped at the jetty and retired, so Nick now took second place in the Handicap class. Clive overtook Christine and Jerome and was now third in the Lightning class behind Duncan. Later in the race, Duncan got into difficulty in the shifting winds and Clive and Jerome passed him, Christine retired from the race due to the gusty winds. In the Handicap class, James eventually caught Nick and passed him with a decisive move at the top buoy to take second place. Gary came home with a considerable gap over the rest of the Handicap fleet to take the win and Martin in a similar position over the Lightning fleet.
In the second race, Gary again had a good start ahead of James and Nick. In the Lightning fleet, Martin, Clive and Duncan battled for the lead. The winds continued to cause problems for many and Martin pulled ahead with Clive, Duncan, James, Jerome and Nick having a close race through the middle of the race. Duncan eventually managed to pull away from Clive in the Lightning fleet and James likewise pulled a small gap on Nick and there were cross-class battles throughout the race which ebbed and flowed due to the shifting and unpredictable wind. In the Handicap class, Gary again won by a considerable distance ahead of James with Nick third. In the Lightning fleet, Martin won with Duncan second and Clive third.
During the lunch hour, the wind got stronger, Martin and Christine did not start the afternoon races and Martin Church (LN 122) and Warren de Reuck (G 2416) joined the racing fleet. Competition for starting positions was closely fought for the first of the afternoon races with gusts causing sailors to tack and change course to avoid collisions. At the start of the race, Gary had a penalty start after being over the line, but despite this made a good start with James floundering after starting the race head to wind and not being able to get underway. In the Handicap fleet, the race lead was fought between Andrew, Gary and Nick as they headed down to the first buoy with Warren following closely. In the Lightning fleet, Jerome, Clive, Martin and Duncan fought closely as they tacked back and forth up to the first mark. During the first lap, Gary opened up a lead in the Handicap fleet and Jerome took a healthy lead in the Lightning fleet with Clive, Martin and Duncan chasing. Again, winds were shifting heavily with the mid-course causing many sailors problems due to sudden changes in wind direction, swirling winds and drops. At mid-race James got into difficulty when his outhaul snapped and he retired near the end of the race to rig the boat for the final race. Gary again took the win with Andrew second, Nick third and Warren fourth. In the Lightning fleet, Jerome was slowly caught by Clive, Martin and Duncan and then got stuck in a wind pocket at one of the buoys and was taken. Clive came home the winner ahead of Martin with Duncan third and Jerome fourth.
Andrew sat out the the final race of the day, after a close start the race was competitively fought down to the first buoy in both fleets. Gary held a small lead over James in the early part of the race. Nick took second during the mid-part of the race with a course taken in the middle of the river down to the bottom C buoy whilst James tacked up and down the Berkshire bank. James then got stuck on the bank, but quickly extricated himself. James managed to take second towards the end of the race when Nick dry capsized near the D buoy. Gary opened up half a lap on the handicap fleet late in the race after a good run downwind and took the win ahead of James second and Nick chasing back and finishing two seconds behind in third. In the Lightning fleet, Duncan took a good win ehad of Clive second, Martin third and Jerome fourth.
After three day’s racing, Duncan now leads the Lightning Spring Series one point ahead of Clive with Martin third four points behind.
In the Handicap class, Gary leads after a series of wins, with James trailing six points behind and Nick third a further five points behind.