Sunday May 8th continued the usual light winds which have frequented the 2022 Spring Series, although the difference for this day’s racing was the wind direction of easterlies. This allowed a course to be set with parts of the course downstream of the club jetty, a rare occurrence at Cookham and one which required the race officer taking a chance it is notorious for causing problems if the wind direction shifted or dropped.
The race officer, Ken Fidler aided by Merelene Davis and Walter Aldridge set a course with an upstream start up to the top A buoy taken to starboard. The sailors then returned down past the club jetty and past a B buoy set about 50 metres below the jetty and 15 metres out from the Berkshire bank taken to port. They then rounded the bottom C buoy which was taken to starboard. Returning backup upstream to the start line they had to round the D buoy which was set in the middle of the river about 20 metres upstream of the B buoy.
For the first race, both classes started together with thirteen boats starting, although Gary Adshead (OK 1998) and Clive Evison (P 1355) were both late on to the water. The start was very slow going with winds of only a few knots at the startling and the sailors crept up the course. At the top mark, several boats had moved clear of the fleet by finding small gusts to propel them ahead, Tricia Evison (LN 412) had opened a good gap from the Lightning fleet by finding wind in the middle of the river and Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) had done the same in the Handicap class. For the rest of the sailors, the top buoy was extremely congested and some had to take very wide lines around the buoy to avoid the carnage, something that would be repeated throughout the day. The move from broad reach to close haul rounding the buoy allowed the boats to power back down the course and they tacked back and forth hunting the wind. It was slightly stronger in the area just below the club jetty at around five knots with the wind relatively strongest on the Berkshire bank and more puffs to propel the boats. In the Lightnings, Tricia held a clear lead as she crossed the line to start the second lap, Martin Evans (LN 150), Duncan Watts (LN 431), Mary Webb (LN 178) and Christine Roy (LN 403) followed a minute behind in a fascinating battle separated by about ten seconds between the four Lightnings as they crossed the line. In the Handicap fleet, Gary Adshead and Clive Evison had caught up with the rest of the fleet and were now involved in the battles. Andrew had a clear lead of over fifty seconds over Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) with a huge gap of over two minutes to the rest of the fleet who had all held each other up rounding the buoys. Nick Reuter (L 125425) led Gary, James Long (OK 1990) and Clive bringing up the rear. On the second lap, Martin Evans managed to pull clear of the other Lightnings and started chasing after Tricia, managing to pass her during the lap. This lap was troublesome for many sailors with the wind dropping to nothing in various parts of the course causing sailors to sit stationary waiting for a small puff to push them forwards. Christine moved into third place ahead of Mary, Duncan dropping back considerably after struggling at the bottom of the course and Andrew Yuille (LN 446) bringing up the rear, also struggling at the C buoy. Nigel Webb (LN 178) retired at the end of the second lap after a torrid time sitting in a bad dead spot for a long time. The Handicap fleet was led by Andrew who pulled further away from Jerome, Clive had sailed through the fleet in his Phantom and was now third. Gary, James and Nick had battled around the second lap, but at the bottom mark, James and Nick had found a dead spot allowing Gary to sail away leaving the other two sitting at the bottom of the course in the dead spot with Duncan and Andrew in the two Lightnings for over ten minutes. By the time, the sailors had managed to find some small puffs to get going again, the leaders were upon them to complete the race and Nick was lapped just before the line by the descending fleet. The leaders had closed up together after the dead spots had stalled the leaders and allowed the chasers to catch them up. Tricia had managed to retake the lead on the final lap and was first of all the boats to cross the line. Jerome had closed the gap to Andrew Boxer and won the Handicap class by the tiniest of gaps, Martin Evans came home second in the Lightnings and then shortly afterwards Clive crossed the line in his Phantom. Mary passed Christine for third in class on the final lap and Andrew Yuille passed Duncan after getting ahead in the dead spots at the bottom of the course starting the final lap. Gary came home a lonely fifth in the Handicap class with James a distant sixth and Nick seventh and lapped.
Dave Phillips joined the Handicap class fleet for the second race in club boat OK 1695. He made by far the best start on the Berkshire bend and sped off into the lead. Behind chaos ensued as the rest of the fleet battled their way in the dire winds up to the first buoy. At the buoy, a log jam ensued as all the boats tried to find enough wind to round the wind and most of the boats ended up in a block at the buoy. At the end of the lap, Daves avoidance of this carnage meant he had a lead of two and a half minutes over the next boat, Jerome’s OK. He had also managed to get round the buoy the best by having the advantage of water over the rest of the fleet at the first buoy and had a two minute gap over third placed Clive with James just behind. The leader at the end of the first lap in the Lightnings was Martin Evans with a small gap to a gaggle of Lightnings who had contested the C buoy at the bottom of the course and crossed the line with seconds covering them – Andrew Yuille in second, Duncan in third, Tricia third and Mary fourth. Dave extended his lead in the Handicap class through the second lap, Clive also pulled away from the rest of the OKs. James had sailed a bad second lap and dropped back into the clutches of Gary, Andrew Boxer and Jerome. The OKs were closely matched and only separated by thirty seconds to start the third lap with Gary leading Andrew, Jerome and James. Nick chased after them in his Laser. Martin continued to lead the Lightning fleet with the battles behind continuing, Mary passed several boats to be second Lightning ahead of Christine who sailed an excellent second lap, Andrew fourth and Tricia fifth. Duncan had dropped back after getting stuck in a dead spot and Nigel moved up a place for sixth. Dave completed his final lap to take a win with a huge gap over the rest, Clive sailed to a lonely second place and Andrew pulled away from the other OKs to take third. Gary was fourth, Jerome fifth, James sixth and Nick seventh. Martin also won with a massive gap over the rest of the Lightnings with Mary second. Christine, Andrew and Tricia battled on the final lap with Tricia taking third just ahead of Andrew and Christine. Nigel was sixth and Duncan sixth.
After lunch, the Lightning fleet was much reduced with only Duncan, Andrew and Christine taking to the water for the third race. Peter Wyatt joined the Handicap fleet in Enterprise 22828. The Lightning 368s were started separately for the afternoon races and Duncan took an early lead with Andrew second and Christine third. These positions were held all the way through the race so Duncan took the race win ahead of Andrew with Christine third.
In the Handicap race, Dave again made the best start avoiding the congestion at the buoys. After rounding the first buoy, Gary had made the best progress by taking a wide line and avoiding the bumping and barging at the buoy. He crossed the line second with James third, a small gap to Clive third, Peter fourth, Nick fifth, Jerome sixth and Andrew Boxer bringing up the rear after needing to return to round the B buoy the correction side. Dave continued to pull away in the lead of the Handicap class ahead of Clive, Gary, Jerome, James, a recovering Andrew, Peter and Nick. Dave sailed home to another commanding win ahead of Clive. Behind, the rest of the Handicap fleet closed up for a very interesting race. Gary held on around the bottom C buoy to hold third and caught a gust at the D buoy to power across the line. Behind this, James had managed to pass Jerome just before the buoy and was closing on Gary as they crossed the line. Andrew had led Jerome and James as they sailed downstream, but had rounded the B buoy the wrong direction again and had to return back to round it again. Peter managed to pass Jerome on the way to the line to take fifth, Nick was seventh and Andrew came home eighth.
Christine decided to sit out the final race of the day, so the two Lightnings Mk3s started with Andrew taking an early lead over Duncan. On the second lap, Duncan managed to pass Andrew for the lead and held this gap to the flag.
The final Handicap race of the day would see some interesting battles, Dave made his customary good start and led around the first buoy, but the fleet held on to his coat tails this time and Clive passed to take the lead. At the end of the lap, Gary was only a small gap behind in third with Jerome and Andrew Boxer a little further behind in fourth and fifth. The light winds had caught out the rest of the Handicap class at the bottom of the course and there was a large gap to James in sixth, Peter seventh and Nick in eighth. Clive continued to lead on the second lap, but Dave closed the gap and battled for the class lead finishing the lap two seconds behind. Gary also maintained his gap in third. James had a blinding second lap assumed fourth in class ahead of Andrew and Jerome with Peter closing up seventh. Dave and Clive battled through the final lap with Dave managing to pass Clive at the final buoy and crossed the line to take three wins from three races. Gary came home a lonely third in class. On the run to the bottom buoy James held a slender gap over Peter, but on the return to the D buoy Peter found a nice gust and passed to take fourth in class across the line. Jerome was sixth, Andrew seventh and Nick a lapped eighth.