James Dyas and Andrew Yuille won the Autumn Series with wins on the final day of the series with James winning the Handicap class and Andrew winning the Lightning 368 class.
Sunday October 30th started with very little rain and a prospect of showers all day, but as the 11am start approached the wind picked up and despite heavy clouds passing over throughout the day, it remained dry. With south-easterly winds, the race officers Alex and Gareth Jones decided to setup a remote start position just upstream of Cookham bend. The course was changed during the day, but started with an upwind downstream start from the line sailing to the C buoy positioned in front of the club jetty and taken to port. Then upstream and downwind to the A buoy which was set midstream in front of the group of willows about equidistant between the bend and Andrews Beach. The sailors then tacked upwind to a D buoy about ten metres out from the Bucks bank just upstream of the bend and taken to starboard before crossing the river to take a B buoy to port which was about ten metres out from the Berkshire bank on the bend. The decision to start the race upstream of the bend was backed up as the sailors encountered light winds around the C buoy with it increasing as they sailed back up the course with winds strongest upstream of the bend around 15-20mph with occasional gusts.
Three OKs, one Phantom and three Lightning 368s started the first race with the Lightnings being set off first. The wind had started to pick up in the high teens with gusts in the 20s and Andrew Yuille (LN 446), Mary Webb (LN 178) and Nigel Webb (LN 372) took the start and set off up to the C buoy with Andrew taking an early lead. At the end of the lap, Mary and Nigel retired from the race leaving Andrew to race on alone and he crossed the line at the end of his first lap just as the Handicap class started. The four Handicap boats set off with James Dyas (OK 2203) and James Long (OK 1990) jumping the start and having to quickly return to the line, Jerome Dreux (OK 2007) moved into the lead, closely followed by the recovering two James’s and it was very close all the way up to the C buoy and Clive Evison (P 1355) bringing up the rear after hanging back at the start. James Dyas took the lead on the downwind leg as Clive Evison caught James Long and all four boats were still close together as they rounded the buoy. James Dyas crossed the line first, Jerome second, James Long and Clive joint third. Clive passed James and Jerome and moved into second as they went through the dog leg in the middle of the course and caught James Dyas on the downwind leg and they rounded the A buoy together with a good gap opening up to the other two OKs. Clive crossed the line at the end of the second lap with a one second lead, James Dyas second, James Long third and Jerome fourth. Clive then pulled away and took the win ahead of James Dyas second and a three-minute gap to James Long third and Jerome fourth.
Clive decided to return to shore and rigged LN 412 to join Andrew in the Lightning 368 class. Andrew Boxer had rigged his OK 2196 and joined the Handicap fleet which now consisted of four OKs. The race course was changed slightly as the dog leg was reversed and the sailors rounded the B buoy to port and headed across the river to the Bucks bank to round the D buoy to starboard. The C and A buoys were also now taken to starboard. The Lightnings were started separately again, this time a lap behind the OKs to allow Clive to get back on the water. The four OKs were closely matched through the first lap of the race, but James Dyas edged ahead with Andrew close behind, Jerome third and James Long fourth. On the second lap, James Long passed Jerome for third, but Jerome retook the position on the third lap. James Dyas pulled out a gap in the lead, but this time only a small one. On the final lap, James Long managed to take third through the dog leg and then coming up to the C buoy at the top of the course, Andrew approached the buoy on a port tack with Clive, James and Jerome approaching on starboard. Clive called starboard at the buoy and Andrew tacked to avoid which allowed James and Jerome through. James Dyas completed the lap to win by some distance ahead of James Long second, Jerome third and Andrew fourth who were separated by a few seconds at the line. In the Lightning 368 class, Andrew and Clive battled for the first lap with Andrew easing out a lead over the next few laps which he held to take the win.
Storm clouds were blowing over the course and the wind picked up during the lunch hour and when the sailors returned to the water, they found it particularly strong around the start line where winds were over 20mph and gusting higher. Before the start, Andrew Boxer capsized and damaged his rig having to retire back to the clubhouse. Duncan Watts (LN 431) joined the Lightnings and they set off in the windy conditions with Andrew Yuille and Clive taking an early lead. Andrew steadily pulled away from Clive who had a healthy gap over Duncan for most of the race. They finished in those positions. The retirement of Andrew before the start left three OKs to start the race and James Dyas jumped the start again but quickly returned to the line. James Long led around the C buoy closely followed by Jerome and James Dyas. James took the lead by the time they reached the A buoy and pulled away during the rest of the race to take the win, whilst James and Jerome battled in the early part of the race before James eased away to take second place and Jerome third.
During the latter part of the third race, the winds eased off and it was by far the lightest winds for the final race of the day. The race officers decided to start all the boats together this time and they headed off with James Dyas making his third jump start of the day. Andrew Yuille led the fleet away with the rest just behind and they rounded the C buoy together and headed off downwind. The downwind leg was a lot slower due to the light winds and the sailors chose different lines to find the wind. James Long managed to drop both tiller and mainsheet and dropped to the back, but recovered and passed Jerome for second near the dog leg. Andrew was joined by Duncan and the two Lightnings battled for the Lightning class lead over the first two laps. James Dyas overtook James Long and Jerome and joined the two Lightnings and they pulled out a small gap over the other three boats. On the third lap, Andrew pulled away in the lead of the Lightnings racing James Dyas for the overall race lead. Behind, Duncan, James Long, Clive and Jerome sailed around exchanging positions around the course. Clive passed Duncan for second in the Lightning class and Jerome overtook James for second in the Handicap class. Andrew completed the final two laps of the race to win ahead of Clive second and Duncan third. After passing James Long on the upwind leg of the third lap, Jerome and James then battled for the remainder of the race changing positions during the final two laps multiple times. James Dyas won by some distance ahead of Jerome with James a few seconds behind in third.
James Dyas wins the Handicap class of the Autumn Series scoring 280 points ahead of Andrew Boxer on 265 points and James Long third on 256 points. Eleven boats sailed in the class during the series.
Andrew Yuille wins the Lightning 368 class of the Autumn Series with 180 points ahead of Mary Webb on 169 points and Duncan Watts third on 167 points. Nine boats sailed in the class during the series.
The Winter Series starts next week (Sunday 6th November).