A small turnout of two visiting sailors joined five CRSC OK sailors for the annual OK Open at Cookham Reach Sailing Club on June 3rd 2023.
Race officers, Dave Phillips, Marcus Robb and Clive Church set an upstream course due to the northeasterly winds causing wind shadow on the river in front of the club frontage. Around the bend upstream of the club, the wind was a good strength, although it dropped and gusted throughout the day between 5 and 15 knots with some shifts between north and east. The race officers set a simple course of two buoys with a B buoy about 20m upstream of the bend taken to starboard and an A buoy just below Andrew’s beach also taken to starboard. The sailors decided to run a series of short one or two lap races, four in the morning and the afternoon.
The sailors lined up for the first race with the start line set from the Berkshire shore to an outer mark set in the middle of the river with an upstream bias. The sailors jostled outside the mark and set off at the start on a starboard tack. The shifting winds meant some different tactics to find the best route up the course and James Dyas (OK 73) and Jeremy Deacon (OK 2139 – Broadwater Sailing Club) pulled into an early lead with the five other OKs battling behind. The two leaders pulled away and rounded the top mark with a healthy lead ahead of Gavin Waldron (OK 2163 – South Staffs Sailing Club), Clive Evison (OK 1998), Jerome Dreux (OK 2007), Andrew Boxer (OK 2196) and James Long (OK 2130) last after dry capsizing near the top buoy and now slowed with boat full of water. Clive took third place rounding the bottom mark and Andrew passed Jerome for fifth. James Dyas took the win ahead of Jeremy, Clive, Gavin, Andrew, Jerome and James.
The second race was won Jeremy with James Dyas second, Gavin third, Clive fourth, Andrew fifth, James Long sixth and Jerome seventh. The third race was a close battle with James Dyas pulling out an early lead and pulling away from the rest, but behind Jeremy, Clive and Gavin battled for runners-up spot for most of the race with Clive finishing second, Gavin third, Jeremy fourth, Jerome fifth, Andrew sixth and James a distant last. The final race before the lunch break was again close with nothing separating the lead boats for much of the race. Gavin led around the top mark and sailed an excellent downwind leg to take the one lap race ahead of James Dyas second, Jeremy third, Andrew fourth, James fifth, Clive sixth and Jerome seventh.
The sailors returned to the clubhouse to exchange stories about the gusty shifts and which bits of the Berkshire bank to avoid due to the new shallows caused by the Winter rains.
A couple of two lap and a couple of one lap races followed lunch and the sailors lined up at the start for some more racing. Jeremy won the first race of the afternoon after a close battle with Gavin and James Dyas. James Long was fourth after swapping to a different sail and emptying his boat during the lunch break, Clive fifth, Jerome sixth and Andrew Boxer retired after some boat issues caused him to return to the club for repairs and he missed the sixth race.
Another close battle for the sixth race saw James Dyas take the win after battling James Long and Jeremy Deacon on the beats up the course. James dropped out of contention on the downwind leg after losing time in a wind shadow and Clive passed him for third rounding the B buoy at the bottom of the course. Gavin finished fifth and Jerome sixth.
Jeremy won the seventh race with James Dyas second, Gavin third, Clive fourth just ahead of James Long, Andrew sixth and Jerome seventh.
James Dyas did not start the final race and Jeremy, James Long and Gavin battled for the early part of the race with James Long leading on the beats up the course, Jeremy and Gavin passed on the downwind leg and Jeremy pulling out a small lead and taking the win ahead of Gavin, James third, Jerome fourth, Clive fifth and Andrew sixth.
Jeremy Deacon wins the OK Open with four wins and eight points, James Dyas second with three wins and nine points and Gavin Waldron third with one win and fourteen points. Thank you to all the club members who provided officiated the races and provided safety boat cover and to those who looked after our visitors and members in the clubhouse.