A hard day for some

The third day of the OK World Championships produced two gruelling races

It will be a quiet night in the bars of Belmont tonight as the OK fleet at the Toshiba 2006 OK Dinghy World Championship rests after sailing two gruelling races in strong winds. Winner of last week’s Interdominion Championship, Roger Blasse (AUS) took race five while Russell Wood (NZL) dominated race six by leading all the way round.

Race five started in 15 to 20 knots from the north-east and partial cloud cover. It was almost a repeat of yesterday except the wind was much stronger. The left side of the course was favoured all day with Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) first into the left hand shift on the left side to lead into the windward mark from Roger Blasse (AUS) and Adrian Mannering (NZL). At the bottom mark the positions were unchanged, but on the next beat Blasse moved ahead and maintained his lead to the finish followed by Lindhardtsen. Nick Craig (GBR), who had sailed most of the course in fourth place, moved up to third on the final beat.

Between races the wind increased further to 25 knots and gusting, with a mass of white horses coming down the course. Again those at the pin end started and headed left. Many came back across too early but those who went far enough were rewarded by a big left-hander into the top mark. Race winner Russell Wood (NZL) takes up the story. “I started near the pin in the second row, put in a few tacks to clear my air and then played the shifts up the left hand side before crossing and leading round the first mark. Apart from Mike Williams (AUS) briefly catching me up after the reaches, I led throughout and stretched away in the breeze to win. It was near ideal conditions for me.”

At the top mark Wood led from Williams, Lindhardtsen and Joe Porebski (NZL). At the gybe mark a large gust caused havoc with many sailors taking a quick swim. The following beats became an epic of endurance as the wind bombarded the fleet with shifts and gusts. Behind Wood, Craig moved through the fleet to finish second on the line from Lindhardtsen.

Overall it couldn’t be closer with Lindhardtsen holding a lead of 4 points over Karl Purdie (NZL) and 5 points over Craig. Only 5 points separate the next two sailors, so there is still all to play for tomorrow.

The OK Class has a long tradition of being a training ground for sailors, who go on to much greater achievements. Probably the most famous recently is Mateusz Kusznierewicz (POL), who won a Gold and Bronze Olympic medal in the Finn class and is now regularly seen at the front on the Star fleet. Mateusz never won an OK Worlds; the closest he got was a second in Napier in 1994, finishing as runner up to four times OK World Champion Leith Armit (NZL). He did though win the Europeans that year. About this time he emerged at a major force within the Finn class and stunned the sailing world by flying home the day after winning the Finn Gold in Savannah in 1996 to compete in the OK Dinghy worlds in Sweden.

The OK Dinghy International website has a long list of famous sailors who have sailed the OK in the past. These include Bjørn Westergard, Stig Westergard, Mike McIntyre, Tony Mutter, Peter Blake, John Cutler, Chris Dickson, Richard Dodson, Tom Dodson, Craig Monk, Jochen Schümann, Fredrik Lööf and Guy Lilljegren to name just a few.

Defending World Champion, Nick Craig is undoubtedly the most successful OK sailor currently competing within the class. His win at last year’s World Championship in Denmark was the culmination of many successful years’ racing the boat and a lot of hard work. Previously, he had come closest to winning in 2004, but finished as runner up to his friend Jim Hunt (GBR). After the 2004 OK Worlds both Hunt and Craig moved into Finns, with Craig winning the UK Nationals at the first attempt, just ahead of Hunt in 2005. Craig is still sailing Finns competitively and now places this as his main boat for the present.

Meanwhile here in Belmont, the Australian OK class is having a reunion of old OK sailors, with many previous sailors present today to enjoy the spectacle. Two more races are scheduled for Thursday, the penultimate day of racing for the world title.

Results:

Pos	Sail Number	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Tot
1	DEN1348	J Lindhardtsen	1	3	7	[8.0]	2	3	16
2	NZL502	K Purdie	7	[9.0]	2	3	4	4	20
3	GBR2116	N Craig	[9.0]	7	3	6	3	2	21
4	AUS678	R Blasse	6	4	[12.0]	5	1	9	25
5	NZL522	G Wilcox	[13.0]	6	1	1	12	6	26
6	AUS719	A Blasse	3	1	[39.0]	10	7	12	33
7	AUS720	M Williams	10	2	[28.0]	15	5	5	37
8	NZL526	R Wood	8	14	[22.0]	4	11	1	38
9	NZL504	A Mannering	4	11	4	[16.0]	6	16	41
10	NZL521	M Perrow	5	20	[36.0]	2	10	11	48
11	NZL525	S McDowell	11	8	15	11	[17.0]	10	55
12	AUS716	P Horne	15	13	[17.0]	14	8	8	58
13	AUS724	R Howard	[22.0]	5	21	9	15	18	68
14	DEN1340	J Petersen	2	18	[51.0]	13	23	14	70
15	GBR2081	R Deaves	16	16	14	[17.0]	14	13	73
16	NZL472	A Deaves	17	10	19	18	13	[38.0]	77
17	NZL523	J Porebski	18	15	26	20	[27.0]	7	86
18	GBR2110	J Fish	23	32	5	7	26	[36.0]	93
19	AUS718	P Burton	24	23	6	12	29	[32.0]	94
20	GER680	J Dellas	[80.0F]	12	9	23	33	21	98
21	NZL491	M Bismark	21	17	34	[39.0]	9	17	98
22	AUS722	P Foster	20	25	11	[30.0]	19	25	100
23	GBR2118	T Curtis	14	22	[46.0]	29	24	24	113
24	AUS676	T Davies	27	[70.5]	16	37	22	15	117
25	AUS703	M McQueen	32	34	18	[35.0]	16	22	122
26	NZL497	T Pryce	19	24	31	[40.0]	21	31	126
27	AUS681	M Gleeson	30	26	23	[56.0]	28	19	126
28	NZL500	P Rzepecky	31	29	[41.0]	25	20	23	128
29	NZL518	G Pedersen	29	[40.0]	10	33	34	27	133
30	AUS713	P Lynch	34	35	25	19	[52.0]	28	141
31	GER718	P Scheuerl	35	19	[42.0]	32	30	33	149
32	NZL481	D Hoogenboom	26	28	24	[45.0]	43	29	150
33	GBR2084	J Meadowcroft	33	30	[58.0]	27	25	39	154
34	AUS711	N Gray	38	42	30	[49.0]	32	20	162
35	AUS696	J McAllister	[80.0C]	80.0C	13	26	18	26	163
36	SWE99	H Elkjaer	25	21	[49.0]	47	31	40	164
37	AUS610	T Burton	45	49	8	21	47	[54.0]	170
38	AUS704	B Chapman	39	33	[65.0]	24	50	37	183
39	AUS628	B Ashton	50	41	29	28	[51.0]	42	190
40	GBR2117	A Scoles	40	[56.0]	20	46	44	45	195
41	AUS693	E O'Donnell	43	47	[48.0]	44	38	30	202
42	AUS672	D Ketteridge	52	36	35	36	[55.0]	48	207
43	GBR2100	D Ager	36	43	33	61	35	[66.0]	208
44	AUS721	J Barr	46	44	[64.0]	31	36	52	209
45	AUS708	C Visick	44	[52.0]	38	43	41	46	212
46	GBR2108	N Goodhead	47	53	37	22	54	[60.0]	213
47	SWE2759	P Olssen	28	39	[78.0O]	53	49	44	213
48	AUS641	B Holly	37	31	[68.0]	59	37	50	214
49	AUS694	R Furneaux	48	48	43	[51.0]	40	35	214
50	SWE2756	P Jaensson	[80.0C]	46	40	41	46	41	214
51	AUS668	P Wallace	42	37	45	[58.0]	39	55	218
52	NZL498	D Hunt	[51.0]	45	47	48	48	34	222
53	AUS709	P Yates	55	51	[61.0]	38	42	43	229
54	GER632	F Gronholz	53	[57.0]	27	55	45	53	233
55	SWE2757	T Svenesson	41	38	50	[66.0]	60	62	251
56	AUS666	S Wilson	12	27	59	[78.0F]	78.0S	78.0C	254
57	GER695	D Gericke	56	[63.0]	53	34	57	56	256
58	AUS689	G Yates	49	50	57	[60.0]	53	49	258
59	GBR2007	A Rich	60	55	32	57	[78.0F]	59	263
60	AUS692	B Tyler	54	54	[62.0]	42	56	58	264
61	POL189	D Kras	57	58	44	[65.0]	59	47	265
62	AUS655	D Coleman	59	59	[66.0]	63	64	51	296
63	GER699	J Hoffman	63	61	55	62	62	[78.0F]	303
64	AUS646	M Walker	[69.0]	66	60	52	65	64	307
65	AUS680	C McQueen	64	62	70	[73.0]	58	61	315
66	AUS636	A Stiel	62	60	63	69	61	[78.0C]	315
67	AUS695	J Hogan	58	[68.0]	67	68	66	57	316
68	AUS660	D O'Donnell	66	[80.0C]	56	64	68	65	319
69	AUS715	T Pearce	[80.0C]	80.0C	52	50	63	78.0F	323
70	NZL493	G Lambert	65	64	54	67	[78.0F]	78.0C	328
71	AUS663	A Maclean	61	65	72	72	67	[78.0F]	337
72	AUS612	D Parker	68	67	[73.0]	71	69	63	338
73	AUS619	E Kennedy	70	70.5	[78.0F]	75	72	67	354.5
74	AUS698	G Gillespie	[80.0C]	80.0C	69	54	78.0F	78.0C	359
75	AUS687	E Furneaux	[80.0C]	69	71	74	70	78.0F	362
76	GBR2048	R Thorne	[80.0F]	80.0C	74	70	71	78.0C	373
77	AUS685	D Smith				78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	379