Craig takes the lead

Racing looks set to be very close for the final day at the Toshiba OK World Championship

In a day of two halves at the Toshiba 2006 OK Dinghy World Championship in Belmont, Australia, defending world champion Nick Craig (GBR) took over the lead with a second place in race seven and consolidated his lead by leading race eight from start to finish. He goes into the final day with just a two point margin over Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN), who has a ten point margin over third placed Karl Purdie (NZL).

After a 30 minute postponement, race seven started in a five to six knot northerly. The left side proved to be the way to go as everyone on the right side ran out of pressure. Mike Williams (AUS) led round the first mark after starting midline and going hard left before coming back in more pressure. He led all the way round the course to win the race. At the top mark, a number of new faces were to be seen. Following Williams was Peter Horne (AUS), Dave Hoogenboom (NZL), Richard Furneaux (AUS) and Bill Tyler (AUS).

Nick Craig (GBR) had taken the right side of the beat and rounded about 16th. He moved up to tenth by the leeward mark and gradually moved through the fleet until the final leeward mark when he rounded in third just behind Alistair Deaves (NZL). Deaves had started the committee boat end totally buried and had played the left in an attempt to recover. Finding the pressure and the shift he rounded the first mark about eighth and took a few more places downwind to move up to second.

The wind increased slightly for the final beat and able to stretch his legs, Craig reeled in Deaves to take second place. Craig said later, “He should have eaten more breakfast like I did!”

The wind was up to 10 to 15 knots for race eight. Both Craig and Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) started near the pin end and while Craig opted to consolidate and take the first shift across the fleet, Lindhardtsen carried on left and made just one tack to the windward mark, where he arrived just behind Craig. Peter Horne continued his good form rounding in third. Craig was clearly in his element and stretched away to win his first race of the event. Behind him, Andre Blasse (AUS) had two great reaches to move up to second, but lost them on the final beat when he overstood the finish in a large left hand shift. Lindhardtsen played the shifts better to move to second while Russell Wood (NZL) moved up to third.

So the final day comes down to a showdown between Craig and Lindhardtsen, both of whom have the greatest respect for each other although a generation apart. Craig said with tongue firmly in cheek, “Obviously tomorrow I will be keeping an eye on Jorgen, but there are several others still in the game. However Jorgen is undoubtedly the main danger and is very canny in spite of his lack of experience!”

Part of the attraction of sailing an OK Dinghy is the ease of entry into the class and that a competitive boat can be obtained for relatively little outlay compared with similar boats. The introduction of carbon masts into the class in 2003, led to a spurt of development of rigs and the class is currently looking at evaluating modern sailcloth to take development a stage further.

In recent years the class has attracted a lot of talented younger sailors, attracted not only by competitive international fleets but also by the fun social side of the class. The class has traditionally attracted junior sailors, especially in Scandinavia and Australasia and developed a reputation as a trainer for the larger more expensive Finn. Here in Belmont, the top Junior is Tom Burton (AUS) who is currently lying in 37th place. After scoring a 21st and 8th in the light wind races of Tuesday, he struggled in the breeze yesterday to place 47th and 54th. However in the recent Sail Melbourne event, he showed real potential finishing second overall to the Interdominion Champion Roger Blasse (AUS) after three race wins. If the winds here on Lake Macquarie had been lighter throughout it could have been a different story.

On Friday the final two races of the world championship will be sailed and a new world champion will be crowned.

Results:

Pos	Sail Number	Helm	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Tot
1	GBR2116	N Craig	[9.0]	7	3	6	3	2	2	1	24
2	DEN1348	J Lindhardtsen	1	3	7	[8.0]	2	3	8	2	26
3	NZL502	K Purdie	7	9	2	3	4	4	7	[21.0]	36
4	NZL522	G Wilcox	[13.0]	6	1	1	12	6	6	9	41
5	AUS678	R Blasse	6	4	12	5	1	9	[25.0]	7	44
6	AUS720	M Williams	10	2	[28.0]	15	5	5	1	10	48
7	NZL526	R Wood	8	14	22	4	11	1	[51.0]	3	63
8	NZL504	A Mannering	4	11	4	16	6	16	[39.0]	8	65
9	AUS716	P Horne	15	13	[17.0]	14	8	8	4	4	66
10	AUS719	A Blasse	3	1	[39.0]	10	7	12	37	5	75
11	NZL525	S McDowell	11	8	15	11	17	10	[24.0]	14	86
12	NZL521	M Perrow	5	20	36	2	10	11	[53.0]	11	95
13	NZL472	A Deaves	17	10	19	18	13	[38.0]	3	16	96
14	GBR2081	R Deaves	16	16	14	17	14	13	11	[18.0]	101
15	DEN1340	J Petersen	2	18	[51.0]	13	23	14	18	17	105
16	AUS724	R Howard	22	5	21	9	15	18	15	[30.0]	105
17	GBR2110	J Fish	23	32	5	7	26	[36.0]	9	13	115
18	NZL523	J Porebski	18	15	26	20	27	7	[57.0]	6	119
19	AUS718	P Burton	24	23	6	12	29	[32.0]	21.0G	21.0G	136
20	GBR2118	T Curtis	14	22	[46.0]	29	24	24	13	12	138
21	AUS722	P Foster	20	25	11	[30.0]	19	25	19	22	141
22	NZL491	M Bismark	21	17	34	39	9	17	[46.0]	15	152
23	GER680	J Dellas	[80.0F]	12	9	23	33	21	42	23	163
24	NZL497	T Pryce	19	24	31	[40.0]	21	31	16	24	166
25	NZL500	P Rzepecky	31	29	[41.0]	25	20	23	14	33	175
26	AUS676	T Davies	27	[70.5]	16	37	22	15	32	26	175
27	NZL518	G Pedersen	29	[40.0]	10	33	34	27	22	28	183
28	AUS713	P Lynch	34	35	25	19	[52.0]	28	21	25	187
29	AUS703	M McQueen	32	34	18	35	16	22	[59.0]	31	188
30	NZL481	D Hoogenboom	26	28	24	[45.0]	43	29	5	40	195
31	GBR2084	J Meadowcroft	33	30	[58.0]	27	25	39	12	29	195
32	AUS681	M Gleeson	30	26	23	[56.0]	28	19	27	43	196
33	GER718	P Scheuerl	35	19	[42.0]	32	30	33	30	19	198
34	AUS711	N Gray	38	42	30	[49.0]	32	20	35	27	224
35	AUS696	J McAllister	[80.0C]	80.0C	13	26	18	26	33	34	230
36	AUS610	T Burton	45	49	8	21	47	[54.0]	28	35	233
37	SWE99	H Elkjaer	25	21	49	47	31	40	[54.0]	20	233
38	GBR2117	A Scoles	40	[56.0]	20	46	44	45	29	32	256
39	AUS672	D Ketteridge	52	36	35	36	[55.0]	48	10	41	258
40	AUS704	B Chapman	39	33	[65.0]	24	50	37	26	51	260
41	SWE2756	P Jaensson	[80.0C]	46	40	41	46	41	17	36	267
42	AUS694	R Furneaux	48	48	43	[51.0]	40	35	20	49	283
43	AUS628	B Ashton	50	41	29	28	51	42	44	[57.0]	285
44	AUS693	E O'Donnell	43	47	48	44	38	30	[50.0]	39	289
45	NZL498	D Hunt	[51.0]	45	47	48	48	34	38	37	297
46	AUS721	J Barr	46	44	[64.0]	31	36	52	41	50	300
47	GBR2100	D Ager	36	43	33	61	35	[66.0]	47	45	300
48	SWE2759	P Olssen	28	39	[78.0O]	53	49	44	45	46	304
49	AUS708	C Visick	44	52	38	43	41	46	40	[55.0]	304
50	AUS668	P Wallace	42	37	45	[58.0]	39	55	49	38	305
51	AUS641	B Holly	37	31	[68.0]	59	37	50	52	42	308
52	GBR2108	N Goodhead	47	53	37	22	54	[60.0]	43	53	309
53	AUS709	P Yates	55	51	[61.0]	38	42	43	55	44	328
54	GER632	F Gronholz	53	57	27	55	45	53	[64.0]	47	337
55	AUS692	B Tyler	54	54	[62.0]	42	56	58	23	52	339
56	AUS689	G Yates	49	50	57	[60.0]	53	49	31	54	343
57	GER695	D Gericke	56	[63.0]	53	34	57	56	60	48	364
58	SWE2757	T Svenesson	41	38	50	66	60	62	58	[78.0F]	375
59	POL189	D Kras	57	58	44	65	59	47	[66.0]	59	389
60	GBR2007	A Rich	60	55	32	57	[78.0F]	59	61	78.0C	402
61	AUS695	J Hogan	58	[68.0]	67	68	66	57	36	56	408
62	AUS666	S Wilson	12	27	59	[78.0F]	78.0S	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	410
63	AUS715	T Pearce	[80.0C]	80.0C	52	50	63	78.0F	34	58	415
64	AUS655	D Coleman	59	59	66	63	64	51	[68.0]	62	424
65	AUS646	M Walker	[69.0]	66	60	52	65	64	56	66	429
66	GER699	J Hoffman	63	61	55	62	62	[78.0F]	67	61	431
67	AUS636	A Stiel	62	60	63	69	61	[78.0C]	65	60	440
68	AUS680	C McQueen	64	62	70	[73.0]	58	61	62	65	442
69	AUS660	D O'Donnell	66	[80.0C]	56	64	68	65	70	64	453
70	NZL493	G Lambert	65	64	54	67	[78.0F]	78.0C	63	63	454
71	AUS612	D Parker	68	67	[73.0]	71	69	63	69	67	474
72	AUS698	G Gillespie	[80.0C]	80.0C	69	54	78.0F	78.0C	48	78.0C	485
73	AUS663	A Maclean	61	65	72	72	67	[78.0F]	78.0F	78.0C	493
74	AUS619	E Kennedy	70	70.5	[78.0F]	75	72	67	72	69	495.5
75	AUS687	E Furneaux	[80.0C]	69	71	74	70	78.0F	71	68	501
76	GBR2048	R Thorne	[80.0F]	80.0C	74	70	71	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	529
77	AUS685	D Smith	67	[80.0C]	78.0F	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	535