Second world title for Craig

Racing was close on the final day of the Toshiba OK World Championships

The brilliant Australian sunshine returned for the final day of the Toshiba 2006 OK Dinghy World Championship in Belmont, Lake Macquarie but the wind was a bit late turning up. When it finally arrived two hours late, things started to get interesting. Jorgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) won the first race to bring him to within one point of Nick Craig (GBR) for the title. The final race showdown between Lindhardtsen and Craig didn’t materialise as an uncharacteristic error from Lindhardtsen left him chasing the fleet.

The fleet went afloat at 10.00 for a scheduled 11.00 start, drifted around for an hour in no wind and came ashore again. At 13.00 out they went again and this race nine was started in about ten knots. Lindhardtsen started at the pin and hit the left hand corner before leading into the first mark followed by Jon Fish (GBR), Roger Blasse (AUS) and Craig, who had had a bad started and bailed out to the right side of the course. Lindhardtsen led all the way to win the race. Craig pulled through Fish and Blasse on the final beat to secure second.

After a general recall, race ten got underway in similar conditions. Again Lindhardtsen started at the pin and headed left while Craig started at the committee boat and also headed left. At the top mark Craig had a narrow lead over Fish and Robert Deaves (GBR). Lindhardtsen had trouble finding the windward mark, overstood and rounded about 12th. The ever cool Craig led all the way to win the race and the championship with Greg Wilcox (NZL) moving up to second and Karl Purdie (NZL) to third. This was the first time since the race format was changed to ten races that the final race had been sailed – and with 40 minutes to spare.

Lindhardtsen credited Craig saying, “Nick sailed fantastically this week. Early on I thought he was having problems with his speed but the last three days he has sailed exceptionally well.” Craig also spoke of Lindhardtsen. “Jorgen is a legend. It’s like racing against a 25 year old sometimes. He’s so fit and focused and really hard to beat. I think what is really awesome is that he went for it 100 per cent every race, sailing extremely hard and was obviously here to win. I really hope he will be back next year in Poland, as I will be.”

For the second year running the bronze medal goes this year to Greg Wilcox, who is also President of the OK Dinghy International Association. His second place in the last race was enough to pull ahead of team mate Karl Pudie who had started the day in third place.

Next year’s OK World Championship will be sailed in the sunny Baltic resort of Leba in Poland.

Results:

Pos	Helm	Sail Number	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	Tot
1	N Craig	GBR2116	[9.0]	7	3	6	3	2	2	1	2	1	27
2	J Lindhardtsen	DEN1348	1	3	7	8	2	3	8	2	1	[10.0]	35
3	G Wilcox	NZL522	[13.0]	6	1	1	12	6	6	9	8	2	51
4	R Blasse	AUS678	6	4	12	5	1	9	[25.0]	7	4	6	54
5	K Purdie	NZL502	7	9	2	3	4	4	7	[21.0]	19	3	58
6	M Williams	AUS720	10	2	[28.0]	15	5	5	1	10	10	4	62
7	P Horne	AUS716	15	13	[17.0]	14	8	8	4	4	6	12	84
8	A Blasse	AUS719	3	1	[39.0]	10	7	12	37	5	25	14	114
9	A Mannering	NZL504	4	11	4	16	6	16	[39.0]	8	33	18	116
10	S McDowell	NZL525	11	8	15	11	17	10	[24.0]	14	20	16	122
11	R Wood	NZL526	8	14	22	4	11	1	[51.0]	3	32	28	123
12	A Deaves	NZL472	17	10	19	18	13	[38.0]	3	16	18	11	125
13	R Deaves	GBR2081	16	16	14	17	14	13	11	18	[22.0]	7	126
14	M Perrow	NZL521	5	20	36	2	10	11	[53.0]	11	12	20	127
15	J Petersen	DEN1340	2	18	[51.0]	13	23	14	18	17	17	8	130
16	J Fish	GBR2110	23	32	5	7	26	[36.0]	9	13	3	15	133
17	P Burton	AUS718	24	23	6	12	29	32	21.0G	[78.0G]	5	5	157
18	T Curtis	GBR2118	14	22	[46.0]	29	24	24	13	12	11	9	158
19	R Howard	AUS724	22	5	21	9	15	18	15	30	[43.0]	27	162
20	M Bismark	NZL491	21	17	34	39	9	17	[46.0]	15	7	13	172
21	J Porebski	NZL523	18	15	26	20	27	7	[57.0]	6	26	31	176
22	P Foster	AUS722	20	25	11	30	19	25	19	22	16	[46.0]	187
23	T Pryce	NZL497	19	24	31	[40.0]	21	31	16	24	29	24	219
24	M McQueen	AUS703	32	34	18	35	16	22	[59.0]	31	9	25	222
25	J Meadowcroft	GBR2084	33	30	[58.0]	27	25	39	12	29	13	23	231
26	P Rzepecky	NZL500	31	29	[41.0]	25	20	23	14	33	27	38	240
27	G Pedersen	NZL518	29	[40.0]	10	33	34	27	22	28	24	34	241
28	T Davies	AUS676	27	[70.5]	16	37	22	15	32	26	47	19	241
29	M Gleeson	AUS681	30	26	23	[56.0]	28	19	27	43	14	43	253
30	J Dellas	GER680	[80.0F]	12	9	23	33	21	42	23	40	55	258
31	P Scheuerl	GER718	35	19	42	32	30	33	30	19	[50.0]	22	262
32	D Hoogenboom	NZL481	26	28	24	[45.0]	43	29	5	40	30	45	270
33	N Gray	AUS711	38	42	30	[49.0]	32	20	35	27	21	30	275
34	P Lynch	AUS713	34	35	25	19	[52.0]	28	21	25	52	41	280
35	T Burton	AUS610	45	49	8	21	47	[54.0]	28	35	28	26	287
36	A Scoles	GBR2117	40	[56.0]	20	46	44	45	29	32	31	17	304
37	H Elkjaer	SWE99	25	21	49	47	31	40	[54.0]	20	34	37	304
38	D Ketteridge	AUS672	52	36	35	36	[55.0]	48	10	41	44	29	331
39	P Jaensson	SWE2756	[80.0C]	46	40	41	46	41	17	36	48	32	347
40	P Olssen	SWE2759	28	39	[78.0O]	53	49	44	45	46	23	21	348
41	B Chapman	AUS704	39	33	[65.0]	24	50	37	26	51	41	47	348
42	D Ager	GBR2100	36	43	33	61	35	[66.0]	47	45	15	35	350
43	R Furneaux	AUS694	48	48	43	51	40	35	20	49	[62.0]	33	367
44	E O'Donnell	AUS693	43	47	48	44	38	30	50	39	35	[51.0]	374
45	J McAllister	AUS696	[80.0C]	80.0C	13	26	18	26	33	34	78.0F	78.0C	386
46	D Hunt	NZL498	[51.0]	45	47	48	48	34	38	37	51	39	387
47	N Goodhead	GBR2108	47	53	37	22	54	[60.0]	43	53	37	44	390
48	J Barr	AUS721	46	44	[64.0]	31	36	52	41	50	42	49	391
49	B Ashton	AUS628	50	41	29	28	51	42	44	57	[63.0]	52	394
50	C Visick	AUS708	44	52	38	43	41	46	40	[55.0]	39	53	396
51	P Wallace	AUS668	42	37	45	[58.0]	39	55	49	38	38	54	397
52	B Holly	AUS641	37	31	[68.0]	59	37	50	52	42	46	57	411
53	F Gronholz	GER632	53	57	27	55	45	53	[64.0]	47	49	40	426
54	B Tyler	AUS692	54	54	[62.0]	42	56	58	23	52	61	42	442
55	P Yates	AUS709	55	51	[61.0]	38	42	43	55	44	57	61	446
56	D Gericke	GER695	56	[63.0]	53	34	57	56	60	48	45	59	468
57	G Yates	AUS689	49	50	57	60	53	49	31	54	[66.0]	66	469
58	A Rich	GBR2007	60	55	32	57	[78.0F]	59	61	78.0C	36	36	474
59	D Kras	POL189	57	58	44	65	59	47	[66.0]	59	55	50	494
60	J Hogan	AUS695	58	[68.0]	67	68	66	57	36	56	56	65	529
61	T Svenesson	SWE2757	41	38	50	66	60	62	58	[78.0F]	78.0F	78.0C	531
62	D Coleman	AUS655	59	59	66	63	64	51	[68.0]	62	59	48	531
63	J Hoffman	GER699	63	61	55	62	62	[78.0F]	67	61	58	58	547
64	M Walker	AUS646	[69.0]	66	60	52	65	64	56	66	65	63	557
65	A Stiel	AUS636	62	60	63	69	61	[78.0C]	65	60	53	64	557
66	G Lambert	NZL493	65	64	54	67	[78.0F]	78.0C	63	63	54	56	564
67	S Wilson	AUS666	12	27	59	[78.0F]	78.0S	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	78.0C	78.0C	566
68	C McQueen	AUS680	64	62	70	[73.0]	58	61	62	65	64	62	568
69	T Pearce	AUS715	[80.0C]	80.0C	52	50	63	78.0F	34	58	78.0F	78.0C	571
70	D O'Donnell	AUS660	66	[80.0C]	56	64	68	65	70	64	60	60	573
71	D Parker	AUS612	68	67	[73.0]	71	69	63	69	67	67	67	608
72	E Kennedy	AUS619	70	70.5	[78.0F]	75	72	67	72	69	69	70	634.5
73	E Furneaux	AUS687	[80.0C]	69	71	74	70	78.0F	71	68	68	69	638
74	G Gillespie	AUS698	[80.0C]	80.0C	69	54	78.0F	78.0C	48	78.0C	78.0C	78.0C	641
75	A Maclean	AUS663	61	65	72	72	67	[78.0F]	78.0F	78.0C	78.0C	78.0C	649
76	R Thorne	GBR2048	[80.0F]	80.0C	74	70	71	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	70	68	667
77	D Smith	AUS685	67	[80.0C]	78.0F	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	78.0S	78.0C	78.0C	78.0C	691