Upping the suntan

Nick Craig reports from the OKs racing at Frensham Ponds

The final round of the Thames Valley OK series was at Frensham on Sunday 15 June on a great day for sunbathing! Unfortunately not the best day for sailing with the wind varying between 0 and 5 knots and coming from every direction on the pond, which put a bit of a dampener on the turnout at 10 boats. While frustrating at times, it made for very close racing with the leaders frequently looking rosy only to sail into a giant hole for the fleet to be turned inside out. 4 shortish races were held to keep racing close & give the sailors value for the £7 entry fee, which as ever included the free tea after sailing which even 10 greedy OK sailors couldn't finish!

Before lunch, the scoreboard looked very tight with local sailors Nick Craig and Geoff Woollen using their home advantage to the full to score 1,3 and 4,1 respectively. Terry Curtis from Upper Thames also knows a thing or two about shifty winds and scored two 2nds. Deryck Lovegrove and another local Brian Cushing were looking quite handy with 3,5 and 5,4.

After lunch, the wind increased a little but kept spinning. Woollen got off to a flying start in race 3 and with Craig and Curtis over the line things were looking good - but of course not for long with a few 180 degree windshifts and some very close tacking duels giving the win to Craig from Curtis, Woollen & Antony Rich having a good race in 4th.

Going into the final race, Woollen or Craig could win - Curtis's string of 2nds couldn't win him the event but he could still beat Woollen. Curtis opened up a narrow early lead showing good speed with his new carbon mast but a very shifty reach/beat/run (!) saw Woollen take the lead. Craig took Woollen on the penultimate beat from Woollen and Curtis with Lovegrove just behind sealing 4th overall.

Overall Results:

1st Nick Craig Frensham Pond 3 points
2nd Geoff Woollen Frensham Pond 6
3rd Terry Curtis Upper Thames 6
4th Deryck Lovegrove Kingsmead 12
5th Brian Cushing Frensham Pond 14
6th Malcolm Wenman British Airways 18
7th Antony Rich Upper Thames 19
8th Dave Wright West Oxford 20
9th Laurie Weedon Frensham Pond 27
10th OC Marshall Frensham Pond 28