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Opening shot: Runner up at the Worlds, NZ National Champion and now NZOK Tour Champion, Luke O'Connell is setting the pace down under.
Photo: Lara Blasse
President's Message

Happy Birthday to a legend
 
As many have realized, this weekend (25th April) Jørgen Lindhardtsen’s 70th birthday will be celebrated in Hellerup Sailing Club. While writing this text 61 boats have signed up for the event and even more people will be joining for the party afterwards.
 
With more than 50 years in the OK Dinghy we are celebrating a true legend and we do it in a legendary way.
 
I could write a long list of Jørgen’s achievements, but on this occasion I will stick to his major achievement in this class. By his own example Jørgen has shown the way for many sailors on how to behave like a gentleman on land and on the sea. Also Jorgen has proved to everyone that despite a high age you can be competitive and win. As he has proved over and over again that he is still at his best when the conditions get rough.
 
When I bought my first OK dinghy some 20 years ago Jorgen had just turned 50 and everyone was talking about that it was amazing that he was still able to be the best. Today nobody would even start talking about 50 years as being a high age for an OK dinghy sailor. When we look at the fleet today we see a lot of very fit guys and many of them will be between 40 and 60. Thanks to Jorgen age is no longer an excuse and many guys are having a great time in this class instead of fishing from a folkboat, watching TV or any other thing that normal people do. As Greg Wilcox once said “I am getting older and should stop, but as long as Jørgen is still sailing I can’t quit.”
 
I am very happy to see that his birthday will be celebrated on the water with an unheard number of boats (61) for a one day event.
 
Happy Birthday Jørgen
Bo Teglers
President OKDIA

Class news


2015 OKDIA Stickers: These have all been sent out so you should have these by now or very soon from your National Secretary.

2015 OKDIA AGM: The 2015 OKDIA AGM will be held on July 27th in Puck. The agenda will be poublished before June 1.
 

New websites: As part of the class's new structured approach you may have seen that the web address of the worlds has been changed to www.okworlds.org. From now on it is intended that all world championship websites will be hosted by OKDIA (but managed by the organisers) so that each year remains archived long after the event, rather than being lost when the domain expires. 

The current year will always be www.okworlds.org. Years before and after will be 20xx.okworlds.org. 
The 2016 site is already set up at 2016.okworlds.org. After this year's worlds it will become www.okworlds.org. The 2017 site is also being developed at the moment. We also loaded last year's event site to 2014.okworlds.org.
 

2017 Worlds in Barbados: The website, 2017.okworlds.org, already has some basic information about the event. It also has an 'Expression of Interest' form. Please read the information on the site and sign up here if you are thinking of going. There is no commitment. It just gives the organisers an idea of numbers for planning purposes. With all boats needing to be shipped by container the logistics will be enormous, so an early indication of the size of that operation will be very helpful.
 

Spring Cup 2015: This popular event at Medemblik marks the start of the season for many sailors and this year promises to be one of the biggest yet. So far there are 58 entries. Entry closes on April 26th. Sign up here: http://kzrvhollandia.nl/evenementen/spring-cup-2015/
 

Statement from the Technical Committee: Following the swing tests being carried out in Denmark, the OKDIA Technical Committee has issued a statement. You can read it in full here.
 

2015 Worlds in Puck: For those that have not seen it yet the event site is up and running at www.okworlds.org. This year entry is open to everyone - the national quotas do not apply. Online provisional entry is already open on the website, so if you are planning to go please enter early so the organisers can plan ahead. The early entry deadline is fast approaching, so if you want to enter for the reduced entry fee please do so now.

One of the events being planned at the Worlds this year is a presentation from Barbados on the 2017 World Championship. It should be an evening to remember. Did somebody mention rum?
The return of the woody

We published an article about the new trend for CNC panel cut OK Dinghy kits on the website. An extended article will appear in the soon-to-be-released magazine. Read more here.
OKDIA Magazine - The new magazine is almost complete. Here is the new cover design.

There is still space for advertising and small items. You can find a Media Pack on the OKDIA website here. We will be publishing this first issue in the next few weeks and it will be sent to your national secretary.

Please send any content and ideas for content for future issues to publicity@okdia.org

OK Dinghy World Ranking List - April 2015


There are a lot of position changes in the first OK Dinghy World Ranking list of 2015, but Greg Wilcox (NZL) continues to dominate as World No. 1 following his fourth place at the World Championships at Black Rock, Australia over the New Year.
 
Along with European Champion, Jørgen Svendsen (DEN), these two have amassed a considerable lead over the rest of the fleet. Mike Williams (AUS) just edges out his fellow Australians for third place. Mark Jackson (AUS) won the Australian Nationals at Sail Melbourne while 2013 World Champion Roger Blasse (AUS) is back inside the top 10 again in fifth.
The full list is here: April 2015 Ranking List
        points events
1 Greg Wilcox NZL 544 1035.20 19
2 Jorgen Svendsen DEN 1427 1007.55 9
3 Mike Williams AUS 730 862.72 8
4 Mark Jackson AUS 735 853.50 7
5 Roger Blassé AUS 749 804.85 6
6 Luke O'Connell NZL 546 790.29 7
7 Jorgen Lindhartdsen DEN 1420 781.54 14
8 Bo Petersen DEN 1431 761.33 11
9 Andre Budzien GER 789 754.90 7
10 Rene Johannsen DEN 1393 751.64 13
11 Ben Morrison NZL 530 747.01 8
12 Christian Olesen DEN 1340 737.26 5
13 Matt Stechmann NZL 549 734.52 7
14 Peter Milne AUS 694 729.90 6
15 Robert Deaves GBR 2156 723.47 5
16 Mark Skelton AUS 753 710.00 6
17 Brent Williams AUS 754 709.77 7
18 Alistair Deaves NZL 542 680.74 6
19 Martin von Zimmermann GER 693 677.51 11
20 Sonke Behrens GER 778 671.00 9
Nick Craig won the UK Inland Championships from Jim Hunt and Terry Curtis after a very windy weekend at Graham Water. Results here and video here.
Luke O’Connell (left) has won the 2014-15 New Zealand OK Tour after cleaning up the final Tour event at Turangi  with 6 wins out of 7 races. Alistair Deaves hung on to second overall, while Ben Morrison finished the season in third. 

The biggest improver of the year was Eric Rone in USA 536 who claimed the leather medal with a sensational fourth in the Tour, while current World Champion Matt Stechmann finished the year in fifth. 48 boats entered at least one event. Full results here.
 
Tomasz Gaj (POL) won the Easter Regatta at Loosdrecht. Bo Reker Andersen (DEN) was second and and Rene Bruun (DEN) third. Best Dutch sailor was StephanVveldman (NED) in fourth. It was a long ago that there was last an OK Dinghy regatta at Loosdrecht. The full results can be found here.
Tomasz Gaj won the Rybnika regatta from Janusz Stobinski and Darek Kras
Drawing on more than 30 years as a competitive dinghy sailor, four time OK Dinghy World Champion Nick Craig has written his first book, ‘Helming to Win’, published by Fernhurst Books in March 2015 in their revitalised Sail to Win series.

More information and order details here.

Upcoming events

 
1-3 May Spring Cup, NED Medemblik
23-24 May Northern French Nationals Lac du Der
13-14 June Nordic Championship Præstø
25-28 June Kieler Woche Kiel Schilksee
10-12 July Warnemünder Woche Warnemünde
24 Jul-1 Aug WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Puck, Poland

The full programme can be found at: http://www.okdia.org/nextevents/index.php
Please send all content for inclusion in future e-newsletters to publicity@okdia.org. These will be issued roughly once a month. Next issue will be late May.
Closing shot: Richard Burton flying at the UK Inlands
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