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e-Newsletter - April 2016

Opening shot - Spring Cup 2015 - This year we have almost 80 pre-entries
A great time to be OK Dinghy sailing

Welcome to the April edition of the OK Dinghy International e-News bulletin. It has been a busy time preparing for the European and World Championships this year but is a great time to be OK Dinghy sailing.

This weekend is the first major event of the European Season with the combined European Championship and Spring Cup in Medemblik. It was always going to be a gamble moving to a three-day championship, but the support so far has been incredible. The event has attracted 78 pre-entries from eight countries and we are all looking forward to an amazing event on the IJsselmeer, with the customary social attractions of sailing in Medemblik.

Last year’s winner Charlie Cumbley (GBR) is back to defend the Rudiger Prinz Trophy for the Spring Cup. The defending European Champion Jørgen Svendsen (DEN) is also entered. The entry list also includes three former European Champions – Martin von Zimmerman (GER), Jørgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) and the current World No.1 Bo Petersen (DEN), as well as four former World Champions – Jim Hunt (GBR), Greg Wilcox (NZL), Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE), and Lindhardtsen, who won the 1978 title in Medemblik.

Furthermore, 16 out of the world ranked top 20 will be in Medemblik. It is the strongest fleet to come together since last year’s World Championship. It is also great to see six Dutch boats participating, as their numbers continue to build each year.

The class is in great health. There is so much going on and so much interest at the moment, with new builders, new sails and even those who thought they had had enough coming back to get some of the best singlehanded competition in the world.

See you in Medemblik

Robert
Above: Past winners of the Interdominions - Peter Lester, Dan Bush, Ben Morrison, Mark Jackson
 

Dan Slater interview


Bob Smith interviewed Dan Slater, after the recent  2016 OK Interdomion Championships.

BS:  Dan, well done on your victory in the 2016 OK Interdoms at Easter.  How did you enjoy the regatta?
 
Slater:  Thank you. It was really good fun and great we had such a good turn out. I think a special mention has to be made to the Australians who made the effort to come to NZ and really lifted the level at the front end of the fleet.
 
BS:  How did you prepare for the regatta?  All the forecasts were for light air, and that’s what happened – did you take that into account in your approach?
 
Slater:  The OK sailing for me is about having some fun and racing again on my own and challenging myself. I knew I was quite quick in the light air from the regatta earlier this year, so I was confident in my speed which lead to confident decisions on the water. But there are some very good sailors who are a lot lighter than me who I thought would be very hard to beat such as Luke [O’Connell].
 
BS:  Having sailed at 3 Olympic Games, including twice in the Finn, you obviously know what the top level looks like.  How did you find the standard of racing at the OK Interdoms?
 
Slater:  The OK fleet is a very  good standard and high for a amateur class, as good as Laser Masters and others, but you cannot compare to Olympic class fleets where the sailors sail 6 days a week and do 10 fitness sessions a week, as well as have a full time coach.
 
BS:  It seemed as though more than a few competitors were found out by the light airs at Easter, as most NZ and AUS sailors usually sail in more breeze.  Did you notice any common errors among the fleet, in dealing with the light conditions?
 
Slater:  I think for a lot of sailors they struggle to get comfortable in the boat as its a small cockpit that is aft in the boat so to stay forward is not easy both up and downwind. I think for that reason when the forecast is like it was you need to take off the hiking pants and be able to move easier. In some cases boots as well as they restrict your movement. (They are also an extra few kilos)
 
There are lots of different sails and masts and they all have their ideal range, but lots to be learnt in this area for us all and I think that’s another topic.
 
From a tactical point from the guys I spoke with after races and they all talked about their compass numbers. I think in those conditions you need to be looking around and out of the boat. The wind for example on day 1 continued to shift slowly left all day so compass numbers were always lifting on port tack and that sent lots of guys to the right side of the course. But the big picture of the day was a persistent shift left.
 
BS:  What’s next for you in the OK?  Do you plan to attend this year’s OK Worlds in France, or the 2017 OK Worlds in Barbados?
 
Slater:  As far as regattas I haven’t really thought to hard about it but I will not be in France. I like the idea of Barbados but will wait and see how the next year goes. For now I’m enjoying sailing again and lucky the NZ local scene is strong and its a credit to the class members over the last 10 years who have made it what it is.
Dan Slater of Murrays Bay Sailing Club won the 2016 OK Dinghy Interdominons after a very dominant first half of the 8 race series, and despite being seriously challenged by Worser Bay’s Luke O’Connell on the 4-race final day epic, in which O’Connell won 2 races and took the series to a final race showdown. 

The pressure was very much on Slater in the final race, having had an OCS the day before he could not afford any mistakes, while O’Connell had had no bad races and there was speculation that he might go for an attack.  That wasn’t to be, however, and O’Connell had a poor start, enabling Slater to sail a conservative race, just doing enough to remain a few places ahead of O’Connell and take out the series ahead of the 32 other competitors.
 
There was also a great battle for 3rd between Wakatere BC’s Ben Morrison and Mark Jackson of Melbourne, Australia – Morrison looked to have the podium spot sewn up going into the final race, until Jackson stormed into the lead down the reaches and held on to take the race win, draw level on points with Morrison and take 3rd on countback.
 
In the team event, New Zealand totally dominated, a great result for the Kiwis which resulted in well-deserved celebrations after the well-attended prizegiving.

Full results here
The 2016 edition of the Eastersee Regatta will take place on August 27 and 28. The 2016 easterseeregatta.nl website is online and after having 37 sailors attending in 2015 and seeing a 2014/2015 back-to-back win by Frank Strelow form Germany, the Dutch fleet hope to see 40-50 sailors this year. World ranking points are also up for grabs on the 20 square kilometer lake near Oosterzee, the Netherlands…
 
Racing in 2016 will be organized by OK enthusiasts from previous years and the ‘WSV Zevenwolden’. This local sailing authority is famous for its skutsjesilen and small boat races. In 1971 they organised an international OK dinghy regatta on the IJsselmeer off the coast of Lemmer. That regatta was a week prior to the 1971 Europeans that were held in Almere. The clas is pleased to have them organise everything on the water to a high standard, with their experience.

2017 World Championship  - Barbados


Lots of information has recently been published at 2017.okworlds.org including full reports and photo galleries from the venue visit undertaken in December. Pre-entry is already at 90 boats so it looks like it is going to be very popular.

Please pay particular attention to the Important Information page as this contains all you need to know about shipping and entry (or at least as much as we know as this stage).

Class news

1. 2016 World Championships in Quiberon, France
The schedule is

Friday 22- Saturday 23 - Registration
Friday 22- Sunday 24 - Measurement and self-certification
Saturday 24 – Opening Ceremony
Sunday 24 - Practice Race
Monday 25- Friday 29 – Racing
Friday 29 – Prizegiving dinner

The event will be open entry, so national quotas will not apply. The Notice of Race has been published at http://2016.okworlds.org/2015/11/09/notice-of-race/

Online Entry is also open. Remember to send the entry fees to your National Association. All details are in the Notice of Race. Everything is at: okworlds.org

2. Rules Changes
The latest Class Rule Amendments and 2016 Class Rules have been published here: http://www.sailing.org/28246.php. They have become effective from 1st February.

3. Website
Please remember to send all your regatta reports to both webmaster@okdia.org and publicity@okdia.org

4. 2016 OKDIA AGM
This will be held during the first weekend of the World Championship. According to the OKDIA Constitution this must be published by May 23. Please send any submissions for the AGM by May 14 to be included. Class Rule Change submissions must be submitted by May 1. Any submissions received after these dates may be added to the Discussion section but will not be voted on.

OK Dinghy World Ranking List - April 2016


There is finally a new name at the top of the OK Dinghy World Ranking list as the 2016 season gets underway with the combined Europeans and Spring Cup in Medemblik.
 
Bo Petersen from Denmark has been lurking near the top for some time but finally moves into the World No. 1 spot to become only the sixth person to top the list.
 
     Name    Nation    Sail No    Points    Events
1    Bo Petersen    DEN    1431    958.39    12
2    Greg Wilcox    NZL    544    922.60    15
3    Rene Johannsen    DEN    1442    908.56    15
4    Andre Budzien    GER    792    864.21    8
5    Jorgen Lindhartdsen    DEN    1420    855.98    15
6    Mark Jackson    AUS    735    836.20    7
7    Jorgen Svendsen    DEN    3    821.92    8
8    Martin von Zimmermann    GER    693    815.46    12
9    Jim Hunt    GBR    1    807.47    8
10    Robert Deaves    GBR    2156    771.76    6
11    Pawel Pawlaczyk    POL    14    761.17    7
12    Bo Reker Andersen    DEN    1    739.92    16
13    Stefan Myralf    DEN    6    738.66    7
14    Charlie Cumbley    GBR    2173    737.50    5
15    Thomas Hanson-Mild    SWE    100    737.02    5
16    Andreas Pich    GER    797    726.06    11
17    Tomasz Gaj    POL    1    725.80    6
18    Henrik Kofoed Larsen    DEN    1397    661.84    9
19    Brent Williams    AUS    754    661.15    6
20    Alex Scoles    GBR    13    654.54    5  

Download Full list

Upcoming events

14-16 May
 
Northern National French Championship (WR 1) FRA
11-12 June
 
Nordic Championships (WR 1.3) SWE
18-21 June
 
Kieler Woche (WR 0.8) GER
8-10 July   Warnemünder Woche (WR 0.8) GER
22–29 July       
 
World Championship (WR 1.5) FRA
 
The full programme can be found here.
Please send all content for inclusion in future e-newsletters to publicity@okdia.org.

Closing shot - OK Dinghy Magazine April 2016

 
The April 2016 OK Dinghy Magazine is launched this week. First copies available in Medemblik this weekend. Full launch next week.

Thanks to our sponsors:

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