...and the Beer was Cold

...and The Beer Was Cold

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship Barbados

...and The Beer Was Cold

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship Barbados

Published by Robert Deaves First Edition 2017 Copyright Š Robert Deaves, 2017 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of the publisher and the copyright holders.

...and The Beer Was Cold 2017 OK Dinghy World Championship Barbados Photos by Alistair Deaves, Michael Kurtz, Richard Phillips and Robert Deaves Words by Robert Deaves

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CONTENTS

CONTENTS 1. Introduction 2. Beach Side 3. Day One 4. Day Two 5. Day Three 6. Day Four 7. Day Five 8. Results

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1 • INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

N

ick Craig, from Great Britain won a record fifth World title at the 2017 OK Dinghy World Championship in Barbados, in May, the first time the class had held a championship in the Caribbean. He dominated the conditions better than any of the other 80 sailors, showing incredible speed and an uncanny ability to find the best route to the top mark.

British sailors had never won the World title until in 2004, Jim Hunt finally won and made it look pretty easy. Since then, Craig had won four titles before taking some time out of the class. His last title was in 2011.

Jim Hunt also returned to the class in 2015 and won his second world title in France, in 2016.

These two were among the favourites going into the 2017 World Championship. Craig had not been fast in practice and the lead up regattas in Europe while Hunt was the defending World Champion and had dominated early season regattas.

The showdown in Barbados was more one sided than expected, with few other sailors really getting a look in at the front. A group of sailors from New Zealand were largely in the running for third place, with Luke O’Connell, the 2014 runner-up ending up with the bronze medal.

When the opportunity arose for the OK Dinghy class to hold its World Championship in the Caribbean, it was pretty much a unanimous vote in favour of sunshine, blue water sailing and the famous Caribbean hospitality. Three years and a lot of planning later, the OK Dinghy fleet descended on the island for two weeks of great racing, great camaraderie, some cold beers, and a little rum.

At the opening ceremony, a speech from the Minister of Tourism and International Transport, highlighted the importance of the event for Barbados, referring also to the Finn World Masters that was being held the following week. “The word is out that Barbados is serious about sailing and its tourism package and it is fitting that 2017 has not one but two events. We salute everyone for making this possible. We want to see the sailing community expand. Barbados has a history of seafaring so by developing a legacy of sailing events we think we can develop the sailing youth of Barbados.�

The event was hosted by both the Barbados Yacht Club and the Barbados Cruising Club, located almost side by side on the south-western corner of Barbados in Carlisle Bay. The team that delivered the event was the same team that had organised the Fireball, 505 and more recently the GP14 World Championship. Craig had sailed at the GP14 Worlds in 2016 and had learnt some valuable lessons from that trip.

Other contenders included teams from New Zealand, Australia and Denmark. The OK Dinghy fleets are mainly centred on Northern Europe and New Zealand/Australia, with the largest fleets in Denmark and Germany.

Craig surprised everyone by winning the first three races. Hunt and 9

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O’Connell were always close behind, but Craig clearly had an edge and was sailing very well tactically to cope with the huge shifts and pressure changes.

Jørgen Svendsen, from Denmark, won the fourth race and Hunt won the sixth, before Craig won the next three and went into the final day only needing one top 12 place to secure the title from two possible races. In the end, only one race was sailed on the last day as the wind became even more shifty and difficult. A second place for Craig was enough to secure the title.

Hunt was a clear second after never placing worse than fifth all week, with a score line that would have easily won most world championships.

O’Connell was the best of the rest, another 20 points back. He faltered mid week but then came back strong for the remaining races to secure the bronze by 11 points from several of his New Zealand team mates.

Craig also won the Master’s trophy as the first over 40, while Greg Wilcox won the Veteran’s trophy for those over 55. Finally, after 60 years a women’s trophy had been donated, and presented, for the first time. With a record of four ladies competing, the winner was Juliane Hofmann.

The conditions were challenging, with wind from 12-25 knots, huge wind shifts and a tendency to run races close to the shore resulting in many one sided upwind legs and gybe marks set just off the shore. Several finish lines were even set in the moorings in Carlisle Bay. In addition, the carpets of Sargasso weed that arrived mid-week added to the challenges the sailors faced.

Each upwind was characterised by pressure from the land that lifted those on port into the top mark. Often it was a case of overstanding the top mark to get into the bigger pressure and then using that pressure to free off, faster, into the top mark. Either way Craig had it down to a tee and put on a master class of sailing in challenging conditions for the fleet.

He showed a tactical awareness with great speed to completely dominate the fleet, winning races seemingly with ease and by big margins.

Sailing the UK built Synergy Hull, with a New Zealand C-Tech mast and an HD sail, actually made by Hunt, his scoreline discarding his third place in race five is impressive by any standards.

O’Connell said, “It’s been a tough week, so I am pleased to come away with third. The middle of the week was pretty bad for me. I don’t know what happened there really. But it was great sailing here. Nick and Jim sailed super well and Nick definitely deserved to win.”

Paying tribute to Craig, Hunt said “He just outsailed everyone all week.

He’s just been a bit more on it, starting better, being in the right place at the right time. He hasn’t really missed anything. He was quick downwind, there were not really any holes in his game, which is a bit of a shame, as if he hadn’t been here I would have looked quite good.”

“But it was great fun, I’ve had a great time.”

After winning Craig, said, “I think it was a tricky week because it was very shifty and we had weed challenges, but overall it’s just a fantastic place so sail. It’s so warm, the water is warm, the beer is cold; it’s fantastic. I really enjoyed myself. Barbados is the best place I have ever sailed.” ...and, yes, the beer was cold.

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2 • BEACH SIDE

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3 • DAY ONE

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4 • DAY TWO

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5 • DAY THREE

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6 • DAY FOUR

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7 • DAY FIVE

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8 • RESULTS

No Sail No. Helm 1 GBR 2195 Nick Craig 2 GBR 11 Jim Hunt 3 NZL 546 Luke O’Connell 4 NZL 545 Steve McDowell 5 NZL 517 Paul Rhodes 6 AUS 749 Roger Blasse 7 NZL 551 Mark Perrow 8 GBR 2191 Chris Turner 9 NZL 566 Greg Wilcox 10 DEN 3 Jorgen Svendsen 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45

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POL 14 POL 1 NZL 567 DEN 1402 GER 778 AUS 768 GER 772 NZL 498 DEN 1397 NZL 523 GER 5 AUS 754 GBR 10 DEN 22 AUS 750 GER 803 GER 775 NZL 575 NZL 531 NZL 536 AUS 719 NZL 571 GER 7 NZL 565 DEN 1335 GBR 2163 GER 75 GBR 13 NZL 563 SWE 2791 POL 19 GER 6 DEN 1442 DEN 1481 GBR 2176

Pawel Pawlaczyk Tomasz Gaj Chris Fenwick Bo Teglers Nielsen Soenke Behrens Mark Jackson Oliver Gronholz Jono Clough Henrik Kofoed-Larsen Joe Porebski Ralf Tietje Brent Williams Robert Deaves Ask Askholm Peter Robinson Martin von Zimmermann Joerg Rademacher Michael Wilde Adrian Coulthard Eric Rone Glenn Williams Rob Hengst Andreas Pich Simon Probert Mogens Johansen Gavin Waldron Dirk Dame Alex Scoles David Hoogenboom Lennart Hansson Grzegorgz Salamon Fabian Gronholz Peter Heide-Jorgensen Nils Troland Keith Byers

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Pnts 1 1 1 2 -3 1 1 1 2 10 2 3 4 -5 1 4 5 2 1 22 3 2 2 4 (bfd) 17 3 8 3 42 4 16 8 -17 4 6 4 4 7 53 5 9 5 6 6 3 14 7 -20 55 10 15 3 7 5 9 -22 3 4 56 20 4 7 3 2 (dsq) 2 14 12 64 6 8 -25 8 8 8 9 9 9 65 9 10 -20 10 11 10 6 16 6 78 19 14 14 1 23 5 8 12 (bfd) 96 100 115 123 127 129 133 133 138 146 161 162 167 168 169 196 202 213 213 222 223 231 244 252 277 284 288 295 297 299 300 304 317 321 322 333

46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80

GER 11 NZL 568 GER 8 DEN 1399 DEN 1407 GER 22 NZL 564 GER 757 GER 12 AUS 736 AUS 688 GER 767 GER 731 AUS 725 NZL 574 NZL 569 AUS 767 GER 777 GER 678 AUS 766 FRA 1833 POL 40 DEN 1458 SWE 55 AUS 738 AUS 706 GER 697 GBR 2116 AUS 716 NZL 550 GER 539 GER 788 GBR 2058 BAR 12159 GBR 2159

Rainer Pospiech Dean Coleman Ronald Foest Christopher Joe Schubert Malte Pedersen Dirk Gericke Sefton Powrie Falk Hagemann Stefan Rassau Grant Wakefield David Haseldine Juliane Hofmann Thomas Glas David Ketteridge Philip Rzepecky Phil Coveny Glenn Yates Nadine Tietje Heinz Ridder Robert Buchanan Fabien Capeilleres Robert Swiecki Soren Sigurdsson Ulf Sahle Kevin Knott Erik Thompson Joerg Posny Tim O’L eary David Swales Tony Bierre Ulrich Borchers Jessica Finke Mary Reddyhoff Charlie Gloomeau Russell Ward

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