International OK Dinghy British Nationals at Dabchicks Sailing Club Day 1
by Jon Fish 17 Aug 2014 14:47 BST
16-19 August 2014
Forty OKs arrived on Saturday for Day 1 of this year's OK Dinghy nationals at Dabchicks S.C. kindly supported by Synergy Marine, Hiking Bench and English Braids.
They were greeted by a solid westerly F3 and punchy tide. The racing was really high quality with some new faces making a welcome entry into the class.
Race 1 got away cleanly with despite a wind shift induced heavy pin-end bias and biased beat, with the fleet tacking onto port off the line for a drag race to the windward mark. Jon Fish came off the pin to lead from Jim Hunt and Will Turner at the first mark. Andy Couch (of Phantom fame) rounded 4th with reigning champ Robert Deaves and former champ Terry Curtis just behind.
Unusually, Fish managed to not swim and went on to win from Hunt. Deaves and Curtis had come through to 3rd and 4th downhill and kept these two places to the finish, with 2012 champ Lee Child pulling through the fleet to score 5th just in front of Charlie Cumbley who's starting to get to grips with the OK (ominous).
The second race of the day was a rather short affair with the breeze increasing to a F4 and the strong flood tide helping the tired legs up the beat. Rich Burton led from the pin end and tacked early enough to gain whilst Lee and Jim over stood the windward mark by some distance. Burt dropped down the placings on the first reach, with Fish getting through to 3rd, but with shifts and tidal variation ensuring the positions were never really settled.
Jim held the lead with ease for the rest of the race, with Lee in 2nd. Deaves came through to take 3rd up the last beat, with Curtis 4th again and Burt finishing 5th
The strong fleet is currently waiting for the breeze to moderate slightly to allow racing on Day 2 and looking forward to some blasting in the Blackwater estuary.
Results after Day 1: (top ten, 2 races)
1. Jim Hunt, GBR2162, 3pts
2. Robert Deaves, GBR2156, 6pts
3. Jon Fish, GBR2151, 7pts
4. Lee Child, GBR2167, 7pts
5. Terry Curtis, GBR2118, 8pts
6. Richard Burton, GBR2042, 14pts
7. Charlie Cumbley, GBR211, 15pts
8. Tony Woods, GBR2145, 17pts
9. Andy Couch, GBR2150, 18pts
10. Will Turner, GBR2169, 18pts
Event website at www.dabchicks.org/ok_2014nationals.html