OK National Championships at Herne Bay Sailing Club - Day 1

Returning to shore on day 1 of the OK Nationals at Herne Bay © Mary Reddyhoff

It was a blustery day – in fact gusts in excess of 28 knots – much to the liking of heavy weights Richard 'Burt' Burton, Dave Bourne and Terry Curtis with the lighter Alex Scoles and Luke Gower chasing their tails.

An offshore breeze running with the tide ensured a flattish sea, allowing for some wonderful surfing and planning conditions, especially in the gusts. The well-set triangle sausage course and a square line allowed racing to get away at the first time of asking on both occasions although a strongish tide dictated the favoured side of the beat.

Burton leads with two bullets from Bourne and Curtis who both scored a 2nd and a 4th each. The lighter conditions expected for the rest of the championships may well favour 'feather weight' Alex Scoles who currently stands in 4th place with 11 points as does Kiwi Luke Gower in his new Ovington ship. The 'yellow jacket dick of the day' was won by Tom Lonsdale for capsizing 100 metres after launching!

We have attracted the same number of entries as last year and the competitors have been warmly welcomed by Herne Bay Sailing Club with plenty of free beer and pies at the end of today's racing and we are looking forward to meeting more of the members over the coming days.

The results of tonight's table football tournament will be posted before tomorrow's racing gets under way.

Results after Day 1:

1st Richard Burton 2pts
2nd Dave Bourne 6pts
3rd Terry Curtis 6pts
4th Alex Scoles 11pts
5th Luke Gower 11pts
6th Anthony Osman 12pts
7th Simon Cowood 12pts
8th Ian Hopwood 19pts
9th Andrew Rushworth 20pts
10th Duncan Ellis 20pts