OK World Championships in Leba, Poland Overall

5-11 August 2000

The OK worlds were held in the town of Leba in Poland on the Baltic coast. Many of the British sailors stayed away from the event after a bad experience in 1993 but they will regret it with the big winds and large waves, sunshine and lively nightlife! It all kicked off with the practice race held in excellent sailing conditions. Most of the leading contenders chose to be lazy and only do one lap with the big wind forecast for the next day. The full 80-boat fleet was led round the mark by Nick Craig (GBR) and was followed by the top contenders such as Bart Bomans from Belgium and Karsten Hitz of Germany. The British sailors faired well all rounding in the top 15 or so. Karsten Hitz followed by 4 times Olympian Jorgen Lindhardsen from Denmark eventually won the race. Race 1 got underway in a steady force 5 with Jan-Dietmar Dellas (GER) rounding first to open an early lead but his 120kg bulk didn’t fair well on the reach’s. Karsten Hitz showed his usual windy weather speed to win from Lindhardsen. A shift to the right near the finish allowed Bart Bomans (BEL) and Nick Craig (GBR) to steal 3rd and 4th places ahead of Oliver Grongolz (GER) in 6th. Conditions for race 2 were extreme and exhilarating. The wind was close to the maximum allows of 28 knots and the waves were massive with boats (and sometimes masts!) disappearing between waves. Bomans showed great skill to defy his weight disadvantage and scored a narrow victory from Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE). Craig had a good run with a broken kicker to hold off Dave Carroll (GBR) for 3rd and 4th places respectively.

Racing was postponed to another day on Tuesday because the wind had got up even more. The wind had moderated to a steady 5 for the two races on Wednesday and it was Jan-Dietmar leading from Hansson-Mild at the top mark. Karsten third and Craig forth. Hansson-Mild capsized on the run to give Hitz a win from Craig. Hansson-Mind finished 4th and Lindhardsen 5th whilst overnight leader Bomans finished 6th with Carroll 7th.

Craig led at the first mark of race 4 and opened up a big lead by the end of the reaches. However, it was the awesome upwind speed of Hitz that scored him another victory. Bomans finished 3rd from Gronholz with Carroll 5th.

The experienced British team had another strong day with 4 of the 5 members finishing the day with a real chance of a top ten finish overall. Terry Curtis (GBR) and Andy Rushworth (GBR) both were sailing out of their skins in the breezy conditions.

Day 4 was a different affair with the winds now easing to force 2 and a nasty chop. A BIG shift up the first beat allowed Andy Rushworth an early lead but missed his toe straps and fell out to round 4th instead of having a big windward mark lead! Antoni Powlowski (POL) led round with Craig second and Bomans 3rd. Craig covered hard to win followed by Bomans and Powlowski. Rushworth ended up 4th despite his swim. Hitz scored a 15th that opened up the event.

Hitz made no mistake in race 6 with a perfect starboard end start to lead from start to finish. Craig pulled through to 2nd to keep the pressure on with Lindharsen 3rd.

In the light airs the Brits had a mixed day but Dave Carroll move up a place to 6th overall despite a bad day and Rushworth moved into the top 10 after an excellent day. Curtis was hovering around 10th and it was all to play in the last race.

The final day lived up to the billing with an exciting but controversial day. There were 2 contenders for the title – Karsten who had clocked up 4 wins but was carrying a 15th and Nick with a consistent series with all top 4 results. Craig had to beat Hitz by 2 places or sail him below 6th. Craig made his intentions clear with a psychological game starting some 20 minutes before the start. Craig arrived off Hitz’s quarter for 15 minutes! The 5-minute gun went and Craig went in hard with the protest flag going up within 30 seconds for a luffing incident. Hitz was clearly rattled as Craig tailed and both planed off to the port end of the line. Both boats were OCS in the recalled start, this meant Karsten lived to fight again. Craig continued his aggressive moves tailing Hitz away from the line. In Americas cup style stuff, Craig held Hitz out for almost the 10 minutes but Hitz escaped with to make a perfect start whilst Craig was buried. Hitz sailed a good race to finish 2nd behind Lindhardsen. Bomans and Hansson-mild finished 3rd and 4th. Dave Carroll finished with a 6th, Curtis a 9th and Rushworth a 10th that meant all 4 finished in the top 10. However it was not over. Craig lodged 4 protests alleging that German boats had interfered with the match race in 8 separate incidents! After several hours the jury rejected them claiming insufficient evidence.

Overall Results:

 1. Karsten Hitz        (GER)
 2. Nick Craig          (GBR)
 3. Bart Bomans         (BEL)
 4. Jorgen Lindhardsen  (DEN) 
 5. Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE)
 6. David Carroll       (GBR)
Other Brits,
 7. Andy Rushworth      (GBR)
10. Terry Curtis        (GBR)
26. Greg Casey          (GBR)

More Information:

• YachtandYachting.com OK Page
• OK Class Website