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Ovington 2021 - ILCA 1 - LEADERBOARD

Ovington Boats International OK Dinghy UK Nationals at Brixham Yacht Club - Overall

by Karen Robertson 21 Aug 2018 21:20 BST 16-19 August 2018

The OK fleet met at Brixham YC in Torbay for the 2018 Ovington OK National Championships from 16-19th August. While several regulars, including the 2017 Champion, were not able to make the championships this year their absence was more than compensated by an influx of returning and new OK sailors.

The fleet also welcomed visitors from Belgium and Poland and increased numbers of junior and ladies sailing this year including Vanessa Weedon-Jones who was benefiting from the class initiative earlier this year to offer free entry and use of the class demo boat to a junior or lady sailor new to the class.

The first day saw Torbay in a boisterous but shifty mood with winds from F2 to F5 creating sparkling conditions that suited the OK perfectly. As was to be apparent throughout the event the fleet were keen to get away and it took two recalls to get the first race underway and one recall for the second race. Charlie Cumbley who was 4th at the recent World Championship in Germany showed the fleet the level of performance one would expect from such a result, leading the fleet around on both races but being chased hard by the pack including Dave Bourne, Tony Woods and Will Heritage and first race and Dave and Ian Hopwood in the second. Will from Gurnard who is a junior sailor had just finished building his boat from a bare hull shell and was only persuaded to attend at the last minute gave an indication of his potential by taking a third in the first race and a fourth in the second race.

Day two proved to be near identical in conditions to day one, but with the addition of a few big holes in race three. Despite Charlie again proving himself invincible, he was chased much harder, this time by Chris Rhodes from Exe (who is returning to the OK after decades away!) and Fergus Barnham from Snettisham, although Fergus did win the yellow jacket for 'Dick of the Day' by colliding with a innocently moored yacht when his rudder fell off on the way back to the slip! So after four races it was a tired but happy fleet that gathered in the clubhouse for the Class Supper and see if they could Charlie intoxicated enough to make a mistake the next day.

Unfortunately it was not to be and if anything Charlie sailed just a little faster in the bright sunshine and F3-4 and further down the fleet the drop in wind was well received by many tired legs. Again it was newcomer and Junior Will Heritage showing impressive speed and tactical ability who lead the pack behind Charlie taking a second and third in the two races, with Ian Hopwood taking a third in race five and Dave Bourne a second in race six, making for a tight battle for positions going into the final day.

It was with some trepidation that the fleet gathered for the final day of racing with the wind gusting up to 33knts in Torbay. Several decided that discretion was the better part of valour and stayed ashore while those that decided that valour was more important than discretion headed out for an invigorating day's sailing. Charlie Cumbley once again took the first race to wrap up the championship with a rather impressive set of race wins but he very kindly sat out the final race so we could have at least one different race winner. Fergus Barnham having made sure his rudder was tied on properly took the final race win with Dave Bourne picking up his second, 2nd place of the day to finish as runner up in this year's national championship. 3rd place overall went to Fergus after just pipping talented youngster, Will Heritage, on count back.

Impressively all the keen junior sailors completed both races with Hugo Burrows from Oxford commenting afterwards when asked if he gybed or not 'Oh yes - I waited until I was going really fast down a wave and flipped the boom' - simples really! As a final twist to the event the sailors were not allowed to leave the club as a trawler had brought what was believed to have been a WW2 bomb into the adjacent fish pier which resulted in part of the harbour being evacuated.

Our thanks go of course to our generous sponsors, Ovington Boats, Harken, Rain & Sun, North Sails, HD Sails, Birmingham Marine Services and Ceilidh Masts and Brixham YC for being fabulous hosts and the class is looking forward to the 2019 event at Abersoch.

Overall Results:
If you finished in the top ten at the OK nationals then enter your Gear Guide information here

PosSail NoHelmClubR1R2R3R4R5R6R7R8Pts
1st6Charlie CumbleyTeignmouth1111111(DNC)7
2nd2183Dave BourneErith(OCS)233422218
3rd2134Fergus BarnhamSnettisham Beach-10642654128
4th41Will HeritageGurnard34-66235528
5th2188Ian HopwoodNantwich73-94366736
6th28Anthony OsmanParkstone67-107573338
7th2179Tony WoodsGlossop297-10747642
8th2176Keith ByersMorecambe558-13988447
9th2136Nick LoganRutland151314-1711119881
10th44Chris RhodesExe SC1211281010(DNC)DNC84
11th18Deryck LovegroveBurghfield131215-16131411987
12th11Simon CowoodRutland48129817(RET)DNC89
13th2147Hugo BurrowsWest Oxford-201713141213121091
14th117Piotr PrzewoznyUpper Thames18161920191610(DNC)118
15th25Anthony RichBowmoor9(RET)115RET9RETDNC127
16th2068Steve CookeMinnis Bay161418211618(DNC)DNC134
17th14Karen RobertsonLoch Earn8101612(DNC)DNCDNCDNC139
18th59Andy OsmanParkstone14(RET)17191415DNCDNC141
19th248Joost RommelaereKLYC1115(RET)DNS1512DNCDNC146
20th58Mary ReddyhoffParkstone231822182019(DNC)DNC151
21st2116Tim O'LearyFelixstowe Ferry222023231820(RET)DNC157
22nd2080Paul PikeCovenham SC242125252222(DNC)DNC170
23rd95Duncan EllisOvery Staithe(OCS)RET511DNCDNCDNCDNC171
24th2082Hugh MyersStokes Bay17(DNS)2015RETDNCDNCDNC176
25th99Andrew MartinDatchett21192122(RET)DNCDNCDNC176
26th2064Vanessa Weedon-JonesHunts(RET)DNC24242121DNCDNC183
27th2018Paul DeaneWest Oxford2522(RET)DNS2324RETDNC187
28th2167Philip BentonUpper Thames19(RET)RETDNS17RETDNCDNC191
29th2196Andrew BoxerCookham Reach(RET)DNC26262423DNCDNC192
30th100Alan RobinsonSevern(RET)DNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNCDNC217

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