Allen Brothers OK class British National Championship 2023 at Royal Torbay Yacht Club

Allen Brothers OK class British National Championships at Royal Torbay © Paul Childs

The OKs headed down to Royal Torbay YC last weekend with hope in the wind gods and hoping the forecasts were all reading a little low.

Friday was a great day. Dave Ellis and Jim Hunt led an excellent coaching day - lots of starts, short sharp beats and even some running starts to work on both upwind and downwind technique. I am certain that everyone who attended got something out of the day and also the post sailing videos Dave took.

When back ashore, there were a couple of different tactics, some going home for an early night, preparing for the next day, while others found a comfy seat in the local pub and regaled stories of former glory, events of past days and excitement towards the World Champions due to commence in Lyme.

Saturday dawned and Torquay was sat under huge rainstorms and zero wind. A two-hour postponement went up which was the first of many good decisions from the PRO. The second quickly followed, canning the racing for the day allowing the fleet to crack on with last minute boat work, eating cream tea and sampling the local pasties.

The big challenge for the day was to avoid drinking too soon...

Allen Brothers OK class British National Championships at Royal Torbay - photo © Paul Childs

When Sunday dawned the PRO was certain we would be racing and the fleet cruised out to the starting area to wait for the wind to fill - which it duly did. The plan for the day was three races, all to count so it would reward a day of consistency, something very tricky in such a good fleet!

R1 started in 5kts with a battle between current national champ Russ Clark, Andy Davis, Charlie Cumbley and Nick Craig. The right side of the beat was favoured, something current world Champ Cumbley missed on the second beat to drop a little down the rankings. Clark and Taxi had a tight battle, which resulted in Clark doing spins and Anthony Osman sailing nicely through to take second with Craig third and Taxi taking the win.

For R2, the fleet had worked out the right was strong, but how far should you go? The answer... FURTHER!!

Paul Childs, started at the boat and tacked immediately, Cumbley immediately tacking from the pin, but the real threat Childs was getting twitchy about was Mary Reddyhoff... Childs was getting twitchy as he could feel a roll coming his way!

Cumbley led from Davis, with Nick Craig third at the windward mark. With Childs and Jim Hunt behind Craig, this would normally be a great change for Craig to put the pressure on the leaders, but something strange was happening... first Hunt sailed through to leeward of Craig and then the strangest of things happened, so did Childs!! The normally unflappable Craig was incensed!

Unfortunately this only went to wind him up and normal service resumed. Craig smoked them up the next beat and Childs parked it on the run as the wind dropped to 3kts.

Cumbley won by quite some margin, with Davis second and Craig third. With only one race looking likely due to time limits it was all going down to the last race with no discards!

A little more wind for the last race, saw some sailors hiking and powered up while the author of this was languishing deep in the fleet, so has no idea what actually happened in R3, but the results all looked very similar. Cumbley took another big win, followed by Craig and Davis. Meaning the top all finished super tight.

Andy Davis is thrilled to win the Allen Brothers OK class British National Championships at Royal Torbay - photo © Paul Childs

Davis took the overall win, with a 1,2,3. Cumbley scored 5,1,1 with Craig 3,3,2. The best of the mortals was Anthony Osman, with a fantastic 2,5,7 just holing off the ever present Ed Bradburn with 8,6,5.

Given the conditions and lack of wind RTYC and the PRO did a fantastic job all weekend and the travellers got some good practice on Friday, boatwork and showers on Saturday and tight racing Sunday - all in all a great weekend!

Charlie Cumbley takes second in the Allen Brothers OK class British National Championships at Royal Torbay - photo © Paul Childs

Allen brothers and Fernhurst Books continued support of the fleet is always appreciated, as was the hospitality of RTYC Bob Penfold, Vice Commodore and his wife Sue for their support, and thank you to Sue for handing out the prizes.

Next up is the Worlds - 150 boats and hopefully a little more breeze at Lyme. With 75 British entries and a truly fantastic visiting line up from around the world will make a truly epic week of racing - BRING IT ON!!

Nick Craig takes third in the Allen Brothers OK class British National Championships at Royal Torbay - photo © Paul Childs

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