OK Dinghy UK News - Demo Boats, Venue Guides and Events
by Karen Robertson 5 Apr 2024 18:46 BST
ProSet OK dinghy Nationals 2024 © OK Dinghy Assoc
With the increased interest in the OK Dinghy in recent years and an awesome World Championship under their wing, the UK class association is aiming to make the class more accessible to sailors across the country and to increase turn out at key events through several initiatives.
Demo Boats
The class has had a demo boat for several years which has been instrumental in bringing several sailors into the class. To increase the potential for people to try the class out a second demo boat has been purchased with the new boat with the intention that the existing demo boat will cover the north of the country and the new boat covering the south of the country.
They are available for sailors or clubs to borrow to try the class out either on their own waters or at OK events. They are also available for the Nationals with priority given to youths (under 23), ladies etc. We are also glad to be able to announce that Noble Marine are supporting the demo boats and the boats will soon be sporting new graphics to show that support.
Venue Guides
The class is delighted to have Jennie Clark onboard as our new social secretary and she is working to make our events as easy to attend for sailors as possible and has created a set of venue guides with details of how to get to the clubs, where to stay and where family and friends can visit if they attend as well.
The venue guides can be found on our website at www.okdinghy.co.uk/venue-library
Nationals
Our 2024 Nationals sponsored by Pro-Set Resins are being held at Brixham YC from 18-21 July which is a favourite venue that we last visited in 2018. Entry is now available online at our website www.okdinghy.co.uk/ok-dinghy-national-championship-entry-form and we have arranged for event apparel (t-shirts, hoodies etc) to be available before the event. They can be ordered at www.okdinghy.co.uk/ok-dinghy-national-championship-gear-order
To encourage sailors of all abilities to attend this great event we will be running a 'buddy system' where a top sailor is paired with a back of fleet sailor and a prize will be given to the best performing team. We also hope to enable morning clinics before launching to help any answer boat set up and tuning questions for new sailors and a winners debrief of the day each evening to talk through 'how they did it'.
Of course this is in addition to a full social calendar after sailing with the class dinner on the Saturday evening and daily prize-givings on each other evening.
We would love to see sailors who have never attended a major event come along and enjoy the warm friendship the class is famous for, and for those that cannot make the full 4 days, a weekend only entry is available. As noted above, both demo boats are available to be used at the Nationals and we invite applications to use them. If you are interested, please email making a case to use one of the boats.
Event Series
In addition to the Nationals we have three other cumulative points series running for the year.
Allen Grand Slam Series - this is our Premier Series and consists of five events located around the country namely, Ovington Inlands (Grafham), Scottish Championship (East Lothian YC), Pro-Set National Championship (Brixham), Inlands (Rutland) and the Southern Championship (Stokes Bay). This is kindly supported by Allen Brothers and each event entry gets two tickets for an end of season prize draw. The more events you attend, the higher your chances of winning some goodies.
North Sails Traveller Series - This series includes EVERY domestic event and again each event entry gets two tickets for an end of season prize draw
Border Trophy - With a notable uptick in boats in the north of England and in Scotland a new Trophy is being awarded with two events located either side of the border. This year the events are at Ullswater YC in April and East Lothian YC in June.
For more information regarding the class please visit www.OKDinghy.co.uk or email or