OK Dinghy class at Kieler Woche - Day 1
by Robert Deaves 26 Jun 22:47 BST
26-29 June 2025
On the first day of Kieler Woche for the OK Dinghy class, Sweden's Niklas Edler began his defence for the OK Dinghy with a solid 2, 1 on the day that started with light winds and which increased through the second race.
Henrik Kofoed, from Denmark produced a 4,2 to sit in second overnight with Jesper Bendix in third. Germany's Andre Budzien won the first race.
With forecasts of rain and a dying wind, the fleet of 49 boats set out for the first two races on Thursday. In race 1 Edler led round the top and down the reaches as the wind slowly died to 2-3 knots. Budzien tacked away at the leeward mark and found more pressure to pass Edler upwind and lead into the finish. Bendix crossed in third.
A second race was doubtful for a while but then the breeze filled back in to 6-10 knots and a great second race. Edler again led at the top and this time extended for a huge win with Kofoed in second and Ben Flower in third.
The conditions for the rest of the week are better, with racing continuing until Sunday.
Results after Day 1: (top ten, 2 races)
1 SWE 71 Niklas EDLER 3pts
2 DEN 61 Henrik KOFOED 6pts
3 DEN 700 Jesper BENDIX 10pts
4 DEN 21 Bo PETERSEN 10pts
5 CAN 26 Ben FLOWER 12pts
6 DEN 1580 Troels TRABJERG 12pts
7 GER 71 André BUDZIEN 15pts
8 NED 6 Stefan de VRIES 17pts
9 SWE 72 Benjamin HAMMERÖ 18pts
10 POL 777 Michal STRUMNIK 19pts