OK Nationals at Dabchicks Sailing Club - Day 3

The third day of the OK National Championships was kindly sponsored by Ovington Boats, who are the headline sponsors for our 2026 Nationals, to be held at Tynemouth Sailing Club from 4 to 7 September 2026.

Today was the day when the discard would kick in, and it was clear from the results of days one and two that this would result in some shuffling of places in the overall results.

PRO Paul Jackson chose to post a change to the SIs on Sunday afternoon to allow him to bring the start of the first race today forward, to 12.00 rather than 13.00. This was due to the forecast showing the wind increasing to around 22 knots by 1500hrs. The club's very efficient use of WhatsApp ensured that the fleet were aware of the change to SIs and also received an update on the schedule first thing this morning.

Jim Downer took the first race of the day, followed by Richard Burton and Dave Bourne. Ben Flower was fourth, and this result became his discard.

The second race of the day was won by Oliver Davenport with Ben second, Burt third and Jim fourth.

Burt seems happy with things - OK Nationals at Dabchicks - photo © OK UK Class

With one discard now in place the leaderboard saw the expected shuffles and Oliver now sits at the top on 9 points, with Ben close behind on 10 and Burt in 3rd on 17 points. Whilst the racing at the front of the fleet has been interesting to watch, there's been some great competition right through the fleet.

Once again Synergy Marine kindly sponsored the after-race beer, served with a very welcome snack served to competitors as they came ashore.

Tomorrow is looking like it will be another breezy day, with thundery showers forecast and the fleet waits to see whether conditions will be suitable for the final day of racing.

Results after Day 3: