OK Dinghy River Championship at Upper Thames Sailing Club, part of the Vaikobi OK Travellers Series

Gloriously hot and sunny but the wind was frustratingly absent

Over the late May Bank Holiday weekend the OK class returned to one of its long-standing venues, Upper Thames Sailing Club, to compete in their River Championship, as part of Bourne End Week. The fleet of eleven boats, including 6 local OK's, were treated to some classic river sailing in light and variable airs.

While most of the country enjoyed the heatwave the light winds proved testing and at times frustrating to both sailors and officials. The clubs' picturesque venue on the river Thames and the social programme, including the famous Cocktail Party, all helped to keep the event lighthearted despite the lack of wind.

Saturday

Race 1 start during the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © Tony Ketley

Race 1

With barely any wind the first race got away cleanly, beating up the river. Those short tacking up the Bucks bank benefitted the most and the leaders started to pull away. Dave Phillips pulled through to lead at the windward mark followed by James Dyas. Behind, Simon Davis pushed his luck too much and ran aground in the shallows allowing Ed Crichton to round third.

On the run down-river to the club Dave Phillips stayed ahead to comfortably win as the race was shortened. Behind the wind was patchy with Simon Davis, sailing by the lee, finding pressure on the Berkshire bank to threaten James for 2nd. But this is the river and it can all change. At the finish it was James was second, from Ed, Chris Burrell creeping through into 4th and Simon hanging onto 5th from Garth Thompson.

Race 2 start during the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © Tony Ketley

Race 2

The wind improved slightly for the second race allowing the occasional use of the toestrap and less emphasis on hugging the riverbank. Again, a relatively short windward leeward course but with 2 laps sailed. Another clean start the boats crisscrossed the narrow river in a light shifty breeze. James Dyas pulled ahead of Dave Phillips from Simon, with Ed rounding the windward mark 4th. These positions remained the same throughout the race.

Race 2 lap 2 during the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © Tony Ketley

Sunday

Sunday's racing was cancelled as there was no wind. To allow the Thames Rater's Queen's Cup to be run on Monday afternoon the race committee decided to change the Monday schedule and use Sunday's which meant two back-to-back races for the OKs.

Waiting for the wind during the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © Simon Davis

Monday

Race 3

There was no wind at the scheduled race start of 9:55am and the postponement flag with a one-hour marker went up for all classes. At the end of the hour, the indefinite postponement was hoisted. Shortly after, gusts started to appear causing the club flags to flutter and these became more frequent. Eventually, the be prepared was hoisted and the Merlins, OKs and Handicap fleet started getting ready to sail with the Merlins first on the water. With limited time before the scheduled Queen's Cup, the committee decided to run a single race.

James Dyas during the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © Tony Ketley

At the gun, the recall was sounded for one of the boats and Ed Crichton tacked back to the start despite not being over the line. Chris Burrell realised it was his false start and returned to the start too. Ed's loop back to the start seemed to aid him and he quickly found wind where the other sailors struggled and he took the lead by sailing off to the Berkshire bank. Behind, the other sailors swapped positions up the course to the top mark with some using the Berkshire bank whilst some sailed in the middle of the river. It felt like everyone apart from Ed held second or last at time during the race.

At the end of the second lap, Andrew Boxer squeezed out James Long by approaching the bottom mark on a port tack with James on starboard and he served a penalty on the upwind leg. Andrew swept through the field on upwind leg benefitting from his view of the rest of the field stuck in dead areas on the river. Ed's lead shrunk the top mark as the others found a puff, but he rounded the top mark in the lead and headed home to a convincing win whilst the others got stuck in the dead wind at the top mark.

On the return leg, Garth Thompson had moved into clear second with Chris Burrell and Andrew Boxer battling for third. James and Aaron Hart battled over fifth on the Bucks bank. Aaron found a nice gust and moved into second leaving James behind. A sudden serious gust appeared as the sailors approached the finish and they raced across the line fully hiked with Aaron second, Chris third, Andrew fourth, Garth fifth and James sixth. That's river sailing!

Ed Crichton wins the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © James Long

Chris Burrell, 2nd in the OK Dinghy River Championships at Upper Thames Sailing Club - photo © James Long

Congratulations to Ed Crichton on retaining the OK River Championship title. Chris Burrell was second, with James Dyas in third place.

A big thank you to Richard Pausey, Commodore and PRO, Sarah Collen, Rear Commodore Sailing, and all the volunteers who made the weekend enjoyable both on and off the water.

Thank you to Vaikobi, in association with Sail Performance UK, sponsor of the OK Travellers Series.

Overall Results: