The 2025 OK Dinghy Europeans got underway in Warnemunde, Germany, on Sunday with race wins for Sweden’s Daniel Björndahl, Britain’s Andy Davis and Charlie Cumbley and Denmark’s Steen Christensen. The 111-boat fleet from 14 nations is sailing in two groups, with two days of qualification races and two days of finals racing scheduled.
Conditions were generally light with winds from 8-12 knots, broken cloud and very shifty with occasional sunshine brightening the day for the 111 sailors.
In the talent packed yellow fleet, Cumbley and Björndahl made the best of the day with a first and a third each. Denmark’s Jens Eckardt was the early leader with Cumbley around sixth at the top, but he built a nice lead by the second top mark and held it to the finish. In the second race Sweden’s Olle Albrektsson led into the top from the left and held it until the second upwind, when Björndahl came through to take the win.
In the blue fleet, Spain’s Mark Branagh rounded first with Christensen in second. Christensen gybed and found better pressure on the first downwind to take a nice lead. Canada’s Ben Flower had the early lead in the second race and led until the final mark, when Davis produced some better speed in the very light winds and rather large chop to win by less than a boatlength.
teen Christensen said, “It was a tricky day with many windshifts. They promised the wind would go right, but it didn’t, so many people took the wrong decision, but we also had some current and the wind was up and down, but overall I think we had a good day of racing in Warnemunde. It’s a nice water to sail on, and I’m happy to win the first race.
“I must say the competition is very strong and if you make a mistake you will be punished right away, we have many strong guys here.”
Andy Davis, “I had a good day today. Tricky with an offshore breeze, very shifty and up and down and I think it was a case of playing the big shifts rather than tacking on all the small shifts and staying away from the middle.
“The second race was quite good for me. I managed to pull up to Ben [Flower], and kept getting little increments to get to him and then by the leeward mark the wind went a bit light and I just managed to get through him at the finish. Tricky day, but the sun was out, it’s warm so all good.”
The qualification series is scheduled to conclude Monday before the fleet splits into gold and silver groups for the final two days.
Full gallery here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/okdia/albums/72177720327355536
Results after 2 races
1 SWE 24 Daniel BJÖRNDAHL 1
2 GBR 11 Andy DAVIS 1
3 GBR 6 Charlie Cumbley 1
4 DEN 24 Steen Christensen 1
5 CAN 26 Ben FLOWER 2
6 DEN 12 Jens Eckardt 2
7 DEN 3 Jørgen Svendsen 2
8 NOR 428 Lars Johan BRODTKORB 3
9 SWE 100 Thomas HANSSON-MILD3
10 SWE 386 Mikael BJÖRNDAL 4
Full results: https://manage2sail.com/de-DE/event/WarnemuenderWoche2025#!/results?classId=bfe367c8-b570-4e85-9bf9-fbe5ccb2f591
