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.
Photo Gallery: https://www.flickr.com/photos/okdia/albums/72177720327137815
[photos free for editorial and personal use]
Results after 2 races
1 SWE 71 Niklas EDLER 3.0
2 DEN 61 Henrik KOFOED 6.0
3 DEN 700 Jesper BENDIX 10.0
4 DEN 21 Bo PETERSEN 10.0
5 CAN 26 Ben FLOWER 12.0
6 DEN 1580 Troels TRABJERG 12.0
7 GER 71 André BUDZIEN 15.0
8 NED 6 Stefan de VRIES 17.0
9 SWE 72 Benjamin HAMMERÖ 18.0
10 POL 777 Michal STRUMNIK 19.0
Full results: https://www.manage2sail.com/en-US/event/kiwo2025#!/results?classId=85aa9aec-9bb7-472d-add6-312391fc7822
