Adelaide, South Australia

1st – 8th January 2001

To Results

Victorian Rob Davis won his first Australian title at the 39th Australian OK Dinghy Championship sailed at Adelaide Sailing Club. Held in early January, the Regatta was sailed in generally light conditions with the hot weather producing offshore breezes, the typical Adelaide sea breeze making only brief appearances. The regatta was also a World Championship selection regatta with the top 10 places securing berths at the 2001 Worlds in Sweden in August and the 2002 Worlds in New Zealand next January.

John Gibson led the points table early winning 3 of the first 4 races. Rob Davis was consistent with 2 seconds but carded 2 fifths putting his title aspirations under some pressure. Davis won Race 5 and with growing confidence won Race 6 sailed in a 15-18 knot sea breeze. Gibson with 2 seconds in Races 5 and 6 consolidated his position and led Davis into the final race by 4 points.

Race 7 was delayed, the southerly breeze switching 30 degrees and making course setting for the crucial race difficult. Three general recalls added to the tension.

While Gibson tailed Davis through each of the previous aborted starts, Davis escaped from the fourth start to the favored left hand side. Gibson with an average start headed right. At the first mark Davis led with Gibson buried. With the title in his grasp Davis went on to win Race 7 with Gibson mid fleet. Mark Jackson finished strongly with a 2nd in Race 7 to gain 3rd overall from previous World Champion Mark Fisher 4th. Victorians Paul Richards and Justin Graham enjoyed the lighter conditions finishing 5th and 6th. Graham was the only other race winner, winning Race 3. NSW’s John Mackenzie and Peter Burton finishing 7th and 9th respectively. The host club was represented in the top 10 with Peter Neilsen 8th and David Clancy 10th.

James McAllister from NSW, the current World Junior Champion finished 14th overall and defended his Australian Junior title. Mark Fisher won the veterans title for over 40’s. Bill Tyler from NSW successfully defended his Masters title for the over 55’s.

Six of the top 10 used hulls from the Comfort and Taylor design, the top 3 new hulls from builder Jim French in Melbourne. Nine of the top 10 used UK Needlespar masts, Mackenzie used a Goldspar section with a fibreglass tip. All used sails from Gale & Rimington Sails, Melbourne.

Peter Burton
National President

 

Pos Sailno Name State R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 Tot. Pts
1 AUS 706 Rob Davis Vic 5 2 2 5 1 1 1 17 12
2 AUS 710 John Gibson Vic 1 1 6 1 2 2 15 28 13
3 AUS 708 Mark Jackson Vic 3 3 3 2 15 4 2 32 17
4 AUS 670 Mark Fisher Vic 2 4 4 4 4 3 6 27 21
5 AUS 709 Paul Richards Vic 7 9 5 7 3 8 DNS 73 39
6 AUS 678 Justin Graham Vic 13 13 1 11 7 13 4 62 49
7 AUS 667 John Mackenzie NSW 14 5 10 8 5 9 DNS 85 51
8 AUS 640 Peter Nielsen SA 6 7 14 10 13 19 5 74 55
9 AUS 703 Peter Burton NSW 11 8 13 9 10 6 11 68 55
10 AUS 673 David Clancy Vic 8 6 16 3 17 7 19 76 57
11 AUS 643 Phillip Taylor Vic 4 10 8 16 6 16 13 73 57
12 AUS 788 Peter Jackson Vic DSQ DSQ 7 6 8 5 3 58 58
13 AUS 695 Peter Yates Vic 9 12 11 14 12 15 8 81 66
14 AUS 691 James McAllister NSW 12 DNF 12 17 9 11 9 100 70
15 AUS 695 Rob Brown NSW 17 11 18 12 18 10 7 93 75
16 AUS 672 David Ketteridge SA 10 14 17 13 14 14 12 94 77
17 AUS 692 Bill Tyler NSW 15 15 15 15 11 12 14 97 82
18 AUS 655 David Coleman NSW 22 16 9 19 16 21 10 113 91
19 AUS 699 Andrew Rowett SA 19 17 21 22 21 18 20 138 116
20 AUS 690 Sean Wilson Vic 20 18 20 18 20 20 26 142 116
21 AUS 500 Kevin Knott SA 18 20 22 20 19 23 25 147 122
22 AUS 636 Edward O’Donnell NSW 24 24 19 DNF 22 24 17 130 130
23 AUS 546 Ben Gunn Vic 16 21 25 26 26 29 18 161 132
24 AUS 617 John Mills SA 23 19 26 21 24 26 22 161 135
25 AUS 637 Peter Blunt NSW 26 26 24 23 23 25 16 163 137
26 AUS 681 John Corby NSW 27 22 27 24 27 17 23 167 140
27 AUS 696 Les McAllister NSW 21 23 28 27 25 27 24 175 147
28 AUS 675 Nick Fewster SA DNF 27 23 25 DNS 22 DNF 188 154
29 AUS 621 Denis Gilbert NSW 25 25 29 29 28 28 21 185 156
30 AUS 712 Damian Smith WA DNS DNS DNS 28 29 30 DNS 223 189
31 AUS 431 Steven Burden SA DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS DNS 238 204