OK Dinghy International Association

International Race Report Results World Championship

2004 World Championship, Poole, United Kingdom

Jul 30, 2004

To Results

July 25th – 30th

Report by Robert Deaves

With a massive 32 point margin, Jim Hunt from Great Britain won the Dean & Reddyhoff OK Dinghy World Championships in Poole Bay sailed from 25 to 30 July from Parkstone Yacht Club with a maximum fleet size of 81 OKs. In winning the event, Jim Hunt has become the first ever British sailor to lift the title in its 40 year history, and has done so in one of the deepest fields of talent ever present at a World Championship.

Leading from race one, Hunt only once fell outside the top 5 and on the way to victory calmed placed consistently in front of the defending World Champion Nitin Mongia (IND), the winner of the previous week’s National Championship, Nick Craig (GBR), double world champion Karsten Hitz (GER), current European Champion Bart Bomans (BEL) and former world champions Greg Wilcox (NZL) and Jørgen Lindhartdsen (DEN).

Two races were sailed on Sunday and Monday in probably the most stable conditions of the week, with Hunt, Bomans, Hitz and Craig taking a win each. A solid westerly wind made for some great sailing conditions, but it was obvious from early on that this was going to be a high scoring regatta with Bomans scoring OCS in race 3, Hitz picking up a 51st in race 4 and the other challengers all adding a high score to their results.

For the next two days, the haze prevented any sea breeze building and all races were abandoned, although the fleet was at sea for 5 hours on Wednesday waiting for the wind to build.

On Thursday the race officer was determined to get three races in and kept the fleet afloat for some ten hours. Craig won the first race of the day in light winds to close the gap on Hunt who started badly and played catch-up to finish fifth. Hunt then led the next race by a large margin to take a second win and stretch his lead. In a very patchy and variable wind, Andrew Rushworth (GBR) went on to win the final race of the day with Hunt failing to recover from a large wind shift on the first beat to finish 28th. A 6th place for Craig moved him up to second overall.

The final day proved somewhat of a challenge for some. Race 8 was started in very light winds and saw several changes of pressure and wind direction. On the first reach the wind died completely and the sea breeze started to build turning it into a beat and at the bottom on the second reach – now a run – the windward mark was moved 100° seawards. Those who figured out what was happening made great gains moving from the 70s up to the top 20. Those who got it wrong, or were just plain unlucky, fell from the top 10 to the back. At the finish Rudiger Prinz (GER) led his fellow German Ralf Machmann across the finish. The ever consistent Hunt came third.

Anxious to complete the series of 10 races, the race officer started race 9 soon after but then postponed it at the last minute. By the time it was restarted the race officer was running out of time so it was no surprise that this was the final race. Again characterised by large shifts, Joe Porebski led all the way to win by a large margin and take the massive race trophy home to New Zealand. Craig and Hunt rounded off a successful week with a 2nd and 3rd.

Two fourth places on the final day lifted the 2003 World Champion, Nitin Mongia into third place, while a relatively poor 13th and 19th, dropped pre-event favourite Bart Bomans out of the medals. With seven nations in the top 10 and six different races winners over nine races, the 2004 OK Worlds was perhaps one of the toughest in recent years, but the one with also the clearest winner. One of the UK’s top dinghy sailors, Jim Hunt, kept his head and his consistency to become a worthy world champion.

Daily Reports by Valerie from the organizers

Day 1

The OK Class World Championship hosted by Parkstone Yacht Club, got underway in Poole Bay on Sunday in brilliant sunshine and 11 knots of westerly breeze.
With the first race being a Practice Race PRO Peter Drake set a shortened course ending with the second beat. Provisional Results showed New Zealander Mark Perrow (an ex-Laser sailor) winning with two Brits Nick Craig and Jim Hunt in second and third places.

Championship Race 1 followed after some delay due to wind shifts and a dragging anchor. After one General Recall the PRO exercised his authority with the Black Flag and the fleet of about 85 boats got away in a smart 12 knots wind which helped the more heavy weather sailors. GBR 2059 went for a leeward end start whilst Karsten Hitz seem to pop out of the middle of the line like a cork.
Results Race 1:

  1. GBR 2109 Jim Hunt
  2. SWE 2746 Thomas Hansson-Mild
  3. NZL 517 Paul Rhodes

Championship Race 2 started soon after with just one General Recall with a Black Flag, unfortunately 3 boats infringed the 1 minute rule and would be disqualified at the finish. At the start of the race the wind had dropped to 6 knots but it soon increased back to 12 knots and shifted enough for the PRO to swing the course at the appropriate time in the middle of the race. Once again those favouring heavy weather seemed to benefit although there was a fair amount of place changing especially on the runs.
Results Race 2:

  1. BEL 44 Bart Bomans
  2. NZL 520 Russell Wood
  3. GBR 2109 Jim Hunt

Day 2

Championship Race 3: The second day of the Championship started in cloudy conditions with a somewhat erratic offshore wind below 10 knots. PRO Peter Drake had to contend with shifts between 270° and 310°. After several postponements, followed by a general recall the fleet finally got away with four boats disqualified under the Black Flag rule. Danish sailor Joergen Lindhardtsen led for much of the race but was finally beaten into second place (by 15 seconds) by Karsten Hitz from Germany. Third and fourth places went to Nick Craig and Jim Hunt from Great Britain who had both pulled their way up through the fleet.
Results Race 3:

  1. Karsten Hitz
  2. Jørgen Lindhardtsen
  3. Nick Craig

Race 2 of the day (Championship Race 4) got under way, in a moderate breeze, with only one Black Flag start and no disqualifications.
The first beat saw the interesting scenario of son and father sailors, Will and Andy Turner, rounding the windward mark in first and fourth places respectively. They didn’t manage to hold these positions although Will only lost his lead on the final beat to Nick Craig and Belgian Bart Bowans. Father Andy finished in twelfth position. The PRO had to react to a late wind shift when laying the finishing line.
Results Race 4:

  1. GBR 2110 Nick Craig
  2. BEL 44 Bart Bomans
  3. GBR 2045 Will Turner

Day 3

The third day of the Championship proved very frustrating. With light variable winds and cloudy conditions there was very little prospect of a sea breeze developing. The PRO held the competitors ashore whilst he went out into the Bay with two support boats to monitor conditions.
After a total postponement of 4 hours he decided that, with very little hope of a reasonable sailing breeze coming in, there would not be any racing that day.

Day 4

Another day with light variable winds made it impossible to sail.

Day 5

Day 5 brought wind at last starting with a SEly 8 to 9 knots, this was forecast to veer to SW later in the day. With the PRO intending to get 3 races in during the day all 81 competitors and the all the Club boats were out on the course early. Everything looked promising with the first race away on schedule. The Black Flag was flying from the first start and only one boat was disqualified. Nick Craig in GBR 2110 led all the way but after some position changing 2nd and 3rd places went to SWE 2746 (Thomas Hansson-Mild) and BEL 44 (Bart Bomans). IND 1 Nitin Mongia (reigning World Champion) lost places right on the finishing line when he had to take a 720° penalty for an infringement.
The second race of the day was dogged by a wind which, when the PRO started setting up the line, was 140° and finally settled into 210° at 8 knots for a start 3 hours later – most frustrating for competitors and management team alike. Seven boats suffered penalty under the Black Flag rule. Jim Hunt in 2109 led at the first windward mark and held this place to the end.
By the start of the third race (at 1730) the wind had settled to 260° with 12 knots, all competitors had a clear start. The Kiwis seemed to come into their own in the stronger winds although Andy Rushworth of Christchurch SC (compensating for his Black Flag in the second race) showed them that the Brits could also sail in these conditions as also did the Germans.
So ended a very long day for everyone with competitors sailing back into Parkstone after 7.30p.m. to be greeted at the slipway with very welcoming "hot dogs" and a beer.

Day 6

For the final day of racing the high pressure system still seemed to be maintaining its position over Poole Bay.

With the Black Flag in operation immediately only one boat infringed for the first race of the day. Gunter Arndt (GER 672) got away to a good start but went too far to the left and a gaggle of British arrived at the windward mark first. By the time the fleet got to the gybe mark the wind had backed to a 190° about 7 knots and the PRO quickly set up a change of course from the leeward mark (where half the fleet seemed to arrive together in a raft!) to a new windward mark. Rüdiger Prinz (GER 711) took the lead, followed by fellow countryman Ralf Mackman (GER 723) and held these places to the finish. The fickle conditions gave good results to sailors who had not been up with the leaders earlier in the week. The only girl competitor, Juliane Hofmann (GER 699), finishing 7th.

  1. Rüdiger Prinz (GER 711)
  2. Ralf Mackman (GER 723)
  3. Jim Hunt (GBR 2109)

With Race 9 most probably going to be the last one, Jim Hunt was looking to be favourite for the World Championship. However, the next places were being keenly contested by Nick Craig (GBR 2110), Bart Bomans (BEL 44) and last year’s Champion Nitin Mongia from India.

The wind had steadied to around 190° with a mean of 12 knots. The Black Flag start gave three boats OCS and two of these – NZL 520 and GER 672, were up with the leaders for the whole race, it was a frustrating moment for them when they crossed the finishing line to silence. Joe Porebski (NZL 509) proved a popular winner.

  1. Joe Porebski (NZL 509)
  2. Nick Craig (GBR 2110)
  3. Jim Hunt (GBR 2109)

Jim Hunt had sailed consistently to become a comfortable World Champion for 2004 – the first from the UK. With his discard being 28th he had 2 firsts, 3 thirds, 1 fourth and 2 fifths.

At the prize giving in the Club Cruiser Shed, Commodore Tom Lock thanked all those who had worked so hard to make the Championship a success. He made a special mention of Mary Reddyhoff who had worked on the project for nearly two years, the major sponsors Dean and Reddyhoff Marinas and PRO Peter Drake, to whom the weather conditions had given a hard time. IOKDBCA Chairman Terry Curtis reiterated with thanks from the Association giving mention to the International Jurors who had come from as far away as Australia.

With Jim Hunt the first british sailor ever won the OK Worlds, "breaking the rule" of never a british sailor winning the worlds title.

 

Results
Pos Sailno Helmsman Club R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 R9 Tot-1
1 GBR 2109 Jim Hunt SSSC 1 3 4 5 5 1 28 3 3 25
2 GBR 2110 Nick Craig FPSC 16 12 3 1 1 20 6 16 2 57
3 IND 1 Nitin Mongia OKDAI,NSC 4 10 14 35 8 5 20 4 4 69
4 BEL 44 Bart Bomans KLYC 6 1 OCS 2 3 9 19 13 19 72
5 NZL 509 Joe Porebski WBBC 29 8 7 70 11 7 18 6 1 87
6 DEN 1280 Joergen Lindhardtsen HSS 7 13 2 8 51 8 8 54 5 102
7 GER 727 Karsten Hitz SSC 11 4 1 51 21 43 4 18 14 116
8 SWE 2746 Thomas Hansson-Mild USS 2 7 15 22 2 29 25 15 28 116
9 NZL 519 Steven McDowell WBBC 18 22 24 14 4 25 2 49 8 117
10 NZL 517 Paul Rhodes WBBC 3 28 21 39 7 10 9 30 9 117
11 NZL 501 Matt Stechmann WBBC 15 5 8 6 28 48 3 OCS 7 120
12 GBR 2106 David Carroll FFSC 20 27 32 11 10 2 29 19 16 134
13 NZL 522 Greg Wilcox WBBC 43 26 9 10 17 14 22 25 11 134
14 NZL 521 Mark Perrow WBC 5 20 5 40 13 6 33 50 20 142
15 GBR 2113 Andrew Rushworth CSC 17 11 29 23 35 OCS 1 29 6 151
16 NZL 511 Ben Morrison WBC 12 24 6 15 46 OCS 13 28 13 157
17 GER 693 Martin von Zimmerman SCOe 48 15 30 24 12 30 10 21 17 159
18 GBR 2101 Terry Curtis UTSC 13 OCS 41 13 9 17 36 17 25 171
19 NZL 490 Craig Pryce NSC 21 39 38 20 66 3 11 41 12 185
20 NZL 504 Adrian Mannering NSC 9 6 25 37 38 49 42 23 15 195
21 GBR 2081 Robert Deaves DSC 10 23 16 36 15 11 58 33 64 202
22 NZL 520 Russell Wood PCSC 38 2 22 32 19 23 5 62 OCS 203
23 DEN 1324 Jesper Petersen SSS 14 18 OCS 19 43 31 21 40 26 212
24 SWE 99 Hans Elkjaer VSS 25 44 37 21 47 27 38 9 18 219
25 GBR 2085 Gavin Waldron SSSC 24 42 17 42 53 12 39 10 37 223
26 GER 717 Oliver Gronholz SSClub 53 14 12 18 44 36 32 64 23 232
27 NZL 484 Michael Inwood WBC 59 32 11 16 30 45 7 46 51 238
28 GER 672 Gunter Arndt FYC 27 OCS 19 9 34 16 15 42 OCS 244
29 GER 711 Rüdiger Prinz SCST 71 45 40 34 20 15 31 1 59 245
30 GER 690 Sönke Behrens SCOe 23 30 43 33 29 47 30 22 36 246
31 DEN 1323 Bo Teglers HSS 39 56 34 7 56 19 34 45 21 255
32 POL 14 Pawel Pawlaczyk JKW 8 9 33 52 14 39 DNS 69 31 255
33 AUS 711 Nick Gray SLMA.SC 33 53 50 30 24 33 27 36 22 255
34 GER 624 Thomas Glas SSC 37 21 36 31 26 57 40 43 24 258
35 GBR 2108 Neil Goodhead SSSC 74 60 26 46 6 35 14 27 50 264
36 GBR 2082 John Ball 41 47 13 53 54 26 23 52 10 265
37 GER 725 Christian Hartmann VSAW 51 16 69 4 32 56 50 37 33 279
38 SWE 2750 Jonas Lindahl 28 54 18 57 23 4 43 65 58 285
39 GER 723 Ralf Mackmann SCH 61 71 23 27 16 46 53 2 63 291
40 GBR 2045 Will Turner ASC 30 36 27 3 55 DNF DNC 35 27 295
41 GBR 2008 Geoff Woollen FPSC 70 DNF 64 17 36 22 26 8 53 296
42 AUS 610 Peter Burton SLMA.SC 31 40 20 71 39 51 45 38 40 304
43 IND 2054 D.Panneer Selvam AM 75 OCS 54 38 57 32 17 11 43 327
44 GER 632 Fabian Gronholz SSC 66 29 10 60 49 64 12 48 61 333
45 GER 665 Peter Stephan SCST 42 17 OCS DNS 22 55 51 20 44 333
46 GBR 2067 Jonathan Fish WSC 19 43 57 49 63 59 44 32 30 333
47 GBR 2105 Alex Scoles 69 72 47 29 58 52 24 5 56 340
48 GBR 2071 David Bourne BCSC 26 58 39 59 33 60 35 61 34 344
49 POL 5 Krzysztof Dabkowski Mos2 W 68 41 63 61 18 18 67 12 70 348
50 GBR 2059 Peter Turner ASC 62 38 45 41 61 54 52 14 46 351
51 GBR 2107 Mike Edwards SSSC 52 69 53 25 64 42 54 39 29 358
52 POL 22 Mateusz Wojewski LKSC 54 50 48 72 27 40 56 26 57 358
53 GBR 2100 Daniel Ager 32 35 55 67 42 41 63 56 42 366
54 AUS 708 Christopher Visick BRYC 22 34 46 68 68 74 41 71 35 385
55 GBR 2007 Anthony Rich 67 33 44 48 31 38 73 55 DNF 389
56 GER 699 Juliane Hofmann SWSV 78 70 72 63 25 53 48 7 52 390
57 GER 539 Carsten Sass LYC 47 48 28 79 45 24 68 68 65 393
58 POL 61 Janusz Stobinski AZSP 35 49 52 76 65 34 62 58 45 400
59 GER 645 Arne Lindemann PSCW 80 74 35 56 40 68 16 DNS 41 410
60 DEN 1335 Mogens Johansen SSS 56 46 49 54 67 50 49 51 55 410
61 GBR 2049 Ian Harris BCSC 72 63 56 73 79 21 57 24 47 413
62 GER 726 Jörg Sylvester SSC 44 55 61 45 70 37 64 47 62 415
63 SWE 2759 Per-Arne Olsson SSK 34 51 42 55 77 OCS DNC 34 54 429
64 GBR 2112 John Paul Williams WOSC 40 37 60 66 75 67 66 57 39 432
65 GER 659 Falk Hagemann SWSV 64 65 75 26 48 69 70 31 60 433
66 DEN 1212 Jan Larsen HSS 55 64 59 69 59 58 37 53 48 433
67 GBR 2083 Andy Turner ASC 36 19 71 12 74 OCS 60 DNF DNC 436
68 DEN 1246 Frank Visler SSS 50 61 DNS 58 60 65 47 59 38 438
69 BEL 214 Paul Verrijdt KLYCK 49 68 65 62 37 61 59 44 68 445
70 GBR 1774 Tony Thresher WOSC 45 31 31 43 52 OCS DNC DNC DNC 448
71 GBR 2087 Julian Burnham 77 75 67 65 62 28 61 60 32 450
72 AUS 692 Bill Tyler SASC 46 57 66 47 71 70 55 67 49 457
73 GBR 2102 Andrew Day 57 73 51 74 69 13 71 73 67 474
74 GER 694 Gunnar Specht PSCW 63 59 70 50 41 72 65 74 66 486
75 AUS 715 Tom Pearce BRYC 76 66 62 28 80 63 46 DNC DNC 503
76 AUS 694 Richard Furneaux BRYC 73 25 74 44 76 73 DNF DNC DNC 529
77 GBR 2053 Alan Atkin Burghfield SC 65 67 OCS 64 50 44 DNF DNC DNC 536
78 POL 80 Jarostaw Kuczynski BWK 60 52 73 77 73 71 72 63 OCS 541
79 GER 695 Dirk Gericke SGEB 58 DNC 68 78 72 62 69 70 71 548
80 POL 58 Darek Kras Mos2 W 79 62 58 75 OCS 66 74 66 69 549
81 BEL 604 Mark Geboes KLYC 81 76 76 80 78 OCS DNC 72 72 617

DNC, DNS, DNF, RET, DSQ, RAF, OCS: 82 pts

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