2012 British Weekend Regattas

Easter Egg 2012, Waldringfield, 7 – 8 April

Report by Robert Deaves

The Waldringfield Easter Egg was celebrating its 60th running this year and despite particularly inclement weather attracted 88 entries across eight fleets, including a small fleet of OK Dinghies. Though the racing was generally close and competitive, it turned into a matter of minimising mistakes which left Robert Deaves the clear winner with five race wins, mainly because he managed to stay in his boat and also sail the correct course each time.

The first race on Saturday was sailed in the lightest winds of the weekend with a painful run against the tide behind the island. Jonathan Fish thought he had it all sown up taking a sizeable lead; however that was reduced on the next beat and at the shortened finish Simon Cox nailed the final shift to cross just ahead. Contrary to tradition, the next race was started promptly with Fish and Cox again out for an early lead. Keeping up a different tradition, Cox then capsized, while Deaves gained from a big shift on the final upwind to catch Fish and just get the overlap before the final fetch to the finish to take the gun. The final race of the day started with Cox capsizing on the start line to let Deaves and Fish away for a nice lead. Fish, along with half the fleet, then missed out a mark and by the time he had re-rounded Deaves had a five minute lead. This left Tim O’Leary in second with Fish recovering to third.

The wind had shifted for Sunday’s three races, all back to back, with short beats across the flood tide and pretty much processional racing. Robert Bellfield led for much of the first race from Deaves, while Fish tangled a mooring rope and trailed in fourth. Cox went for the hat-trick on the next beat while Deaves wiggled past Bellfield on the tricky beat against the tide for a third race win. Fish led race four for a while, but Deaves got past downwind. He led round the leeward mark after an exciting gybing dual, only for Fish’s toestraps to fail, leaving him breaking the surface to find his boat sailing away from him and his spectacles sinking to the muddy bottom. He finished the race in fifth but then called it a day. Cox also hung up his snorkels at this point. O’Leary led round the top mark in the final race with Deaves taking the lead downwind to extend for his fifth win. O’Leary held on for second place from Bellfield.

The OK Dinghy East Coast Windshift Classic, 15 September

Report by Dan Ager
Part one

A competitive fleet of 13 Oks including three of the top four from the recent national championships at the arrived at Ardleigh Sailing Club on Saturday 15th September for three races in generally light but extremely shifty conditions. There was a warning that the wind direction was not the best for Ardleigh. However Steve Eade managed to run three hotly contested races.

Jonathan Fish and Toby Ramsey pulled clear in the first race, swapping positions throughout. By the final mark Will Turner and Daniel Ager had caught up sufficiently to be able to attack Fish and Ramsey on the short final beat to the finish. Fish and Ager carried on and Ramsey and Turner tacked off. When the four boats re-converged, Fish who had been leading was unable to clear the starboard tack boats and tacked away. Ager ducked them and was able to cross the line in first having lost no time in having to tack again. All four boats crossed the line within a second of each other. Turner was second, Fish third and Ramsey after all his efforts an unlucky fourth.

The second race was led for the first round by Ager who then lost his way with the shifts. Fish and national champion Lee Child sailed through upwind. Managing to fall out of his boat on a particularly big header didn’t slow Child up too much. He finished second with Fish first and Robert Deaves third.

After a fantastic lunch of shepherds pie (and something for the vegetarians) followed by apple crumble and custard the final deciding race got underway. Will Turner, closely followed by Ager pulled away from the rest of the fleet. Will led until the end of the second beat when a bit more breeze and a favourable wind shift let Ager through who then pulled away to establish a comfortable lead. Child had caught up with Turner and for the next couple of laps they were racing for second and third. Will though is a canny sort as shown in the first race and with a couple of hundred yards to go split tacks with Child, with Lee sailing towards the direction of the finish line. Ager was less than fifty yards or so from the line in breeze. What could possibly go wrong for him? As it turned out, Will was able to cross ahead to win the race and the event, the result of the last race being all important. Ager finished second overall and Jonathan Fish third.

Ardleigh SC put on good days racing that was shared with the Enterprises. As always they provided a very friendly welcome and with a homemade lunch and tea included in the very reasonable entry it made for a day well spent.

Part two

Part two of a weekend of open events on the east coast took place twenty five miles up the road at Waldringfield SC as part of the annual Cartoon Open meeting. An event shared with a multitude of other classes. A smaller fleet of OKs turned up to race in generally breezier, though still shifty conditions.

The start of race one saw the Lark fleet crossing though the start line perfectly in time with the OK start. Not ideal for either class. Lee Child and the Fish pulled out a comfortable lead. The key to success was to get through the traffic of the other fleets. This Lee did to best effect and pulled clear away to a comfortable win. Fish was a clear second and Robert Deaves never seriously challenged for third place.

The second race was started with no other fleets about. The beat to the windward mark saw Ager take the lead closely followed by Child. On a gusty downwind leg, those two pulled a long way clear of the rest of the fleet. Lee was ahead by the bottom mark. He decided to tack off straight away into the traffic. Ager carried on into clearer air. Lee then met a Squib coming across on starboard who took him across the other side of the river whilst Ager had sufficient room to duck and then be lifted to the next mark and into a comfortable lead that he held to the finish of a very short race. Lee was in no danger of losing second place and Deaves was third.

The final race could see the Fish, Ager or Child win the event. As it turned out Ager did not make much of an impression on the race. Deaves, Child, the Fish and Simon Cox arrived at the first mark in close company. From a personal point of view Simon will be fed up of seeing the transom of Fish and Child. Professionally however he must be very pleased that the hulls he built for them in his Synergy Marine workshop are proving to be so successful so quickly. It was again Fish and Child that opened up a good lead and it looked like Fish had the event in the bag until another Squib intervention by one of their backmarkers, on a reach with a strongly held conviction of “thou shalt not pass on my windward side”. Afterwards, Lee commented that he had “seen the madness in her eyes” and went low. This proved to be a winning move for the race and the event. Fish came in second in the race and overall. Deaves again had a third in the race but finished fourth overall. Third place went to Ager.

South Staffs Sailing Club, 13th October

Report by Bill Bradburn

Eighteen young sailors arrived at South Staffs SC to contest the Noble Marine Youth and Junior Championship on the 13th October 2012. Their experience ranged from very experienced OK helms, RYA youth squad sailors new to OKs and young club sailors who were experiencing the boat for the first time.

The conditions varied from nearly no wind to planing conditions which tested the abilities of all the competitors – it was very difficult to be consistent through all of the four races held and the standard of racing was very high with even the slowest sailors managing to stay within ten minutes of the leaders.

Two races were held before the lunch break and these produced two different winners – the first race was won by Adrian Walker from the home club who is the new Junior Rep. for the OK Class Association. He sailed through the top end of the fleet to build a comfortable lead by the finish – was he setting the pace for the rest of the day? Sam Blocksidge, another regular OK helm who has been winning GP14 meetings as well, sailed into second, having been given a hard time by George Hunter from Haversham. George is normally seen in a Topper and was lent a boat for the day – to come into this fleet with so little experience of this technically challenging boat and to produce such performances shows a considerable sailing talent especially as he was in the 16 and under age category.

Sam Woods from Glossop was fourth in the first race – he then set about showing the fleet how to do it in the second race with a resounding victory. Sam Blocksidge continued his very consistent performance to post another second, third was Ben Steel from South Staffs and fourth was Connie Hicklin from South Staffs – a change from crewing for Sam Blocksidge in his GP and helming anything else that floats at South Staffs!

At lunch there were a number of helms in the frame to win and a number who could contest the age groups. Mark Billows from Bristol Corinthian had a fifth in the first race and Ollie Goodhead seventh in the second race. George was scoring a 3 and 5 so was a strong contender.

The first race in the afternoon started with George rounding the first mark from Sam Blocksidge. Sam managed to ease in to the lead and then the rain came! With the rain came the wind, enough for some proper planning. This caught out some of the lighter and less experienced helms who were a bit slow to get the controls in order and handle the boat when it became a bit livelier. Sam Blocksidge consolidated his lead, Sam Woods pulled through to second Adrian Walker was third and George got his act back together in the breeze to hold fourth – the wind dropped and that was the finishing order. Ollie Goodhead, only 13 years of age, about seven stone and some of the lighter helms retired from that race. Connie Hicklin sailed through in fifth place still in medal contention for start of the last race.

The last race saw light wind again and the pressure was definitely on the leaders – a general recall ensued and the restart – with some competitors still not line shy with the black flag in place- was won by Megan Hicklin from South Staffs. However the order at the first mark was again George followed by Sam Blocksidge and Sam Thomson from South Staffs. The two Sams then set about racing away from the fleet in fine style building a substantial lead. Sam Thomson sailed very consistently behind Sam Blocksidge – not allowing him the luxury of any small mistake – but Blocksidge was Mr Consistent and won the race and the meeting with two wins and two seconds. Third was Adrian Walker and fourth was Eleanor Davies form the home club. A few competitors managed to get confused by the signals showing a mark had been moved and contrived to round a mark the wrong way.

Noble Marine sponsored the event through their continuing support for the OK Association and the prize list was further enhanced by the generosity of Pinnell and Bax.

The overall winner was Sam Blocksidge and prizes were awarded through the fleet for the age groups and ladies- recipients being Sam Woods, Adrian Walker, George Hunter, Connie Hicklin, Sam Thomson,Ollie Goodhead, and Mark Billows.

There was a raffle for a P&B rudder bag – for the trusting owners who lent their boats for the event – only two of the competitors actually sailed their own boats and some of them had very little OK experience if any at all. This was won by Tom Lonsdale from West Oxford SC.

The OOD awarded a spot prize for a younger helm with the least experience who made the best effort – this was won by Joe Hutchinson from South staffs.

Thank you Noble, without your help we would not have been able to run such a good event encouraging the future in the class, and we hope that we can count on your continued support of the OK Class in the UK.

South Staffs Sailing Club, 14th October

Report by UK association

Following on from the extremely successful Noble Marine Youth & Junior Championships the previous day and an excellent evening of entertainment laid on by the host club, a few awoke a little bleary eyed!

The 22 competitors were greeted by fog, not a breath of wind and a real chill in the air. This allowed plenty of time for everyone to prepare their boats, relax and chat with coffee and bacon rolls. As time rolled on everyone started to wonder whether we would get any sailing in at all.

We need not have worried, as we were in the capable hands of Paul Goodhead, the most experienced race officer at South Staffs Sailing Club. Paul is 85 years of age, still going strong and he reassured the fleet by making preparations for all eventualities. As if by magic the fog cleared, then the wind appeared, not a lot, but enough.

Race 1 started first time with a long diagonal beat to the other corner of the reservoir. Picking the shifts was vital and it was local GP14 legend Mike Senior who rounded first with a number of the other favourites hot on his heels. The wind was a little patchy which meant that loses and gains were seen right through the fleet. Senior continued to lead being pushed hard for most of the race by Simon Davis from Upper Thames with Andy Davis (Taxi) trying out an OK again in third. By the finish Senior had a comfortable led to take the bullet from Davies in second, Taxi third and after a poor first beat Neil Goodhead was flying through the fleet to finish fourth, with Mike Edwards also coming through to take fifth.

Everyone then headed in for an excellent lunch provided by Carol Danbury and her team.

Race 2 started with more breeze and a chance for everyone apart from Burt to stretch their legs. Senior shot out the line to lead at the first mark from Taxi, then newcomer to the OK Class Norman Bird in third and Mike Edwards fourth. Senior then decided to embarrass those behind him by sailing off to a commanding lead. Behind things were not so straight forward with a real battle developing with Goodhead and Richard Burton (Burt) joining the chasing pack. Goodhead then fell back from a good position after heading to what proved to be the wrong side of the island on the run. Edwards was challenging for second when he got caught out on port by Taxi approaching a mark and did his turns dropping him back. This left Taxi, Bird and Burt fighting it out for second. Edwards clearly spurred on by his mistake was coming up fast and by the final mark rounded second ahead of Burt and Taxi. Senior crossed the line first with a huge lead to take his second win of the day and the event in fine style. Edwards in second just ahead of Burt after a very shifty last beat, Taxi fourth with Bird just hanging on to fifth.

Race 3 and things got going early as Taxi decided the only way to beat Mike Senior was to start 15 seconds early and he dragged a number over with him. Some went back and some didn’t. Those at the starboard end benefitted as Taxi was at the port end, plus they had more pressure. Goodhead raced into the lead and reached the windward mark first ahead of…..you know who. Young Mark Billows from Bristol Corinthian had a storming first beat to round third ahead of Burt. After the first lap the front two of Goodhead and Senior had established a good lead on the rest. Behind them a real ding dong was taking place between Billows, Burt, Chris White, Andy Holmes and Edwards. Billows sailing an excellent race, to just about maintain third from Burt and Edwards. Meanwhile Goodhead and Senior were having a tacking battle up the last beat with Senior just managing to take his third race win of the day. Way behind, it was Edwards who rounded the final mark in third just ahead of Billows and Burt. Using his experience Edwards maintained his position to the finish, but no gun was sounded as he was over the line at the start. This left Billows with an excellent third place with Burt close behind in fourth and Holmes fifth.

Many thanks must go to everyone involved from South Staffs SC and to P&B for helping out with the prizes.

OCS, DNC, DNF, DSQ etc: 23 Points