OK Dinghy Worlds - Nick Craig masters Barbados conditions

by Robert Deaves on 28 May 2017

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship Robert Deaves

Four time OK Dinghy world champion Nick Craig of Great Britain got off to the perfect start at the 2017 World Championship in Barbados with two races wins on a challenging day in Carlisle Bay. Luke O’Connell from New Zealand is second while defending champion Jim Hunt from Great Britain is third.

The 79 competitors from eight nations shook off the dust from last night’s opening ceremony for two challenging and tough races in winds from 10-22 knots with an unstable wind keeping the fleet on its toes all day.

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Alistair Deaves

Race one got away first time with the wind in a left phase with a rain cloud passing by, with the majority of the fleet tacking straight onto port with the wind at 15-18 knots. Craig led around the top mark with O’Connell chasing hard, but Craig had the speed and led at every mark for the win, while Hunt passed O’Connell to take second.

The black flag was out for race two with no one over on the second attempt. It was the same three up the front with Craig again taking the lead from O’Connell, while Hunt came through later in the race to take third. At the times the wind went light and the right was favoured but on the final upwind the left came in again and strengthened to the windiest of the day at 20-23 knots.

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Robert Deaves

Luckily it was a short sail through the warm, turquoise Caribbean waters to the shore, where cold beers, cold rum, and another rain shower awaited the happy fleet.

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Alistair Deaves

Craig summed up the day, “We had very shifty conditions. We were quite far inshore so the wind was shifting up to 50 degrees at times, which made it very tricky, and made the start line tricky because the bias was shifting from massive pin end to a little bit of starboard and the first beat was tricky with some of them ending up being one tack beats with the amount the wind was shifting, so not an easy day.”

Chris Turner, also from Great Britain, is doing well at his first ever OK Dinghy event, sitting in sixth overall.

“I got off reasonably well, was a bit low at the first mark but I made gains today which was good. So very pleased with the day with a sixth and an eighth.”

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Alistair Deaves

On the competition, “It’s all very gentlemanly actually. Good tight racing.”

Second overall, O’Connell, spoke of Craig’s speed, “Good day, very shifty but lovely day. Nick seems rather rapid in every direction, so the Kiwi team is going to have a bit of work to do to run him down.”

“Today was shifty, very shifty, but good close racing for everyone, and good fun.”

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Alistair Deaves

Craig concluded, “Barbados is the best place I have ever sailed, warm water, fantastic winds, good waves and good shore side. We had a great opening ceremony last night where there seemed to be unlimited food, unlimited rum and unlimited beer so there were many happy faces.”

The fun continues on Sunday with two more races from 12.30. The 2017 OK Dinghy World Championship consists of 10 races and concludes on Wednesday 31 May.

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Robert Deaves

2017 OK Dinghy World Championship © Alistair Deaves

Results after two races

1	GBR 2195	NICK CRAIG	2,0	1	1
2	NZL 546	LUKE O'CONNELL	5,0	3	2
3	GBR 11	JIM HUNT	5,0	2	3
4	NZL 517	PAUL RHODES	14,0	5	9
5	POL 1	TOMASZ GAJ	14,0	8	6
6	GBR 2191	CHRIS TURNER	14,0	6	8
7	GER 803	MARTIN v.ZIMMERMANN	18,0	7	11
8	NZL 566	GREG WILCOX	19,0	9	10
9	NZL 545	STEVE McDOWELL	20,0	4	16
10	NZL 551	MARK PERROW	24,0	20	4

Full Results:

No		Name	Points	1	2
1	GBR 2195	NICK CRAIG	2,0	1	1
2	NZL 546	LUKE O'CONNELL	5,0	3	2
3	GBR 11	JIM HUNT	5,0	2	3
4	NZL 517	PAUL RHODES	14,0	5	9
5	POL 1	TOMASZ GAJ	14,0	8	6
6	GBR 2191	CHRIS TURNER	14,0	6	8
7	GER 803	MARTIN v.ZIMMERMANN	18,0	7	11
8	NZL 566	GREG WILCOX	19,0	9	10
9	NZL 545	STEVE McDOWELL	20,0	4	16
10	NZL 551	MARK PERROW	24,0	20	4
11	AUS 749	ROGER BLASSE	25,0	10	15
12	GER 778	SOENKE BEHRENS	28,0	15	13
13	POL 14	PAWEL PAWLACZYK	29,0	24	5
14	AUS 754	BRENT WILLIAMS	29,0	11	18
15	DEN 3	JORGEN SVENDSEN	33,0	19	14
16	DEN 1402	BO TEGLERS NIELSEN	33,0	16	17
17	AUS 768	MARK JACKSON	34,0	27	7
18	NZL 536	ERIC RONE	35,0	13	22
19	NZL 498	JONO CLOUGH	37,0	17	20
20	NZL 523	JOE POREBSKI	38,0	14	24
21	GBR 10	ROBERT DEAVES	41,0	12	29
22	GER 5	RALF TIETJE	42,0	21	21
23	GBR 13	ALEX SCOLES	45,0	26	19
24	GER 775	JOERG RADEMACHER	47,0	22	25
25	DEN 22	ASK ASKHOLM	48,0	25	23
26	NZL 567	CHRIS FENWICK	49,0	18	31
27	GBR 2176	KEITH BYERS	57,0	30	27
28	NZL 531	ADRIAN COULTHARD	59,0	29	30
29	NZL 575	MICHAEL WILDE	61,0	33	28
30	DEN 1397	HENRIK KOFOED - LARSEN	62,0	28	34
31	GER 11	RAINER POSPIECH	63,0	23	40
32	AUS 719	GLENN WILLIAMS	63,0	37	26
33	POL 19	GRZEGORGZ SALAMON	65,0	32	33
34	NZL 571	ROB HENGST	70,0	34	36
35	GER 7	ANDREAS PICH	76,0	35	41
36	DEN 1442	PETER HEIDE-JORGENSEN	78,0	36	42
37	DEN 1335	MOGENS JOHANSEN	79,0	40	39
38	AUS 750	PETER ROBINSON	80,0	43	37
39	SWE 2791	LENNART HANSSON	81,0	38	43
40	NZL 563	DAVID HOOGENBOOM	82,0	50	32
41	GER 75	DIRK DAME	83,0	45	38
42	DEN 1481	NILS TROLAND	86,0	41	45
43	NZL 565	SIMON PROBERT	87,0	39	48
44	GER 772	OLIVER GRONHOLZ	92,0	ret	12
45	DEN 1407	MALTE PEDERSEN	93,0	42	51
46	GER 731	THOMAS GLAS	93,0	44	49
47	NZL 569	PHIL COVENY	94,0	31	63
48	GER 6	FABIAN GRONHOLZ	95,0	60	35
49	GBR 2163	GAVIN WALDRON	96,0	52	44
50	NZL 574	PHILIP RZEPECKY	96,0	46	50
51	GER 767	JULIANE HOFMANN	103,0	56	47
52	GER 757	FALK HAGEMANN	106,0	51	55
53	GER 22	DIRK GERICKE	107,0	48	59
54	AUS 767	GLENN YATES	110,0	49	61
55	NZL 568	DEAN NEIL COLEMAN	110,0	57	53
56	NZL 564	SEFTON POWRIE	111,0	59	52
57	FRA 1833	FABIEN CAPEILLERES	111,0	55	56
58	AUS 688	DAVID HASELDINE	112,0	54	58
59	GER 777	NADINE TIETJE	116,0	62	54
60	AUS 736	GRANT WAKEFIELD	118,0	61	57
61	AUS 725	DAVID KETTERIDGE	122,0	58	64
62	SWE 55	ULF SAHLE	125,0	63	62
63	DEN 1399	CHRISTOPHER JOE SCHUBERT	126,0	dsq	46
64	POL 40	ROBERT SWIECKI	129,0	69	60
65	AUS 706	ERIK THOMPSON	133,0	65	68
66	GER 678	HEINZ RIDDER	134,0	64	70
67	AUS 766	ROBERT BUCHANAN	135,0	66	69
68	AUS 738	KEVIN KNOTT	135,0	68	67
69	GER 697	JOERG POSNY	136,0	70	66
70	DEN 1458	SOREN SIGURDSSON	137,0	72	65
71	AUS 716	DAVID SWALES	139,0	67	72
72	NZL 550	TONY BIERRE	142,0	71	71
73	GBR 2058	MARY REDDYHOFF	147,0	74	73
74	GER 788	JESSICA FINKE	148,0	73	75
75	GBR 2116	TIM O'LEARY	149,0	75	74
76	GER 539	ULRICH BORCHERS	152,0	76	76
77	GER 8	RONALD FOEST	160,0	47	ret
77	GER 12	STEFAN RASSAU	160,0	53	dnf
77	GBR 2159	RUSSELL WARD	160,0	dns	dns