OK Class Youth Championship at South Staffordshire Sailing Club

1st place, Oliver Goodhead in the OK Youth Championship at South Staffs © Will Croxford

1st lady and 5th overall, Kamila Czartolomna in the OK Youth Championship at South Staffs © Will Croxford

The day started with a postponement of activities for 30 minutes while the wind finally decided to show up and the heavy rain ceased!

Once the racing began a steady 6 knots of breeze had built with very shift conditions that South Staffs is renowned for making an appearance. Samuel Bailey looked like he had the race wrapped up, but on lap 2 decided he would deviate from the course set by the OOD (Neil Goodhead) and go around a windward mark the wrong way, much to the delight of his fellow competitors! The remaining race was very much snakes and ladders with the lead changing hand on several occasions during the final lap. The race was eventually won by Oliver Goodhead with Jack Hodgkins in 2nd and Oliver Hateley in 3rd.

Race 2 started in very similar conditions to race 1, with some huge shifts being the order of the race, Olly Hateley took full advantage of one of these huge shifts to sail form 4th place to 1st with a sizable lead moving towards the final laps of the race. Eventually Olly had to settle for 4th with Oliver Goodhead taking the victory and the title of OK Youth Champion, Samuel Bailey made up for his lack of course knowledge from the first race to finish 2nd with Jack Hodgkins finishing 3rd.

The final race of the day could not have been more different to race one, with the wind increasing rapidly and 20+ knot gusts being seen. The conditions proved challenging for all of the competitors, but Oliver Goodhead showed the rest of the fleet how to master the windy conditions with a further bullet being recorded, second was Oliver Hateley which was enough to secure 2nd overall on count back from Jack Hodgkins who finished 3rd in the race 3 and 3rd overall. The day did not end well for Samuel Bailey who whilst fighting for the lead of the race became the one and only capsize casualty of the day....

Prize Winners:

1st Overall and OK Youth National Champion - Oliver Goodhead - South Staffs Sailing Club
2nd Overall and first U21 - Olly Hateley - South Staffs Sailing Club
3rd Overall and first U16 - Jack Hodgkins - South Staffs Sailing Club
1st Lady & 5th Overall - Kamila Czartolomna - South Staffs Sailing Club

Congratulations to all the sailors and a heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to making this event a success especially HD Sails for providing excellent prizes for the winners.

Overall Results: