OK Dinghy Queensland Championships claims most female competitors

by Southport Yacht Club on 29 Aug 2017 This weekend’s OK Dinghy State Championships held at Southport Yacht Club have the largest number of female entrants currently in any OK Dinghy regatta in the world.

Queensland OK Dinghy Association President Dave Vincent said “I’m really excited that we have nearly a quarter of the fleet being females – and three of those are under 21”.

The OK Dinghy class has been working on encouraging juniors and females to get involved and have the support they need to have fun and be competitive.

First time OK Dinghy sailor and SYC Junior Commodore Melanie Watson is excited to be competing this weekend. “It’s going to be so much fun learning to sail a different boat to my laser and to be supporting the OK dinghies. Hopefully competing in this event will attract more girls to the class”.

There are 21 boats entered and we are expecting a few late entries tomorrow morning.

With competitors coming from as far as Melbourne, the title is looking to be highly contested. Michael Williams from Melbourne will be competing as one of the favourites coming in second in the last world titles contested at Blackrock Yacht Club in Melbourne. Coming in sixth at the latest national titles held at Drummoyne Yacht Club, local sailor, Kelvin Holdt sailing in “green eggs and ham” will be another hard boat to beat.

“It’s fantastic to see such a large fleet of a high caliber sailors competing this weekend” said Dave Vincent. From the three junior sailors to the mastersand, it’s great to see the support we are receiving from our fellow state associations.”

The OK Dinghy is a single handed boat and an international class currently sailed in 15 countries throughout the world. The boat has some great history with Olympic gold medalist Tom Burton winning the Junior World Championships in 2006.