Liz Williams holding her own at Henning Harders OK Dinghy Nationals

by Di Pearson on 11 Jan 2017 Anyone would be daunted taking on the opposite sex in sport, but Elizabeth Williams is right at home and holding her own in the otherwise male domain taking part in the OK Dinghy National Championship at Drummoyne Sailing Club this week.

Originally from Victoria, Williams is the eldest child and only daughter of eminent Victorian yachtsman, John Williams, of Bacardi, Georgia and Calm fame.

“I have three younger brothers - Bruce, Michael and Peter. Dad would go off big boat racing and we four would go to Black Rock Yacht Club and sail our Sabots.”

All four are still sailing. Williams graduated from the Sabot to a 420, to Sharpies, Europes then returned to Sharpies. And she sailed big boats with her dad on occasions. “I loved the Sharpies,” she says.

“I sailed on a couple of TP52s, mostly on Calm (co-owned by her father). It was fun roaring around in a bit of carbon. I also sailed a little bit on Georgia,” a Farr 53 owned by her father (a 26 Sydney Hobart veteran) in partnership with another Victorian stalwart, Graeme Ainley.

“I did one Hobart – on Calm, bur my favourite race was the Sydney-Gold Coast. It makes more sense to me to turn left out of Sydney Harbour and head somewhere warm.” And during these times, she has sailed with all her brothers, “In Sharpies or on big boats.”

And despite her declaration of “I perform better as part of a crew, I love the camaraderie,” Williams started sailing OK’s “because my husband (Erik Thompson) sailed big boats then sailed racing OKs at Black Rock - and I’m not good at watching - so I got one too.”

The two moved to Queensland and sail at Sandgate Sailing Club and Southport Yacht Club (Qld) and both are competing at these Nationals. Williams is currently in 11th overall with four races completed, while Thompson is 35th from 36 competitors.

“We always sail at opposite ends of the fleet. If she’s at the front end, I’m at the back and vice versa,” Thompson says wryly.

At Southport Yacht Club, Williams has two other women for company in the fleet, but it doesn’t matter either way, because the OK guys are a friendly do-the-right-thing bunch, evidenced by lack of protests at regattas. One of the women is a junior – which is great – good to see young people having a go. Dad’s secretary, Emma, is the other one.”

Williams says that because the rules and technology have evolved, including the use of carbon masts, “and also being able to use smaller sail, keeps the OK sailable for me.

“The thing I love about it is it’s such good racing - there are very good sailors in the class. It’s lots of fun. We get up to 15 boats at Southport and usually have 10 to 12 sailing each weekend.

“My results are highly associated with wind strengths. The last two days have played into my hands,” she says of the light to moderate breezes that have saturated the course on upper Sydney Harbour at the Nationals where she scored a third place in Race four.

“Mark Skelton (currently second overall) reckons if the race had gone another 100 metres I would have won. I had a bad start, but kept moving forwards through the race to finish third.”

“It’s a pretty good class. The people make it. Everyone does their penalty turns, you see few protests. There is longevity in the class too – like the Blasse brothers (Andre Blasse is racing here and in third overall),” says Williams who had only sailed an OK twice when she entered her first Nationals, at Hobart in 2011.

“My brother Mike won – and no, I didn’t finish last – I was 28th out of 33 in a borrowed boat.

“I’ve learnt a lot since then. I’m much more confident in heavy weather. Time has enabled to practice in strategy and tactics. I’m happy with my progress. To improve much more, I would need to spend much more time on the water.”

To follow Elizabeth Williams and the rest of the fleet click here.

Overall Scratch

Plc	Sail No	Boat Name (Boat Type)	Skipper/Crew	From	Race 1 9-Jan	Race 2 9-Jan	Race 3 10-Jan	Race 4 10-Jan	Drop	Total
1	AUS 739	Don't Poke the Bear OK Dinghy	Tim Davies	WWSC NSW	6	1	3	1	0	11
2	AUS 753	JAB OK Dinghy	Mark Skelton	WWSC NSW	2	5	8	2	0	17
3	AUS 729	Ironhide OK Dinghy	Andre Blasse	BRYC VIC	3	4	2	12	0	21
4	AUS 768	Invictus OK Dinghy	Mark Jackson	BRYC VIC	4	12	1	8	0	25
5	AUS 708	Green Eggs and Ham OK Dinghy	Kelvin Holdt	SYC QLD	8	8	6	4	0	26
6	AUS 754	Gunboat Diplomat OK Dinghy	Brent Williams	ASC SA	11	6	7	5	0	29
7	AUS 733	The Plot Against Common Sense OK Dinghy	Folkert Janssen	BRYC VIC	5	9	5	13	0	32
8	AUS 750	Broken Arrow OK Dinghy	Peter Robinson	DSC NSW	10	3	4	16	0	33
9	AUS 757	Total Recall OK Dinghy	Mark Rutherford	DSC NSW	7	14	14	9	0	44
10	AUS 762	Another Crack OK Dinghy	Peter Horne	DSC NSW	1	2	BFD (37.00)	6	0	46
11	AUS 759	Sense & Cents OK Dinghy	Elizabeth Williams	SSC QLD	12	24	9	3	0	48
12	AUS 766	JoJoFrog OK Dinghy	Bob Buchanan	HYC TAS	18	7	13	10	0	48
13	AUS 725	Joan's Respite OK Dinghy	David Ketteridge	ASC SA	21	13	11	7	0	52
14	AUS 732	Squid Grip OK Dinghy	Benjamin Downey	SYC QLD	9	17	10	18	0	54
15	AUS 704	Occasional Kudos OK Dinghy	Robert Chapman	DSC NSW	14	10	21	15	0	60
16	AUS 767	Pleasure & Pain OK Dinghy	Glenn Yates	WWSC NSW	19	25	12	14	0	70
17	AUS 734	Cracked Pecker OK Dinghy	Edward O'Donnell	WWSC NSW	13	18.5	16	28	0	75.5
18	AUS 746	Penguin Goes Woosh OK Dinghy	Peter Wallace	MHASC NSW	15	18.5	20	22	0	75.5
19	AUS 736	Space Monkey OK Dinghy	Grant Wakefield	DSC NSW	22	16	17	21	0	76
20	AUS 726	Bundy OK Dinghy	Peter Lynch	WWSC NSW	16	23	22	19.5	0	80.5
21	AUS 786	Captain Crackers OK Dinghy	James Pagett	DSC NSW	26	29	15	11	0	81
22	AUS 680	Ajax OK Dinghy	Phil Barnett	SFS NSW	29	21	18	19.5	0	87.5
23	AUS 742	Schmacko OK Dinghy	Gareth Wells	WWSC NSW	24	11	27	29	0	91
24	AUS 75	Pale Rider OK Dinghy	Andrew Stephenson	DSC NSW	31	26	19	17	0	93
25	AUS 741	Turkish Delight OK Dinghy	Steve Wilson	BRYC VIC	17	15	BFD (37.00)	25	0	94
26	AUS 740	Blues in Sea OK Dinghy	Richard Furneaux	BRYC VIC	28	22	24	24	0	98
27	AUS 688	Shakey OK Dinghy	David Haseldine	DSC NSW	23	28	25	23	0	99
28	AUS 735	Captain Pugwash OK Dinghy	Mark Fisher	BRYC VIC	30	20	23	30	0	103
29	NZL 522	The Fox OK Dinghy	Rob Way	DSC NSW	20	30	28	27	0	105
30	AUS 655	The Phantom OK Dinghy	Michael Walker	DSC NSW	25	33	26	31	0	115
31	AUS 695	The Wife OK Dinghy	David Vincent	SYC QLD	32	32	30	26	0	120
32	AUS 738	Famous Blue Raincoat OK Dinghy	Kevin Knott	ASC SA	27	27	DNC (37.00)	DNC (37.00)	0	128
33	AUS 716	Joker OK Dinghy	David Swales	DSC NSW	35	31	29	34	0	129
34	AUS 667	Rip Snorter OK Dinghy	James Ley	WSC NSW	34	35	31	32	0	132
35	AUS 706	Smoke on the Water OK Dinghy	Erik Thompson	SSC QLD	33	34	33	33	0	133
36	AUS 679	The Rose OK Dinghy	Bruce Schofield	WWSC NSW	36	36	32	35	0	139