A tricky first day at the Australian OK Championships

by Mark Roberts on 31 Dec 2012 Having been kept ashore for the invitation race due to strong winds, today saw the International OK Dinghy Class on the water for the start of the 51st Australian Championships being hosted by Wangi RSL Sailing Club on Lake Macquarie.

In an easterly breeze of between five and eight knots PRO Tony Outteridge sent the fleet away on a clean start. It’s not hard to see why this body of water has produced some of Australia’s top sailors in the likes of Tom Slingsby, Nathan Outteridge and Iain Jensen. Negotiating not so subtle shifts of 10 to 20 degrees and breeze lines that seemingly were without rhyme or reason made for a frustrating first beat. That was not the case though for light wind specialists Bruce Ashton, Tim Davies and Peter Robinson who relished the conditions and found themselves leading at the top mark. On the reaches Mark Jackson also came into the fray with the same four changing places to the bottom mark. The chess game continued up the next work with Peter Robinson stealing the lead and holding the rest of the trailing pack at bay for the remainder of the race. At the end not more than 11 seconds separated the top three.

By race 2 the breeze had kicked up a notch or two to be in the eight to ten knot window. With the increased breeze though came more aggressive shifts. Negotiating the conditions best on this occasion was Mark Roberts, International OK President Andre Blasse and former national champion Mark Jackson. By the top mark these three had managed to open up a break on the following pack with Roberts rounding first with a healthy lead to Blasse and then Jackson. By the end of the triangle downwind flyer Mark Jackson was able to get past Roberts and Blasse to lead on the start of the second lap. By the top of the next upwind leg current Australian champion Mike Williams was chasing the leading pack with Peter Horne and local Mark Skelton not far behind. On the downwind run Andre Blasse and Mark Jackson were able to open up a 30 second break leaving Mark Roberts to battle with Mike Williams and Peter Horne with the three not more than a few boat lengths apart and regularly changing positions all the way to the bottom mark.

Up the last work Mark Jackson and Andre Blasse engaged in a battle with each trying to get the upper hand. At the end Blasse, with a bit more speed, was able to able to reel in Jackson and cross a mere two seconds in front. Just behind the second battle was just as intensive with Williams, Skelton, Horne and Roberts crossing tacks in the last 500 metres. Finally it was a very well sailed Peter Horne who managed to squeeze out the rest crossing the line in third with Skelton fourth followed by Williams and Roberts.

Series Results [One Design ET] up to Race 2
Place	Ties	Sail No	Boat Name	Skipper	From	Sers Score	Race 2	Race 1
1		AUS735	Invictus	M Jackson	xx	6.0	2.0	4.0
2		AUS739	Don't Poke the Bear	T Davies	WASC	9.0	7.0	2.0
3	1.0S	AUS729	Ironhide	A Blasse	Black Rock YC	10.0	1.0	9.0
4	3.0S	AUS733	Cracker	P Horne	Drummoyne SC	10.0	3.0	7.0
5	4.0S	AUS736	Agent Provocateur	M Skelton	WASC	10.0	4.0	6.0
6		AUS730	Time Machine	M Williams	Black Rock YC	10.0	5.0	5.0
7		AUS750	Broken Arrow	P Robinson	Drummoyne SC	11.0	10.0	1.0
8	6.0S	AUS747	Dingo	M Roberts	ASC	16.0	6.0	10.0
9		AUS748	ICE	P Yates	xx	16.0	8.0	8.0
10		AUS728	Bowfinger	B Ashton	Black Rock YC	17.0	14.0	3.0
11		AUS734	Cracked Pecker	E O'Donnell	WASC	22.0	9.0	13.0
12		AUS693	Pale Rider	D O'Donnell	WASC	23.0	11.0	12.0
13		AUS725	Joan's Respite	D Ketteridge	xx	24.0	13.0	11.0
14		AUS726	Bundy	P Lynch	WASC	30.0	12.0	18.0
15		AUS761	Aussie Bob	A Baker	xx	37.0	21.0	16.0
16	14.0S	AUS759	Sense and Cents	E Williams	xx	38.0	24.0	14.0
17	15.0S	AUS684	Bilbo	G Yates	WASC	38.0	23.0	15.0
18		AUS746	Smash Skippy	D Hunt	xx	38.0	18.0	20.0
19	15.0S	AUS704	Occasional Kudos	R Chapman	Drummoyne SC	39.0	15.0	24.0
20		AUS742	Mako	G Wells	WASC	39.0	16.0	23.0
21	17.0S	AUS694	Diogenes	R Furneaux	Black Rock YC	47.0	30.0	17.0
22		AUS727	Tight Squeeze	D Williams	xx	47.0	26.0	21.0
23		AUS692	Dining with the Devi	B Tyler	Drummoyne SC	49.0	22.0	27.0
24		AUS741	Turkish Delight	G Lokum	xx	50.0	20.0	30.0
25	17.0S	AUS610	Obscena Misdemeanour	F Janssen	xx	53.0	17.0	36.0
26	19.0S2R	AUS755	Grey Matter	S Moore	xx	53.0	19.0	34.0
27		AUS752	Mercury	D Parker	xx	53.0	34.0	19.0
28		AUS745	Metisse	S Schmidt	WASC	53.0	25.0	28.0
29		AUS629	OK Motion	A Parkinson	xx	54.0	32.0	22.0
30		AUS756	Akkadian	M Horvath	xx	60.0	28.0	32.0
31		AUS716	Joker	D Swales	Drummoyne SC	61.0	36.0	25.0
32	2R	AUS724	A Fine Line	F Prater	WASC	62.0	29.0	33.0
33		AUS703	Space Monkey	G Wakefield	Drummoyne SC	62.0	33.0	29.0
34	26.0S	AUS751	True Blue	M Wilson	WASC	64.0	38.0	26.0
35		AUS655	The Phantom	M Walker	WASC	64.0	27.0	37.0
36		AUS732	A Trifle Unbalanced	D Wade	WASC	66.0	35.0	31.0
37		AUS605	Azzizz Werrizz	M Fry	xx	73.0	31.0	42.0S
38		AUS709	Schaak	B Kerstley	xx	74.0	39.0	35.0
39		AUS706	Smoke on the Water	E Thompson	xx	75.0	37.0	38.0
40		AUS695	The Wife	J O'Donnell	WASC	79.0	40.0	39.0
41		AUS667	Ripsnorta	R Kemp	WASC	84.0	42.0C	42.0C

 

(Ties: S=Score R=Race B= Bettered. Penalties: A=ARB B=BFD C=DNC D=DNE E=ESP F=DNF G=RDG L=Late Entrant M=DGM N=ENP O=OCS P=Protest Q=DSQ R=RAF S=DNS T=TLE U=DUT V=AVG X=EXC Z=ZFP Y=SCP #=NoData [x.y]=Discarded)

 

http://www.yachting.org.au/site/yachting/results/wangirslasc/2012/events/OK_Nats_2013/series.htm" target="_blank">Full results here