British OK Grand Tour Series introduced by OK Dinghy class

by British OK Dinghy class on 11 May 2015 British OK Grand Tour Series - We're pleased to announce the introduction of the new British OK Grand Tour Series comprising of selected open meetings and championships along with the introduction of a Gold and Silver Fleet.

The committee has been listening to feedback from British OK Dinghy class members looking for ways to invigorate event attendances and provide a means to encourage club sailors and those new to the class to travel. We have also looked at ways in which other classes has successfully grown participation and encouraged competition.

How will the series work?

A maximum of nine events will be selected from each years fixtures. The Grand Tour will include selected one, two-day open meetings and championships. They will be spread around the country as much as possible. The aim is also to have one 'GT' event per month in the main sailing season.

The series scored using a low-point scoring (0.75 points for a win) which should help ensure that the competition goes to the end of the season and will be best of 5 events - so if you complete all nine events you would get four discards!

The plan had been to launch this new series before the Winter Championships but due to time constraints and the need to discuss the detail at a committee meeting the 2015 series was delayed. However we have decided to apply the first two Grand Tour events retrospectively, so the Winter and Inland Championships will count.

What are the Grand Tour 2015 events?

14 March – Winter Championships, Bristol Corinthian
11/12 April – Inland Championships, Grafham Water
16 May – Hunstanton Open
6/7 June – Brightlingsea Open
11/12 July – Dabchicks Open
27-30 August – National Championship, Weymouth
TBC September – Morecambe
26/27 September – Datchet
18 October – South Staffs

What's in it for the club sailors and those new to the class?

We all know how competitive it is at the pointy end of the fleet, but the great thing in the OK fleet is how good the quality is further down the fleet. This year we are introducing Gold and Silver Fleets as successfully used in many other classes to provide recognition and a new tier of competition. Events will run the same as before, but sailors will be allocated into Gold and Silver fleets.

Helms will be split into Gold and Silver Fleets based on the previous year’s open meeting results and/or known sailing history. These are not set in stone and there is room for movement between fleets. If a helm strongly feels they have been allocated to the wrong fleet they can request a move as long as they can make a good case to move - particularly down. Silver Fleet helms will still be eligible to win overall prizes but may be moved up to the Gold Fleet for subsequent events if it appears that they were allocated incorrectly in the first place!

The current list of OK helms fleet allocations along with an explanation on how the fleet allocations work can be found here.

What about the trophies?

The class is being donated two, perpetual Half Model trophies from Synergy Marine for each fleet. These will be awarded at the last event of the year (which probably won't be a Grand Tour event). These will be similar to the new Rudiger Prinz Trophy awarded to the winner of the Medemblik Spring Cup but not orange and definitely worth winning.

In addition, we are working to attract new sponsors for each fleet - news on these soon with a view to spreading prizes down the fleet.

What about the Grand Tour results?

Results for the Grand Tour Series will be posted online after every event. With the first two events completed,the overall results are as follows.

 

2015 OK British Grand Tour Series 

Rank	Country	Sail No	Helm	Club	Fleet	Winters	Inlands	Total	Nett
1st	GBR	1	Jim Hunt	Blithfield	Gold	0.75	2.00	2.75	2.75
2nd	GBR	2118	Terry Curtis	Weymouth	Gold	2.00	3.00	5.00	5.00
3rd	GBR	2145	Tony Woods	Glossop	Gold	6.00	10.00	16.00	16.00
4th	GBR	2121	Anthony Rich	West Oxfordshire	Gold	10.00	9.00	19.00	19.00
5th	GBR	2154	Simon Cowood	Northampton	Gold	3.00	18.00	21.00	21.00
6th	GBR	2042	Richard Burton	Oxford	Gold	7.00	17.00	24.00	24.00
7th	GBR	2101	Julian Burnham	RYA	Gold	11.00	13.00	24.00	24.00
8th	GBR	208	Keith Byers	Morecombe	Gold	17.00	8.00	25.00	25.00
9th	GBR	2130	Deryck Lovegrove	Burghfield	Silver	14.00	11.00	25.00	25.00
10th	NZL	553	Finn Gheury	Datchet	Gold	13.00	12.00	25.00	25.00
11th	GBR	66	Martin Bower	Blithfield	Silver	8.00	21.00	29.00	29.00
12th	GBR	2150	Nick Craig	Frensham Pond	Gold	31.00 DNC	0.75	31.75	31.75
13th	GBR	2172	Dave Bourne	Up River	Gold	31.00 DNC	4.00	35.00	35.00
14th	GBR	2142	Ian Harris	Bristol Corinthian	Gold	4.00	31.00 DNC	35.00	35.00
15th	GBR	2116	Ed Bradburn	South Staffs	Gold	31.00 DNC	5.00	36.00	36.00
16th	GBR	2087	Mark Bellows		Gold	5.00	31.00 DNC	36.00	36.00
17th	GBR	2156	Robert Deaves	Waldringfield	Gold	31.00 DNC	6.00	37.00	37.00
18th	GBR	2152	Ben Steel	Glossop	Gold	31.00 DNC	7.00	38.00	38.00
19th	GBR	2161	Dave Cooper	Overy Staithe	Silver	15.00	23.50	38.50	38.50
20th	GBR	2163	Gavin Waldron	Morecombe	Silver	9.00	31.00 DNC	40.00	40.00
21st	GBR	2144	Rhys Lankester	Bristol Corinthian	Silver	12.00	31.00 DNC	43.00	43.00
22nd	GBR	2139	Ken Carroll	Alton Water	Gold	31.00 DNC	14.00	45.00	45.00
23rd	GBR	2100	Toby Ramsey	Dabchicks	Gold	31.00 DNC	15.00	46.00	46.00
24th	GBR	215	Simon Cox	Waldringfield	Gold	31.00 DNC	16.00	47.00	47.00
25th	GBR	2173	Tom Lonsdale	West Oxfordshire	Gold	16.00	31.00 DNC	47.00	47.00
26th	GBR	2165	Alan Dance	Frensham Pond	Silver	18.00	31.00 DNC	49.00	49.00
27th	GBR	2158	John Ball	Brightlingsea	Gold	31.00 DNC	19.00	50.00	50.00
28th	GBR	2125	Neil Goodhead	South Staffs	Gold	31.00 DNC	20.00	51.00	51.00
29th	GBR	2080	Paul Pike		Silver	31.00 DNC	22.00	53.00	53.00
30th	GBR	2112	Alexander Baxter		Silver	31.00 DNC	23.50	54.50	54.50