The Mediterranean OK Dinghy revival
by Robert Deaves on 8 May 2017
The Mediterranean OK Dinghy Robert Deaves
In 2013 a very old OK Dinghy was rescued from the bottom of a garden in the South of France and after lots of cleaning, repairing and painting, was restored to racing condition. It was the beginning of a revival in OK Dinghy sailing on the Mediterranean coast of France.
The old OK Dinghy had been built by, and was in the garden of, the former top French OK Dinghy sailor, Daniel Dahon, later a Finn and Star coach to some of France’s top sailors. The boat was renovated by Henri Berenger of the Société Nautique de Sanary, which is located about half way between Toulon and Marseille. Another OK Dinghy appeared soon after and there were now two boats sailing at Sanary. By 2017 this number had grown to around 15 OK Dinghies sailing in the area, now mainly based at Bandol because of public works in Sanary harbour.
As is often the case with a revival, enthusiasm and competitiveness grows fast and many of the old boats were soon replaced with newer and better equipment. The fleet now consists of mainly new boats with carbon masts, and enjoys some very competitive and close racing.
Such was the growth of the fleet that in May 2017 they decided to run the a Mediterranean Championship at the Société Nautique de Bandol from 5-7 May.
A pleasant 12-15 knot westerly on the opening day enabled all 16 sailors, young and old, to enjoy some great racing just off the island of Bendor, where the 1969 OK Dinghy World Championship was held. Julien Dejugnat led after the first day from Alain Renoux and Jean Louis Petetin.
The wind had switched to the west for Saturday’s racing with Dejugnat sailing well again in his new Synergy Marine boat to maintain the lead from Renoux, while Tim Petetin moved up to third place overall.
Unfortunately the final day was abandoned with a strong mistral keeping everyone on shore, so Dejugnat won the 2017 OK Dinghy Mediterranean Championship.
The OK Dinghy Mediterranean revival continues…
Results:
1 FRA 1820 Julien Dejugnat 7
2 FRA 1824 Alain Renoux 8
3 FRA 828 Tim Petetin 15
4 FRA 1837 Jean-Christophe Morin 18
5 FRA 1836 Jean Louis Petetin 23
6 FRA 1828 Laurent Petetin 26
7 FRA 1838 Pierre Arrighi 34
8 FRA 1810 Jean-Claude Lidon 36
9 FRA 1472 Henri Berenger 45
10 FRA 1833 Fabian Capilleres 54
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