Kiwis dominate and Purdie extends lead

by Robert Deaves on 11 Jul 2008
OK Worlds leader Karl Purdie of New Zealand extended his lead with a third and second, while both race wins went to his Kiwi team mates Alistair Deaves and Matthew Steven. Purdie now has a 12 point lead over Andre Blasse (AUS) and 14 points over defending champion Nick Craig (GBR).

Yesterday's tough physical conditions were today replaced by tough mental conditions as the fleet at the OK Dinghy World Championship in Warnemünde, Germany contended with large and frequent wind shifts caused by the unstable offshore wind. However regatta leader Karl Purdie (NZL) extended his lead with a third and second, while both race wins went to his Kiwi team mates Alistair Deaves (NZL) and Matthew Steven (NZL).

After waiting around for 100 minutes for a stable wind to develop, the race committee set a course in a very shifty offshore breeze of 8-10 knots. Starting mid-line Alistair Deaves (NZL) was first into a massive left hand shift that brought him to the first mark with a nice lead followed by Jørgen Lindhardtsen (DEN) and Andre Blasse (AUS).

Deaves extended his lead over the next legs to take his first ever race win at a OK Dinghy World Championship. Behind him, Blasse dropped to fifth on the downwind, only to recover to second on the final beat. Luke O'Connell (NZL) spent most of the race in third place, but lost his advantage to regatta leader Karl Purdie (NZL) on the final upwind leg.

Deaves commented, 'Our boats and rigs are ideally suited to these sort of conditions, and that allows us to pop out at the starts and gives us the freedom to tack on the shifts in clear air, without worrying about the other boats.'

And today there were certainly a lot of shifts. Conditions didn't improve much for race six of the championship, although the wind did increase slightly to 12-14 knots. Again the race was characterised by a large left shift soon after the start.

Mark Perrow (NZL) was first to tack away from the biased line, and headed right to round the first mark in the lead. Behind him, Kiwi junior, Matthew Steven and Deaves were in close pursuit. By the second windward mark, Steven was in the lead, followed by Purdie and Christian Olesen (DEN), although on the final lap, Olesen lost this to Thomas Hansson-Mild (SWE), posting his best result of the series so far.

After six races, the series seems like Purdie's to lose. So far he has not placed lower than third and holds a 12 point lead over Blasse and 14 points over defending champion Nick Craig. Today Craig had an indifferent day, posting an 11th and an 8th.

Lighter winds are again forecast for Friday, when two more races are scheduled for 11.00

OK - Leading positions after 6 races, 1 discard

1 NZL 531 Karl Purdie 66 WBBC 1,0 1,0 2,0 2,0 (3,0) 2,0 8,0pts
2 AUS 729 Andre Blasse 64 BRYC 2,0 9,0 4,0 3,0 2,0 (47,0) 20,0
3 GBR 2116 Nick Craig 74 7,0 3,0 3,0 1,0 (11,0) 8,0 22,0
4 GER 744 Karsten Hitz 61 (9,0) 2,0 5,0 5,0 6,0 7,0 25,0
5 NZL 527 Mark Perrow 78 WBC 5,0 5,0 6,0 8,0 (20,0) 5,0 29,0
6 SWE 100 Thomas Hansson-Mild 71 UMSS 8,0 6,0 9,0 7,0 (13,5) 3,0 33,0
7 NZL 517 Matthew Steven 89 4,0 (20,0) 11,0 6,0 13,5 1,0 35,5
8 DEN 1364 Jørgen Lindhardtsen 45 3,0 11,0 8,0 (17,0) 5,0 11,0 38,0
9 DEN 1340 Christian Olesen 82 KSC 14,0 7,0 12,0 (25,0) 16,0 4,0 53,0
10 NZL 525 Steve McDowell 81 WBBC 13,0 18,5 1,0 4,0 18,0 (26,0) 54,5
11 NZL 522 Greg Wilcox 60 BSC HA005 6,0 12,0 (27,0) 20,0 10,0 10,0 58,0
12 POL 14 Pawel Pawlaczyk 64 JKWP POL 16,0 4,0 11,0 w 13,0 (43,0) 15,0 59,0
13 NZL 532 Alistair Deaves 67 WBC 22,0 13,0 24,0 (38,0) 1,0 6,0 66,0
14 GER 672 Gunter Arndt 67 FYC SH003 12,0 14,0 (21,0) 9,0 15,0 18,0 68,0
15 GBR 2118 Terry Curtis 67 17,0 8,0 (19,0) 16,0 19,0 13,0 73,0
16 GER 693 Martin von Zimmermann 67 (33,0) 21,0 17,0 10,0 17,0 9,0 74,0
17 GER 717 Oliver Gronholz 77 SSC SH055 18,0 (35,0) 14,0 12,0 22,5 14,0 80,5
18 NZL 511 Luke O`Connell 86 21,0 17,0 20,0 22,0 4,0 (31,0) 84,0
19 DEN 1304 Christian Midtgaard 67 19,0 27,0 7,0 21,0 (46,0) 16,0 90,0
20 POL 16 Marek Jarocki 70 15,0 22,0 26,0 11,0 (31,0) 19,0 93,0
21 GER 718 Peter Scheuerl 67 23,0 28,0 22,0 15,0 7,0 (33,0) 95,0
22 GBR 2119 Robert Deaves 67 38,0 10,0 23,0 14,0 (DNC) 24,0 109,0
23 AUS 733 David Clancy 78 BRYC 24,0 18,5 13,0 23,0 (39,0) 34,0 112,5
24 SWE 99 Hans Elkjaer 59 39,0 (44,0) 25,0 18,0 9,0 22,5 113,5
25 GBR 2122 Jonathan Fish 81 26,0 32,5 15,0 26,0 (57,0) 17,0 116,5
26 DEN 1346 Anders Andersen 65 25,0 34,0 28,0 19,0 (40,5) 12,0 118,0
27 GER 731 Thomas Glas 73 SSC SH055 30,0 32,5 16,0 29,0 (33,5) 21,0 128,5
28 DEN 1361 Rene Johansen 73 (64,0) 15,0 47,0 34,0 12,0 27,0 135,0
29 DEN 1371 Jørgen Holm 53 KBL DEN 28,0 25,0 (49,0) 47,0 21,0 25,0 146,0
30 GBR 2117 Alex Scoles 81 OSSC GBR 44,0 58,0 10,0 33,0 8,0 (79,0) 153,0
31 DEN 1324 Bo Teglers 75 HS DEN 32,0 29,0 31,0 32,0 29,0 (45,0) 153,0
32 GER 750 Ralf Tietje 60 SVG N045 20,0 (47,0) 39,0 28,0 30,0 37,0 154,0
33 NZL 502 Trent Pryce 76 11,0 31,0 (DNF) 27,0 26,0 60,0 155,0
34 SWE 66 Jan-Eric Nystedt 53 29,0 (40,0) 36,0 31,0 32,0 36,0 164,0
35 GBR 2126 Mike Edwards 68 37,0 (46,0) 33,0 36,0 36,0 30,0 172,0
36 SWE 2763 Jan-Eric Engholm 65 40,0 36,0 29,0 (51,0) 25,0 46,0 176,0
37 AUS 735 Robert Davis 72 35,0 37,0 37,0 (44,0) 27,0 44,0 180,0
38 GBR 2105 Ian Harris 64 27,0 (59,5) 34,0 46,0 42,0 35,0 184,0
39 GBR 2120 Daniel Ager 71 67,0 45,0 18,0 24,0 (70,0) 41,0 195,0
40 GER 665 Peter Stephan 66 (69,0) 42,0 44,0 30,0 28,0 53,5 197,5
41 DEN 1368 Christian Hedlund 66 34,0 64,0 41,0 40,5 (71,0) 20,0 199,5
42 GBR 2085 Gavin Waldron 64 (52,0) 24,0 42,0 37,0 50,0 49,0 202,0
43 GBR 2127 Keith Dutton 59 45,0 26,0 35,0 35,0 (73,0) 63,0 204,0
44 GER 747 Andreas Pich 66 49,0 38,0 52,5 (DNC) 37,0 28,0 204,5
45 DEN 1330 Lykke Troels 43,0 (DNC) 30,0 56,0 38,0 39,0 206,0