Editorial-World OK Dinghy title to Karl Purdie
by nzeditor@sail-world.com on 13 Jul 2008
Welcome to the week end edition of sail-World.Com/NZ's newsletter
Fantastic news in from Warnemunde, Germany of the win by Wellington's Karl Purdie in the World OK Dinghy Championships.
The win is a continuation of New Zealand success in the OK Dinghy class, and Purdie joins the elite group of Clive Roberts, Peter Lester, Rick Dodson, Leith Armit, and Greg Wilcox, who are all previous winners of the title.
The OK Dinghy is New Zealand's most successful class in terms of World Championships won, and Purdie's win in Germany is the tenth world title for New Zealand.
Equally fantastic has been the support for the class over the years. Clive Roberts set the scene, in 1974, when he arranged the first air freight of OK's to a world championship via an Air NZ DC-10, after a shipping strike threatened to prevent NZ sailors competing in a world championship in Adelaide. Currently the class enjoys a raft of sponsor support from Hamburg-Sud, Burnard International, Vero Insurance and The Port of Napier.
The trophy haul from the World Championships was equally impressive, as you would expect, with the New Zealand OK Team winning six of the nine races sailed.
In Weymouth, England the World Moth Championships have concluded with racing possible on only two of the five days. 99 foiling moths entered the regatta - a great revival for another international class. This was further demonstrated with decisions on further world championship venues in locations such as Dubai, and clearly the Moth class (and others) will move to fill the media vacuum created by ISAF, in its choice of Olympic events from 2008 to 2012.
Brown finished 10th overall - a very creditable effort, and we feature his report in this issue. Equally creditable was the effort of Samantha England (Australia), who finished as top female in 16th place overall - showing the foiling moth is not just a class for the male speed geeks. And that it achieves the rare distinction of being a gender equal class - and a very spectacular one at that.
Oh yes, by the way, the world championship was a clean sweep for Australian sailors who took the top three placings - with all medalists coming from different states, underlining the spread of excellence in this class in Australia.
Over in Qingdao, 2008 New Zealand Olympic Finn sailor, Dan Slater, is again testing at the Olympic venue and has filed his usual short but very honest report on his view of life.
In spite of the 'good news' drums that have been beating on the algae and other issues at the Olympic venue, Slater reports that although most of the weed islands have been cleared, the plague has gone underwater - with hairlike strands of algae sticking to foils, making speed testing near impossible.
The fog and general lack of visibility was another issue, requiring navigation by GPS to find the harbour, after the training session, as visibility was restricted to 75 metres.
We have featured some images from Dan's ASB Finn Report in this issue.
The world first sale of the 3G iPhone in Auckland on just after midnight on Thursday is good news for sailors. On the 3G iPhone you can now enjoy the full graphical version of Sail-World - literally at your fingertips anywhere on the planet, anytime you have a spare moment and want to catch up on the latest sailing news.
The 3G iPhone launch coincides nicely with the revamped www.sail-world.com/nz!Sail-World_NZ website format, which looks great both on the device, and on the bigger screen on your PC or laptop.
Good news too for www.predictwind.com!Predictwind.com which with the iPhone gives sailors the ability to see the latest weather prognosis on a one or five day forecast basis for their area of interest.
In spite of all the hoo-haa about Vodafone's iPhone call plans in New Zealand, we saved almost $500 a year by switching to the new 3G iPhone plan - recovering the purchase cost in ten months. In other countries, the cost is even cheaper still.
Certainly the iPhone is a very impressive device and one which will have a major effect on sailors who wish to stay up to date with the latest sailing news. Sail-World is now literally in your pocket, and ideal for staying in touch with our upcoming 2008 Olympic coverage. By the way, you can expand the text to suit your eyesight - so, no more squinting at a small screen.
And don't forget of the great Line_7 deal for Sail-World readers and friends. www.line7.co.nz!Line_7 is offering a free gear bag to all customers who purchase more than $350 of Line 7 clothing or gear at Sailors Corner store, on the corner of Beaumont and Poole Streets (find it with your iPhone!).
[Sorry, this content could not be displayed] With temperatures down and plenty of wind and rain about, this is a great opportunity to try the new Line 7 wet weather clothing range. We have been using Line 7 gear since January, and now trust it to the point where cameras are broken down and stored in the waterproof pockets - making life a lot easier climbing in and out of rubber boats - with two hands free.
In action, we have had no problems at all with the Line 7 wet weather range. As we have said before, it is a remarkable piece of kit.
So get down to Sailors Corner, buy some cool Line 7 gear and get a free waterproof gearbag, while the offer lasts!
Good Sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
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