Greg Wilcox maintains OK Dinghy World No. 1 position throughout 2018

World No. 1 Greg Wilcox in Bandol © Robert Deaves

With the 2019 World Championship heading to New Zealand in just over three months, Greg Wilcox, maintains his lead at the top of the final OK Dinghy World Ranking List of 2018 as the only Kiwi in the top 20.

This release includes 11 events from July to October, including the World and European Championships and national events in Poland, Sweden, The Netherlands Denmark, Britain, Germany, France and Belgium.

The ranking is calculated from 45 events over the last two years, with each sailor counting their best five events. Out of more than 500 sailors on the list, there are 29 new names, reflecting the growth of the class in the past year.

Wilcox only managed one podium place in the events counting for this release, but his consistency across all events has kept him in the No 1 place since August 2017. So he will have been World No. 1 for all of 2018.

Bo Petersen - photo © Robert Deaves

Former World No 1, Bo Petersen, from Denmark, moves up five places to second after a solid season including third at the Swedish championship and second in the Danish Championship. Thomas Hansson-Mild, from Sweden moves from 10th to third.

World champion and German champion Andre Budzien moves up nine places, but he still sits just outside the top 10. The biggest climber is Fredrik Lööf who jumps 189 places to seventh. He won the Europeans and the Swedish title, and was runner-up at the world championship.

The ranking list events were completed by many of the national championships across Europe during the autumn months. Tomasz Gaj won the Polish title, Andreas Pich, from Germany won the Dutch title, Anders Andersen won the Danish championship, Julien Dejugnat, won the Southern French Nationals, and Sefan Rassau, from Germany, won the Belgian title.

Thomas Hansson-Mild - photo © Robert Deaves

Charlie Cumbley won the British title again, which together with silver at the Europeans and a fourth in the worlds leaves him in fifth overall, just behind Gaj.

The final event of the year counting for this release was the Belgian Autumn Regatta, which this year was won by Michel Lesure, the first time anyone from Luxembourg has won a world ranking event.

The 2019 season is already looking like eclipsing the massive 2018 season for the class with many new sailors acquiring boats and equipment over the northern hemisphere winter months, while in the southern hemisphere the event calendar is just starting, leading up to the world championship in Auckland in February. The class is attracting many sailors from other classes, attracted by the intense but friendly competition. The OK Dinghy class is certainly becoming the class of choice for more and more top sailors every year.

OK Dinghy World Ranking List – October 2018 (top 30 of 512 sailors from 11 nations, best five events over a two year cycle)

Full list can be downloaded here.