OK Dinghy class at Kieler Woche - Day 3
by Robert Deaves 29 Jun 06:48 NZST
26-29 June 2025
Niklas Eder, from Sweden, extended his lead at Kieler Woche after two more races on Saturday in again, quite windy and shifty offshore winds.
Though he only placed 3,4 after a few comebacks were needed on the third day in Kiel, he will go into the final day with a four-point lead over Andre Budzien, with Ben Flower a further six points behind. Saturday again brought strong and shifty offshore winds and race wins for Budzien and Stefan de Vries.
Though the forecast promised more wind than was delivered, the offshore wind proved very tricky, gusty and patchy across the race course. Starting with 12-15 knots the wind increased through the day to 16-20 but only became really gnarly as the fleet headed back to the harbour.
Budzien led the first race from start to finish, building a nice lead on the first reach. Stefan de Vries, from The Netherlands, recovered from his various calamites on the second day to cross second with Edler crossing third after a big recovery from around ninth at the first mark.
Sweden's Benjamin Hammerö found some speed in the second race to round the top mark with a nice lead, that he extended and then kept until the second beat, when de Vries found a way past to lead downwind and take the win by around six seconds from Budzien and Hammerö.
A possible two races remain on Sunday with slightly less wind on the forecast but increasing temperatures to match the competition on the water.
Results after Day 3: (top ten, 6 races)
1 SWE 71 Niklas EDLER 9pts
2 GER 71 André BUDZIEN 13pts
3 CAN 26 Ben FLOWER 19pts
4 NED 6 Stefan de VRIES 25pts
5 DEN 21 Bo PETERSEN 26pts
6 SWE 72 Benjamin HAMMERÖ 30pts
7 POL 777 Michal STRUMNIK 39pts
8 DEN 61 Henrik KOFOED 40pts
9 DEN 700 Jesper BENDIX 42pts
10 GER 51 Sebastian SCHMIDT-KLÜGMANN 45pts