OK Dinghy World Championship at Circolo Vela Arco - Day 2
by Robert Deaves 16 Sep 2025 22:03 PDT
12-19 September 2025
Britain's Nick Craig holds the narrowest of leads after the second day of racing at 2025 OK Dinghy World Championship on Lake Garda, hosted by Circolo Vela Arco.
Both Craig and Andrew Mills added another race win each and are even on three points while third placed Charlie Cumbley, won both of his group races to end the day just one point behind. The other two race wins went to Germany's Stefan Hoffmann and Sweden's Niklas Edler.
With a slightly lighter forecast than the opening day the 212-boat fleet set out for two more races, now assigned to three very different groups. The wind started off further left but the right side was still favoured and increased during the first race for some exciting and close finishing.
Cumbley dominated the yellow groups to win both races and move up to third overall. In the blue fleet, Stefan Hoffmann led all the way in the first race of the day, while Niklas Edler took the second.
The red fleet was probably the hardest fleet of the day. After a good deal of waiting for the third start on the first day - to keep the groups apart - there was some apprehension about the timing of the start, with the third group now starting as the second group rounded the top mark, instead of the gate on the inner loop. However, the race committee got it spot on and all races went ahead with no recalls and no fleet overlaps. Andrew Mills made it three race wins in a row after dominating the first race. Then Denmark's Bo Petersen led the second race of the day only to lose out to Craig on the second upwind, for Craig to take his third race win.
After four races, the points are incredibly close, with just eight points separating the top ten. The British team seem to like the conditions, holding the top three positions and with five boats in the top ten.
New Zealand's Russell Page- Wood said of the day, "Awesome to be here in Garda. The fleet is amazing. Sailing is perfect. Couldn't have asked for better conditions. Probably the best worlds we've had."
Dayne Sharp, sailing for Denmark, is at his first OK Dinghy worlds. "Another great day on the water here in Garda. We've had two really superb sailing days. Just had to get a good start and get to the right side and chose the right time to tack over and not overlay the top mark too much. Perfect sailing. Challenging. Physical. And great ashore with a lot of nice guys. So top game."
Bo Petersen is up to sixth overall. "Great day on the water. I had a second and third and I think that was ok in the group I was in. I am amazed about this place and how professional they are. I thought today would end up in chaos because they changed the starting, but it didn't happen. It was great. Really good."
The opening series is scheduled to conclude on Wednesday with two more races, before the final series on Thursday and Friday. Racing continues Wednesday at 13.00.
Results after Day 2: (four races)
1 GBR 2295 Nick Craig 3pts
2 GBR 94 Andrew Mills 3pts
3 GBR 6 Charlie Cumbley 4pts
4 SWE 71 Niklas Edler 4pts
5 CAN 26 Ben Flower 6pts
6 DEN 21 Bo Petersen 7pts
7 GER 71 André Budzien 7pts
8 GBR 11 Andy Davis 10pts
9 GBR 2298 Matthew Howard 10pts
10 GER 886 Stefan Hoffmann 11pts