OK Southern Area Championships at Christchurch Sailing Club
by Terry Curtis 22 May 2007 08:32 BST
20 May 2007
In the Classes 50th anniversary year, 13 OKs took part in the Southern Area Championships at Christchurch Sailing Club on May 20th.
Race 1 started in a light 5 knot breeze from the south-west. Jon Fish, sailing his brand new Aardvark OK, was over the line early and failed to return – scoring an OCS in the race.
Deryck Lovegrove led a pack of boats out to the right on the 1st beat while World Champion, Nick Craig, worked the shifts up the middle. The right side was clearly favoured as Deryck led around the windward mark, followed by Christchurch helm, Dave Evans, with Craig just behind in 3rd place. The chasing bunch was not far behind but a tangle at the top mark allowed some boats to get away cleanly while others, notably John Meadowcroft from Henley SC, lost valuable ground on the leaders.
The leaders remained in the same order down the run, but on the 2nd beat, Nick Craig managed to overhaul Deryck Lovegrove and sailed away to take the race. Deryck held onto 2nd place, Evans over stood the windward mark on the penultimate beat as the tide began to turn allowing Curtis through to third. Evans finishing in 4th place.
Race 2 started in similar conditions. Again, the right side looked favoured and Terry Curtis came in from this side with a narrow lead over Nick Craig. Mike Edwards from South Staffs was 3rd with Dave Evans close behind in 4th. At the leeward mark, Dave Evans had overhauled Edwards & Craig by taking the right side of the run and was now in 2nd behind Curtis.
By the end of the 2nd beat, however, Craig’s speed had pulled him back into 2nd behind Curtis, with Evans still comfortably in 3rd although, by now, some distance back from the 2 leading boats.
Down the 2nd run Craig closed up on Curtis and managed to slip through at the leeward mark. Evans was unlucky to get rolled by the chasing bunch and found himself back in a pack of boats occupying 3rd to 9th places.
The final beat saw Craig round 1st with a 15 second lead over Curtis. The chasing group, some 40 seconds back, was now led by Dave Rollinson from Bowmoor Sailing Club. The final run saw Curtis close up on Craig and a gybing match ensued, with Craig defending the inside approach to the leeward mark. At the finish it was Craig who held on to take the race – and the event, with Curtis 2nd and Dave Rollinson 3rd.
The final race of the day took place on the ebb tide which brought the left side of the beat into favour. The tide also caught a few boats out on the start and Jon Fish & Dave Rollinson were both OCS at the start. Craig, taking the left side of the beat, rounded 1st with a comfortable lead ahead of Mike Edwards, Neil Goodhead and John Meadowcroft. Nick went on to complete a clean sweep of race wins with Neil taking 2nd and John Meadowcroft 3rd.
Overall Results:
1st Nick Craig (Frensham Pond)
2nd Terry Curtis (Upper Thames)
3rd Neil Goodhead (South Staffs)
4th Deryck Lovegrove (Kingsmead)
5th John Meadowcroft (Henley)
1st Vintage boat (over 25 years old), David Rollinson (Bowmoor)