OK Dinghy open meeting at Waldringfield Sailing Club
by Daniel Ager 19 Sep 2012 08:32 BST
16 September 2012
Part two of a weekend of open events on the east coast took place twenty five miles up the road at Waldringfield SC as part of the annual Cartoon Open meeting. An event shared with a multitude of other classes. A smaller fleet of OKs turned up to race in generally breezier, though still shifty conditions.
The start of race one saw the Lark fleet crossing though the start line perfectly in time with the OK start. Not ideal for either class. Lee Child and the Fish pulled out a comfortable lead. The key to success was to get through the traffic of the other fleets. This Lee did to best effect and pulled clear away to a comfortable win. Fish was a clear second and Robert Deaves never seriously challenged for third place.
The second race was started with no other fleets about. The beat to the windward mark saw Ager take the lead closely followed by Child. On a gusty downwind leg, those two pulled a long way clear of the rest of the fleet. Lee was ahead by the bottom mark. He decided to tack off straight away into the traffic. Ager carried on into clearer air.
Lee then met a Squib coming across on starboard who took him across the other side of the river whilst Ager had sufficient room to duck and then be lifted to the next mark and into a comfortable lead that he held to the finish of a very short race. Lee was in no danger of losing second place and Deaves was third.
The final race could see the Fish, Ager or Child win the event. As it turned out Ager did not make much of an impression on the race. Deaves, Child, the Fish and Simon Cox arrived at the first mark in close company. From a personal point of view Simon will be fed up of seeing the transom of Fish and Child. Professionally however he must be very pleased that the hulls he built for them in his Synergy Marine workshop are proving to be so successful so quickly.
It was again Fish and Child that opened up a good lead and it looked like Fish had the event in the bag until another Squib intervention by one of their backmarkers, on a reach with a strongly held conviction of "thou shalt not pass on my windward side".
Afterwards, Lee commented that he had "seen the madness in her eyes" and went low. This proved to be a winning move for the race and the event. Fish came in second in the race and overall. Deaves again had a third in the race but finished fourth overall. Third place went to Ager.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Helm Name | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 2152 | LEE CHILD | 1 | ‑2 | 1 | 2 |
| 2 | 2151 | JONATHAN FISH | 2 | ‑4 | 2 | 4 |
| 3 | 2120 | DAN AGER | ‑4 | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| 4 | 2138 | ROBERT DEAVES | ‑3 | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| 5 | 2136 | SIMON COX | ‑7 | 5 | 5 | 10 |
| 6 | 1966 | TIM O'LEARY | 6 | 6 | ‑7 | 12 |
| 7 | 2036 | LUKE FARTHING | 5 | ‑8 | 8 | 13 |
| 8 | 2137 | SIMON SHAW | ‑8 | 7 | 6 | 13 |