Nick Craig masters Barbados conditions on day 1 of the 2017 OK Dinghy Worlds

by Robert Deaves, OKDIA 28 May 2017 07:58 BST 24-31 May 2017

Four time OK Dinghy world champion Nick Craig of Great Britain got off to the perfect start at the 2017 World Championship in Barbados with two races wins on a challenging day in Carlisle Bay. Luke O'Connell from New Zealand is second while defending champion Jim Hunt from Great Britain is third.

The 79 competitors from eight nations shook off the dust from last night's opening ceremony for two challenging and tough races in winds from 10-22 knots with an unstable wind keeping the fleet on its toes all day.

Race 1 got away first time with the wind in a left phase with a rain cloud passing by, with the majority of the fleet tacking straight onto port with the wind at 15-18 knots. Craig led around the top mark with O'Connell chasing hard, but Craig had the speed and led at every mark for the win, while Hunt passed O'Connell to take second.

The black flag was out for Race 2 with no one over on the second attempt. It was the same three up the front with Craig again taking the lead from O'Connell, while Hunt came through later in the race to take third. At the times the wind went light and the right was favoured but on the final upwind the left came in again and strengthened to the windiest of the day at 20-23 knots.

Luckily it was a short sail through the warm, turquoise Caribbean waters to the shore, where cold beers, cold rum, and another rain shower awaited the happy fleet.

2017 OK Dinghy Worlds day 1 - photo © Robert Deaves

Craig summed up the day, "We had very shifty conditions. We were quite far inshore so the wind was shifting up to 50 degrees at times, which made it very tricky, and made the start line tricky because the bias was shifting from massive pin end to a little bit of starboard and the first beat was tricky with some of them ending up being one tack beats with the amount the wind was shifting, so not an easy day."

2017 OK Dinghy Worlds day 1 - photo © Robert Deaves

Chris Turner, also from Great Britain, is doing well at his first ever OK Dinghy event, sitting in sixth overall.

"I got off reasonably well, was a bit low at the first mark but I made gains today which was good. So very pleased with the day with a sixth and an eighth."

On the competition, "It's all very gentlemanly actually. Good tight racing."

Luke O'Connell on 2017 OK Dinghy Worlds day 1 - photo © Robert Deaves

Second overall, O'Connell, spoke of Craig's speed, "Good day, very shifty but lovely day. Nick seems rather rapid in every direction, so the Kiwi team is going to have a bit of work to do to run him down."

"Today was shifty, very shifty, but good close racing for everyone, and good fun."

2017 OK Dinghy Worlds day 1 - photo © Robert Deaves

Craig concluded, "Barbados is the best place I have ever sailed, warm water, fantastic winds, good waves and good shore side. We had a great opening ceremony last night where there seemed to be unlimited food, unlimited rum and unlimited beer so there were many happy faces."

The fun continues on Sunday with two more races from 12.30. The 2017 OK Dinghy World Championship consists of 10 races and concludes on Wednesday 31 May.

Follow the action on:

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Youtube: www.youtube.com/channel/UCxRW4POh1vghfqFhFIP2Bqw

The event website is 2017.okworlds.org

Results after Day 1: (top ten, 2 races)

Pos	Sail No	Helm	R1	R2	Pts
1	GBR 2195	NICK CRAIG	1	1	2
2	NZL 546	LUKE O'CONNELL	3	2	5
3	GBR 11	JIM HUNT	2	3	5
4	NZL 517	PAUL RHODES	5	9	14
5	POL 1	TOMASZ GAJ	8	6	14
6	GBR 2191	CHRIS TURNER	6	8	14
7	GER 803	MARTIN v.ZIMMERMANN	7	11	18
8	NZL 566	GREG WILCOX	9	10	19
9	NZL 545	STEVE McDOWELL	4	16	20
10	NZL 551	MARK PERROW	20	4	24
11	AUS 749	ROGER BLASSE	10	15	25
12	GER 778	SOENKE BEHRENS	15	13	28
13	POL 14	PAWEL PAWLACZYK	24	5	29
14	AUS 754	BRENT WILLIAMS	11	18	29
15	DEN 3	JORGEN SVENDSEN	19	14	33
16	DEN 1402	BO TEGLERS NIELSEN	16	17	33
17	AUS 768	MARK JACKSON	27	7	34
18	NZL 536	ERIC RONE	13	22	35
19	NZL 498	JONO CLOUGH	17	20	37
20	NZL 523	JOE POREBSKI	14	24	38
21	GBR 10	ROBERT DEAVES	12	29	41
22	GER 5	RALF TIETJE	21	21	42
23	GBR 13	ALEX SCOLES	26	19	45
24	GER 775	JOERG RADEMACHER	22	25	47
25	DEN 22	ASK ASKHOLM	25	23	48
26	NZL 567	CHRIS FENWICK	18	31	49
27	GBR 2176	KEITH BYERS	30	27	57
28	NZL 531	ADRIAN COULTHARD	29	30	59
29	NZL 575	MICHAEL WILDE	33	28	61
30	DEN 1397	HENRIK KOFOED ‑ LARSEN	28	34	62
31	GER 11	RAINER POSPIECH	23	40	63
32	AUS 719	GLENN WILLIAMS	37	26	63
33	POL 19	GRZEGORGZ SALAMON	32	33	65
34	NZL 571	ROB HENGST	34	36	70
35	GER 7	ANDREAS PICH	35	41	76
36	DEN 1442	PETER HEIDE‑JORGENSEN	36	42	78
37	DEN 1335	MOGENS JOHANSEN	40	39	79
38	AUS 750	PETER ROBINSON	43	37	80
39	SWE 2791	LENNART HANSSON	38	43	81
40	NZL 563	DAVID HOOGENBOOM	50	32	82
41	GER 75	DIRK DAME	45	38	83
42	DEN 1481	NILS TROLAND	41	45	86
43	NZL 565	SIMON PROBERT	39	48	87
44	GER 772	OLIVER GRONHOLZ	ret	12	92
45	DEN 1407	MALTE PEDERSEN	42	51	93
46	GER 731	THOMAS GLAS	44	49	93
47	NZL 569	PHIL COVENY	31	63	94
48	GER 6	FABIAN GRONHOLZ	60	35	95
49	GBR 2163	GAVIN WALDRON	52	44	96
50	NZL 574	PHILIP RZEPECKY	46	50	96
51	GER 767	JULIANE HOFMANN	56	47	103
52	GER 757	FALK HAGEMANN	51	55	106
53	GER 22	DIRK GERICKE	48	59	107
54	AUS 767	GLENN YATES	49	61	110
55	NZL 568	DEAN NEIL COLEMAN	57	53	110
56	NZL 564	SEFTON POWRIE	59	52	111
57	FRA 1833	FABIEN CAPEILLERES	55	56	111
58	AUS 688	DAVID HASELDINE	54	58	112
59	GER 777	NADINE TIETJE	62	54	116
60	AUS 736	GRANT WAKEFIELD	61	57	118
61	AUS 725	DAVID KETTERIDGE	58	64	122
62	SWE 55	ULF SAHLE	63	62	125
63	DEN 1399	CHRISTOPHER JOE SCHUBERT	dsq	46	126
64	POL 40	ROBERT SWIECKI	69	60	129
65	AUS 706	ERIK THOMPSON	65	68	133
66	GER 678	HEINZ RIDDER	64	70	134
67	AUS 766	ROBERT BUCHANAN	66	69	135
68	AUS 738	KEVIN KNOTT	68	67	135
69	GER 697	JOERG POSNY	70	66	136
70	DEN 1458	SOREN SIGURDSSON	72	65	137
71	AUS 716	DAVID SWALES	67	72	139
72	NZL 550	TONY BIERRE	71	71	142
73	GBR 2058	MARY REDDYHOFF	74	73	147
74	GER 788	JESSICA FINKE	73	75	148
75	GBR 2116	TIM O'LEARY	75	74	149
76	GER 539	ULRICH BORCHERS	76	76	152
77	GER 8	RONALD FOEST	47	ret	160
77	GER 12	STEFAN RASSAU	53	dnf	160
77	GBR 2159	RUSSELL WARD	dns	dns	160