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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.

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."

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."

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."

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:

The event website is 2017.okworlds.org

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

PosSail NoHelmR1R2Pts
1GBR 2195NICK CRAIG112
2NZL 546LUKE O'CONNELL325
3GBR 11JIM HUNT235
4NZL 517PAUL RHODES5914
5POL 1TOMASZ GAJ8614
6GBR 2191CHRIS TURNER6814
7GER 803MARTIN v.ZIMMERMANN71118
8NZL 566GREG WILCOX91019
9NZL 545STEVE McDOWELL41620
10NZL 551MARK PERROW20424
11AUS 749ROGER BLASSE101525
12GER 778SOENKE BEHRENS151328
13POL 14PAWEL PAWLACZYK24529
14AUS 754BRENT WILLIAMS111829
15DEN 3JORGEN SVENDSEN191433
16DEN 1402BO TEGLERS NIELSEN161733
17AUS 768MARK JACKSON27734
18NZL 536ERIC RONE132235
19NZL 498JONO CLOUGH172037
20NZL 523JOE POREBSKI142438
21GBR 10ROBERT DEAVES122941
22GER 5RALF TIETJE212142
23GBR 13ALEX SCOLES261945
24GER 775JOERG RADEMACHER222547
25DEN 22ASK ASKHOLM252348
26NZL 567CHRIS FENWICK183149
27GBR 2176KEITH BYERS302757
28NZL 531ADRIAN COULTHARD293059
29NZL 575MICHAEL WILDE332861
30DEN 1397HENRIK KOFOED ‑ LARSEN283462
31GER 11RAINER POSPIECH234063
32AUS 719GLENN WILLIAMS372663
33POL 19GRZEGORGZ SALAMON323365
34NZL 571ROB HENGST343670
35GER 7ANDREAS PICH354176
36DEN 1442PETER HEIDE‑JORGENSEN364278
37DEN 1335MOGENS JOHANSEN403979
38AUS 750PETER ROBINSON433780
39SWE 2791LENNART HANSSON384381
40NZL 563DAVID HOOGENBOOM503282
41GER 75DIRK DAME453883
42DEN 1481NILS TROLAND414586
43NZL 565SIMON PROBERT394887
44GER 772OLIVER GRONHOLZret1292
45DEN 1407MALTE PEDERSEN425193
46GER 731THOMAS GLAS444993
47NZL 569PHIL COVENY316394
48GER 6FABIAN GRONHOLZ603595
49GBR 2163GAVIN WALDRON524496
50NZL 574PHILIP RZEPECKY465096
51GER 767JULIANE HOFMANN5647103
52GER 757FALK HAGEMANN5155106
53GER 22DIRK GERICKE4859107
54AUS 767GLENN YATES4961110
55NZL 568DEAN NEIL COLEMAN5753110
56NZL 564SEFTON POWRIE5952111
57FRA 1833FABIEN CAPEILLERES5556111
58AUS 688DAVID HASELDINE5458112
59GER 777NADINE TIETJE6254116
60AUS 736GRANT WAKEFIELD6157118
61AUS 725DAVID KETTERIDGE5864122
62SWE 55ULF SAHLE6362125
63DEN 1399CHRISTOPHER JOE SCHUBERTdsq46126
64POL 40ROBERT SWIECKI6960129
65AUS 706ERIK THOMPSON6568133
66GER 678HEINZ RIDDER6470134
67AUS 766ROBERT BUCHANAN6669135
68AUS 738KEVIN KNOTT6867135
69GER 697JOERG POSNY7066136
70DEN 1458SOREN SIGURDSSON7265137
71AUS 716DAVID SWALES6772139
72NZL 550TONY BIERRE7171142
73GBR 2058MARY REDDYHOFF7473147
74GER 788JESSICA FINKE7375148
75GBR 2116TIM O'LEARY7574149
76GER 539ULRICH BORCHERS7676152
77GER 8RONALD FOEST47ret160
77GER 12STEFAN RASSAU53dnf160
77GBR 2159RUSSELL WARDdnsdns160

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