OK Dinghy Inland Championship at the Ovington Inlands 2025 at Grafham Water Sailing Club

Adrian Pellis at the OK Inland Championship at Grafham © Karen Robertson

With 30 competitors entered and a good, albeit cold forecast, it was looking like it was going to be a great first event of 2025.

The annual Ovington Regatta has become a regular and popular fixture on the OK calendar with it doubling as the Inland Championship this year and thanks must go to Chris Turner and Nathan Batchelor of Ovington Boats for inviting the class to take part and to Grafham SC for so expertly managing the racing.

The fleet launched into a pleasant 10-12 knots coming from a NW direction and the first race was set to be the inner loop course for 3 laps. It was a clean start on the first try with Andy 'Taxi' Davis making an early jump whilst the rest of the fleet were engrossed in a tight battle. At the windward mark it was Taxi followed by pack including Ian 'Hoppy' Hopwood, Jamie Morgan, Jason Pyke, Ed Bradburn and Richard 'Burt' Burton.

Down the run the pressure was filling in from behind making it important to keep an eye on what was happening behind. By the bottom of the run everyone had closed up and were jostling for positions to get round the leeward mark cleanly.

For the next two laps it was much of the same close racing with places switching throughout the fleet, at the finish it was Taxi from Davenport and Bradburn.

Race 2 was set it the same as race 1 with the wind holding steady only for there to be a left shift just before the gun subsequently meaning the pin end boats tacked on go. A second hooter sounded, and individual recall flat went up.... Davenport made a quick bear away to restart only to be told it wasn't him over. Bradburn and Burt (shock) who had good starts at the pin with Taxi having a conservative start in the middle of the line, but with good height and speed he managed to lead at the windward mark with Bradburn, Burt, and Dave Bourne.

The rest of the fleet quickly followed with the whole fleet only being separated by 30 seconds or so. The wind stayed left from the rest of the race and building slightly making it tricky to gain positions. At the finish it was Taxi from Bradburn and Bourne.

The start of race 3 had held steady since the finish of race 2 with the wind now slightly more in the North and built slightly. With the new wind direction and the windward mark moved in accordingly, it was now under some tree cover on the shore meaning there were tricky shifts to keep the fleet on their toes.

Once again it was Taxi who made the best of the first beat and what the shifts had to offer and lead round mark 1 with the rest of the fleet fighting it out, with places changing all the time and gusts and shifts hard to spot everyone was kept on their toes not been able to let up with others getting pressure and shifts that would change the order of play very quickly. At the gun it was again Taxi from Bradburn and Lonsdale.

By the time of race 4 there were many tired and cold bodies that needed to find some energy as the wind had shifted even further left and had really started to pick up now allowing the big boys to stretch their legs. Off the start it was all very even with most of the fleet holding out on starboard turning it into a drag race to the left had side of the course, this brought a change to the order at the windward mark with it been Burt, Bourne, Tom Lonsdale and Pyke at the windward mark.

It was straight onto the run where everything held steady but at the gate there was a split with Bourne going round the left hand mark to head up the right side of the beat and Burt and the majority of the fleet headed round the right hand gate to head left up the beat. At the top of the beat it was Bourne who had used some great speed and a nice right hand shift to find himself first at the windward mark. Bourne held this for the next lap until he got to the top mark again and headed straight downwind rather then onto the reach.

This left it wide open for the chasing pack to fight it out amongst themselves to claim the win, at the bottom of the run it was Taxi who had worked his way to the inside of the group to claim room at the leeward mark and take another win.

Everyone returned to shore after a great day's racing ready to rest their tired bodies and to watch England beat Wales in the Rugby.

Day 2 dawned with gentler winds and mild temperatures and the wind again coming from the north meaning shifty and gusty conditions. This saw two groups looking strong up the first beat on the left and right of the course. At the top mark it was again Taxi leading but closely followed by Bradburn and 16 year old Jack Hodgkins sailing his first OK regatta.

The next two laps were both interesting and stressful with everyone getting moments of shifts and pressure taking them on massive ladders up the course and while other were sat in holes of little wind wondering if they had just found the biggest snake of all time. At the finish it was Taxi from Bradburn and Hodgkins making it a South Staffs SC 1,2,3.

Race 6 saw the OKs push the line with one general recall leading to the black flag going up. However, that wasn't going to deter the fleet who managed to force yet another general recall (to the sound of good natured booing from the Fireflys who were racing on the same course) with four boats getting BFD'd. The fleet eventually got away on the third start (this time to loud hurrahs from the Fireflys) in similar conditions to race 5 with the pressure maybe being a little more even across the course providing everyone with the opportunity to at the front of the fleet.

This time it was the trusty side kick to show the fleet round sniffing out the shifts Bradburn so used to on the small lake in the midlands. As always it was a close battle in the chasing fleet with positions changing throughout the race. This race was slightly shorter with only two laps, Bradburn did a great job at managing the fleet up the second beat and then holding off Taxi on the final run take a bullet off Taxi, coming in 3rd was Ant Osman who had also sailed a great race.

Race 7 set up great with a good line which a touch of pin bias on it luring people to push towards the pin to take advantage of this bias... only to be punished as 10 seconds after the start signal a 45 degree shift came rolling through scuppering any chances of tacking. This shift heavily favoured the starboard end boats, at the windward mark it was Taxi from Alex Scoles and Morgan but with a chasing pack behind.

Pressure filling in from behind condensed the fleet. During the next 2 laps positions changed and sailor worked to find any advantage they could to make up places. Once again at the finish it was Taxi from Davenport and Pyke.

So it was with an impressive scoreline of six firsts that Andy Davis retained his Inland Championship crown. Fellow South Staffs SC member Ed Bradburn took second and Oli Davenport who won the Ovington event last year took third. All in all, it was a great start to the season and with several new faces joining the fleet, it's looking like we could have a great season ahead of us.

The next event on the OK Grand Slam series is the one day Burghfield Sprints event on 5th April.

Nathan Batchelor of Ovington presents trophy to Andy Davis - OK Inland Championship at Grafham - photo © Karen Robertson

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