OK Dinghy North Sails Traveller Series Round 1 at the Burghfield Sprint Races

 

Saturday, 2nd March, brought many sailors together from across the country at Burghfield Sailing Club (by Reading on the M4) for round one of the 'OK North Sails Traveller Series', the first of many scheduled events for the OKs in 2024.

Given the resurgence in the class since the Worlds at Lyme Regis in 2023, with many new boats commissioned and serious practising happening all over the UK, this event promised to be keenly contested.

Burghfield Sprints are always an intense series of 8+ short races aiming to sharpen skills at the start of the season with each race lasting approximately 20 minutes. OOD Peter Blackman, ably assisted by a good team, all braved a long day in a cold weather snap. Peter and the team worked around a challenging wind direction and tight schedule, hosting both the UK Finns and OKs. The team smoothly managed 16 races in total with lots of line changes given the constant variation in the breeze, throwing pretty much everything at the competitors. A trapezoid course was set.

It was great to see many new debuts in the OK. New faces included Oliver Davenport having sneaked out Tom Lonsdale's OK from the P&B garage - and Simon Potts sailing a highly modified and well-sorted Synergy Mk1 prototype.

Special mentions must also go to Mary Reddyhoff as the first lady, braving some hard racing and kindly sharing the latest OK magazines, warmly welcoming all new competitors to the class.

At the prize-giving, the Finn competitors kindly complimented Burghfield's very own Nick Craig on having won his sixth World Championship in the OKs in Australia that very morning.

Overall Results:

Pos Helm R1 R2 R3 R4 R5 R6 R7 R8 Pts

1 Oliver Davenport 1 1 1 1 ‑2 1 1 ‑3 6

2 Rob Starling 4 4 ‑6 3 1 ‑8 4 2 18

3 Simon Potts 2 5 2 4 ‑6 4 2 ‑11 19

4 Andrew Rushworth 3 7 4 ‑8 3 6 ‑8 1 24

5 Andrew Dalby ‑9 2 ‑10 2 9 2 3 6 24

6 Deryck Lovegrove ‑7 6 5 5 4 5 ‑12 4 29

7 Gavin Poulloin ‑12 3 3 9 5 ‑10 6 7 33

8 Peter Norman 8 ‑11 ‑13 6 7 9 5 5 40

9 James Dyas 10 ‑12 7 7 8 ‑11 7 9 48

10 Tony Rich 5 8 8 ‑12 10 ‑12 10 10 51

11 Richard Burton 6 10 ‑11 10 11 3 11 5 DN 51

12 Nigel King ‑14 ‑13 12 11 12 7 9 8 59

13 Mary Reddyhoff 11 14 9 13 RES DN5 DN5 DN 77

14 Steve Townsend 13 9 14 14 DN5 DN5 DN5 DN 80