The rookie & the veteran

Sweet memories from the 2022 Worlds sailed in August. With snow and ice making its way to Viken the Worlds feels distant. A teaser for what is around the corner.

” I had the pleasure of meeting with Charlie Cumbley and Niklas Edler a few weeks after the 2022 Worlds on Marstrand and hear their reflections and learnings from the five days of intense racing. Interestingly, Charlie is an OK Dinghy veteran at the young age of 41, who has been in contention for one of the coveted titles since his debut in 2015. Niklas on the other hand was the rookie entering his first Worlds in the OK class at the tender age of 50. Neither one of them are new to singlehanded dinghy racing, but bring a wealth of experience to the class, and are both soft spoken and outstanding sportsmen. “
//Pontus Gäbel

A sneak peak of the interview with Charlie and Niklas, that will be published in the OK Dinghy International shortly, be the first to read the full interview.

The-Rookie-Veteran

OKWiken.se sailors are getting noticed

The updated OK dinghy world ranking was published by OKDIA and if featured honorable mention of two OKWiken sailors: Patric Mure for placing third at the UK nationals in July and Benjamin Hammerö for his third place in the Warenmünde also in July.

Full details on the ranking can be found here

Dress rehearsal for OK Worlds

The third annual club championship took place on 23 July. The weather was overcast with a squalls and light winds. The conditions were challenging for the fleet and a good rehearsal for the upcoming OK Worlds. The first place was won by Stefan Jeanson from Varberg with an undisputed three first places. The best OK Wiken sailor was Benjamin Hammerö who was crowned club champion at the evening festivities. Once again a successful day on the water outside Viken. Big thanks to all the volunteers who made it all happen!

OKWiken prepares for the 2022 Worlds

There is frantic activities on the water outside Viken. Casual onlookers claimed that where ever you look, there is an OK dinghy – those sailors are truly dedicated! An impressive 14% of the participants at the Worlds are from the OKWiken fleet.

Gate start with Patric Mure in his new Synergy Evolution on port tack

OKWiken.se in exile: Day 2 & 3 at the Spring Cup in Medemblik

Day 2 started in a completely different way than the brutal gusts of Day 1. Already arriving at the national Dutch Race center we were advised not to hurry as the wind barely made the faintest ripples on the now flat Ijsselmeer. The AP was soon hoisted while we all baked in our wetsuits. An hour later we launched and slowly made our way to the race course. Once on the race course it took yet an hour for the wind to stabilize around 080 degrees. Four races were planned and four races were completed in winds of 4-8 knots and frequent oscillations. Tricky and challenging sailing where the choppy conditions added an extra dimension. Keeping the pace and flow upwind was a completely different challenge than Day 1 when the focus was to stay upright! We did not get back to the docks until after six in the evening, with empty water bottles and hungry stomachs.

Day 3, the final day on Ijsselmeer, promised more wind from the new direction. The local sailors indicated that the waves would build and they were right! The downwind legs got more exciting compared to Day 2, while the upwind speed remained a differentiating factor separating the top 5-7 boats from the rest of the fleet. At the end of the day Stefan de Vries was the undisputed winner of the week. He mastered all three different weather conditions and secured an impressive series, closely followed by our new friends from GBR. Patric Mure finished in an impressive 5:th in his brand new Synergy Evolution in a striking color scheme. Greg Wilcox finished in 4:th place on the same points as the 3:rd place finisher.

Russell Clark (3rd), Stefan de Vries (1st) & Andy Davis (3rd)

The full results can be found here

Great sailing, 10 starts in 3 days, tight racing and good learnings. To stay in top ten a full race is challenging as the competition is fierce! The international OK sailors are good and getting better by every regatta.

OKWiken.se in exile

1:st day of racing in Medemblik with 33 boats. Winds 18-20 knots and gusts of 26-28. Three races of 50-60 min. Hard hiking and challenging down winds. Patric was flying the Swedish colors and made us proud!

Second OK Cup race of the Swedish season

This time OK dinghy racing took the sailors to the warm waters of southern Sweden. Råå Jolle Club, RJK, was the host of the weekend regatta which make up the Swedish OK Cup.

Photo: Lars Lindgren

On Saturday, 7 May, the water of the quaint fishing village proved itself as a notoriously difficult venu. The current can be a challenge as it often fluctuates over the race course and shifts during the day. Race two of the day proved extra challenging for half of the fleet who ended up with a BFD. Day 1 ended with with Bo Petersen at top of the scoreboard.

Day two started with winds between 5-7 m/s and increasing throughout the day to about 10 m/s. The day was full of fair racing, hard hiking and no BFD:s. At the end of the day Bo Petersen (DEN) finished 1st closely followed by Daniel Björndalen (SWE) in 2nd and Benjamin Hammerö (SWE) in 3rd.

Photo: Lars Lindgren

Four OKWiken sailors finished in the top 10 – BIG congratulations!

3:rd – Benjamin Hammerö 
5:th – Patric Mure
7:th – Lars Bergfeldt
10:th – Tomas Franzen

An additional 3 OKWiken sailors in the top 20 – WOW!

12:th – Peter Hörwing
13:th – Håkan Söderberg
18:th – Jonas Langner

The full results can be found here

Next stop on the Cup tour in Saltsjöbaden on 21-22 May

First Swedish race of the 2022 season

Göran Andersson OK-jolle cup on 23-24 April was the Swedish season starter. The unseasonably warm Easter weekend weather was boosted with a dose of high wind mixed with shifts. The racing took place just outside Strandverket on sheltered water and not on the 2022 World’s venue on Marstrandsfjorden. It was simply too windy!

The OKWiken sailors did very well and place in top ten – BIG congratulations!

2nd – Benjamin Hammerö
4th – Tomas Franzen
8th – Håkan Söderberg
9th – Peter Hörwing

Results can be found here

Easter training in Viken

There were frantic activities on the water outside Viken all days of the Easter weekend. Ample possibilities for all sailors to maximise the on water training. We had Tomas Hansson-Mild join as a distinguished guest sailor a few of the days.
On Easter Sunday a total of 11 OK dinghies were on the water at the same time. 3-4 m/s and sunshine from clear blue skies made us all think of July rather than early spring.

photo courtesy of Claes Thomasson