Month: March 2022

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End of winter training in The Netherlands – OKWiken.se was there

I was invited by Sybren Hornstra , the Secretary of the Dutch OK class and Rob Ligtenberg to join the winter training final weekend. The event was a co-operation with the Dutch Finn class and took place in Nijkerk on 12-13 March. The harbour master, Maarten Krommendijk, was the superb organiser with full support from the local club and was taking part in the two day event in his bright yellow OK.

Meeting in the warm club house before time to launch the boats.

The wether was unseasonably warm and the temperature rose to 14 degrees in the afternoon. The wind was coming out of the south with gusts and big shifts. It was a perfect day for good racing with tricky tactics. The format included a number of short races with three laps before lunch and a similar schedule in the afternoon. At lunch the sailors were served a warm soup and sandwiches in the club house before resuming the racing in the afternoon. All the volunteers are worth applauds for the breathtaking service.

OK race part 1
OK race part 2

The racing took place on a a wide part of a waterway, only a few hundres meters away from the club house. As it was early in the boating season the traffic was limited and there was plenty of water to race on. Coming from Sweden it is an exotic racing location and format!

Four OK sailors took part in the weekend. I’m sure there will be many more next year with such great event and organisation.

I’m looking forward sailing the OK in the Netherlands this spring! It’s different than Viken, but the camaraderie is unmistakably the same as where ever in the world you meet an OK dinghy sailor.

Photo and Ariel video courtesy of Andre van Essen. Big thanks to the Dutch OK team & all the best! Seglarhälsningar, Pontus

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Classroom preparations for the 2022 race season

Getting the tactics right will be crucial for the season to come. On 2 March we were invited for the first of two sessions on racing tactics. The lecture was given by Anders Larzon, a known Swedish sail coach and a former teacher at the Swedish youth sailing program. The session was much appreciated by all on site participants. Unfortunately for those of us who had planned to join on video the technology proved a difficult hurdle. It will for sure be solved before the next session on 14 March.

Knowing the rules is an important aspect of being prepared for the racing season. With 85 entries for the 2022 Worlds and growing by the day, knowing your rules will be key in those heated situations around the course. Jonas Jemt, a race judge and member of the OKWiken.se fleet, will host two racing rule sessions on 5 and 20 April.

Big thanks to Tomas Franzén who has arranged the lecture series of tactic and racing rule. Pelle Wejmenhög graciously offered a conference room at the golf course. A big thanks from all of OKWiken.se for arranging the sessions!