OKJOLLE.DK – OK sailing in Viken

2022-12-112022-12-11

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

2022-07-252022-08-02

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!

2022-05-102022-05-10

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.

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.

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

2022-04-112022-04-11

OKwiken.se racing in 2022

This is the racing season we all have been waiting for! With the 2022 Wolds on Marstrand in August there is no time to waste getting into race mode. The following is a list of events where we know that sailors from OKWiken.se is planning to participate.

23-24 April, Marstrand, Sweden, Göran Andersson OK-jolle cup. Details here

7-8 May, Råå, Sweden, OK-cup. Details here

13-15 May, Medemblick, The Netherlands, Hollandia Spring Cup. Details here

14-15 May, Glücksburg, Germany, XXI. CULIX CUP 2022. Details here

21-21 May, Svenborg Sunds, Denmark. Weekend Staevn. Details here

11-12 June, Varberg, Sweden, Nordic Championships. Detail here

18-21 June, Kiel, Germany, 2022 Kieler Woche 2022, Details here

8-10 July, Warnemünde, Germany, Warnemünde Woche. Details here

14-17 July, Herne Bay, England, National Championships. Details here

23 July, WM, WikenMästerskapet

5-13 August, Marstrand, Sweden, 2022 WORLDS, Details here

19-22 August, Korsør, Denmark, Danish Championships. Details here

26-28 August, Kalmar, Sweden, Swedish Championships. Details here

8-10 September, Berlin, Großer Müggelse, Germany, International German Championships. Details here

28 September – 1 October, Bandol, France, 2022 EUROPEANS. Details here

2022-03-132022-03-13

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

2022-03-032022-03-04

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!

2022-02-272022-03-02

Season in full swing

After a windy few weeks six OK sailors hit the water on 26 February. Despite that the almanac still indicates winter the conditions were nothing but perfect. Light winds out of the NW and a clear blue sky. There were many envious sailors that got the updates later in the day and regretted not joining The 2022 spring season is officially started, with the 2022 Worlds in clear focus.

2021-01-032021-01-17

New Year’s Day – 2021

A few brave sailors made it onto the water also on New Year’s Day. A good start of 2021 – the year when we all look forward to go racing, in Sweden and abroad.

Håkan was a driving force to get us all on the water during the holidays — Håkan was the drivning force behind getting as many sailor as possible onto the water during the holidays. His hard work paid of!

2020-12-262020-12-27

Christmas day regatta – 2020

Eleven boats had indicated an interest to join our Christmas day morning regatta. Once in the harbour we found the boat covers white with frost from the overnight temperature drop. The main sheets needed some work before they would run freely and we could soon count ten OK and one laser dinghy on the slip and a handsome gathering of astounded spectators. Everyone were asking them selves, how cold will it be once on the water!

Last year on Boxing day, four brave sailors set sail on a misty morning! This year we can clearly say that we have started a tradition! Will we be able to double the number of participants next year?

As we left the harbour the bleak December sun was rising above the horizon and gave a faint sensation of warmth in the face, fingers still cold as they were gripping the cold lines. The wind came out the North / Northeast and the gate start got under way at the red marker in the direction of Elsinore castle. The red navigation marker south of the Viken pier served as top mark, with a large crowd gathered on land.

First downwind leg of the day – racing towards the sun

Tight racing, sometimes a bit too tight!

Back on land after almost three hours of sailing and five good races, all agreed that we had picked the best day! Or did the day pick us? We concluded that we could have stayed out longer but other duties were lining up! No one commented about it being cold and everyone looked forward to the next time we can go sailing!

A special and warm welcome to Otto, who dramatically impacted the average age of the sailors on this day. We hope to see many more sailor of all ages join us in Viken.

The winner takes it all

Patric Mure was presented with the price for placing first. The 1/2 model was built and donated by our patron Christer Malmström. Big congratulations to Patric and big thanks to Christer from all the sailors and spectators on this beautiful Christmas day.

Photos taken by Per Lindvall and Sara Gäbel

2020-09-162020-09-21

2020 Kieler Woche

Finally, on the road again! It’s not a statement that you had expected from sailors but after being refrained from racing a whole season it’s a nice feeling to be on the move.

Benjamin with the boats loaded and ready to drive from Viken at 06.00 in the morning on September 9. SWE 72, SWE 101 & SWE 2871

Kieler Woche was the first “real” regatta where the OK sailors from Viken manage to end up above the Covid-19 cut of participants. 50 boats was the maximum at this event, not because of the social distancing on the water but the space available on land! In total we were 6 Swedish boats that made it all the way to Kiel. The organisers were meticulous in their preparations. We all had to fill out forms and read instructions on what to keep in mind before, during and after the event. Needless to say, nothing was left unaddressed by the organiser and face mask were up from entering the gates until the boats were afloat. Once registered we had a badge giving access to the race area, a Covid-19 GPS bracelet tracking all our whereabouts and an arm band to check in and out when leaving the slip to go racing.

Ready to go racing! Patric, Benjamin & Mats on race day

Day 1 – Thursday

Planned start of racing on day 1 was 13:00. With 5-6 nm of sailing before reaching race area KILO the organiser sounded the horn which signal that it was our time to launch at about 11:00. The sun was shining and the winds were beginning to build. As we were sailing towards the Kieler Bucht light house on the horizon the wind increased to a nice and steady breeze of about 10-15 knots. As the wind came over land it was a bit nervous with shifts and varying strength which would cater for competitive racing. We were sharing the race area with the Finns and they started ahead of us. After a few general recalls the regatta was finally under way!

Sailing was competitive and close. Mads Bendix was the leader at the end of day 1 with two firsts and a second. Best placing Swedes were Thomas and Benjamin.

Day 2 – Friday

The second day of racing started very much like day 1. Calm winds in the harbour and a nice warmth when the sun broke through the clouds. The flag on shore indicated that we would race on area KILO again. The routine was the same with the difference that the first start was scheduled for 12.00. Also this day the wind can from the SW and gradually increased as we sailed out to the race area. When the start sequenced commenced the wind had reached a steady 20 knots and three races were scheduled. A few boats decided to call it the day already before first start while other left to sail towards the harbour after a race or two. By 14 – 14:30 the wind had stabilise at 22-24 knots with gusts of 28 knots.

Mads Bendix once again showed his skills and proved that the day 1 results was by no means a coincidence. He repeated day 1 and scored two firsts and a second. The best performing Swedes were Thomas and Patric.

Day 3 – Saturday

With winds forecasted to stay in the range of 20-30 knots we knew racing would be tough. The start was scheduled for 11:00 and with the precision we had gotten used to the signal to launch was sounded and we all got under way. That is, a few had already decided to stay on shore and save the body from getting beat up again. The sail to race area KILO was swifter than the previous days as the wind had increased earlier than the two previous days. The Finns started before the OK fleet and got a clear to go at their first attempt. Our start followed without hesitation and what would later become the last day of racing was under way. By the end of the day most boats including some of the top scoring boats had ended up capsized. The heavy wind took its toll and a few of us decided to head for shore before the last race. The high and gusty winds didn’t allow for any relaxation and the race towards the harbour for dry clothes and food proved as challenging as the racing in it self.

Bo Petersen was the winner of the day, scoring a first and a second, in the heavy winds. Best Swedes were were once again Thomas and Patric.

*Bo Petersen – mastered the tough conditions best of all sailors on Day 3*

Day 4 – Sunday

After three days off tough racing and even more wind expected on day 4 an unanimous decision to end the regatta after 8 great races was taken. A few of the top placing sailors started packing up and everyone followed suit. There was no Day 4 in this year’s Kieler Woche! Mads Bendix was the winner, followed by André Budzien and Thomas Hansson-Mild placing third.

The organisation of Kieler Woche is impeccable and its a regatta that every sailor with ambitions need to have take part in. Next time we all line up at the start we hope that the Covid-19 pandemic is something in the past and more sailor have the possibility to go racing and experience the great camaraderie in the OK dinghy class.

Auf wiedersehen Kiel!