Tag: WBS

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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

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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!

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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

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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

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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!

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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.

Amazing

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Racing in Viken on 17 July

The local yacht club, Wikens Båtselskap (WBS) and OKWiken.se organised a day of racing for the OK class. We piggybacked on the local youth cup “Kullen Cup” to share the crew of volunteers on land and on the water.

Eight visiting sailors join the 11 locals that made up the 19 boat strong fleet lunching swiftly after the skippers meeting at 09:45. The weather was amazing and we had a nice and steady breeze of 5-7 m/s from the north east. The air and water temperature was Mediterranean due to a heatwave over the Scandinavian countries. It was simply a smashing day to go OK racing!

During the course of the day we manged four tight races, each approximately 30 min long and full of tight situations and fun racing for everyone. We had the pleasure of having the seasoned OK sailors Thomas Hansson-Mild joined by Niklas Elder. They proved to be the pair to beat with Benjamin Hammerö to finish of the top 3.

  • Launch time
  • Niklas presented with 1:st price
  • Thomas H-M, 2:nd price
  • After race social
  • A great day for racing
Start of 3:rd race

We had intended to run a training camp on Sunday but decided to call if off when a weather front moved in and pushed the wind gusts to 12-13 m/s. Thomas Hansson-Mild held an on the land session with many eager participants.

On the land session with the No.1 ranked Thomas Hansson-Mild on 18 July

A big thank to all volunteers that made this weekend fun and memorable, especially Michael Hammerö, Lars Lind and Per Thorin for the great course and running the on water show with perfection in every detail!

Warm appreciations for our sponsors, Per i Viken for the prices, UP Hallen for the after race hot dogs and condiments and Benjamin for the cold beers.

We hope to see and even bigger turn out in a years time and until then wish everyone a great summer and happy OK racing!

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Practice & race update

Practice 
Weather permitting we have on the water practice Wednesdays 18:00 and Saturdays 10:00. During the summer we try to sail as much as possible. If yir want WhatsApp notifications please leu us know.

Racing [NEW]
Sailor from the OKWiken fleet plan to race the following regattas:

  • 17 July – WBS Kullen Cup. One day home
    regatta in Viken hosted by Vikens Båselskap.  [link]
  • 7 Aug – Solroed One Day  [link]
  • 27-29 Aug – Danish championship in Keretminde [link]