Charlie Cumbley has moved into a seven point lead at the OK Dinghy Spring Cup in Medemblik after three more races were sailed on Saturday. It was always going to be the lightest day and the fleet woke to a mirror like IJsselmeer with most forecasts showing very little wind. However, by 11.30 a light breeze was developing and the fleet was sent out for three very tricky races in a shifty and variable breeze that left many scratching their heads in frustration.
Rene Johannsen (DEN) dominated the first race to lead at the top mark and hold onto it throughout despite a strong challenge from Nick Craig (GBR). With the wind slightly increasing, Franck Strelow (GER) smacked the left hand corner in race 2, to lead at the top mark from Jim Hunt (GBR). Hunt took the lead offwind and held onto it until the finish, favouring the left side, which largely proved to be profitable all day. The final race was perhaps the trickiest with Cumbley emerging from the middle to lead round from the left and extend to win his fourth race of the series. A major left hand shift on the second upwind produced a lot of changes, with Bo Petersen (DEN) the biggest beneficiary moving from the 20s up to fifth.
The most consistent sailor today was Greg Wilcox (NZL) with three third places, to stay in third overall. He said, “It was champagne sailing compared to what we were expecting. But it was very tricky. You think you are on winner and then you lose and then when it looks ordinary you have gained.”
However, Hunt, had the best of the day with a 4, 1, 2. The defending champion from last year described it as a very tricky day, “It was a very difficult day because there wasn't really enough pressure to do anything downwind. Upwind, you only needed to get bounced once and that was enough to lose a lot. There were increases in pressure but they were very hard to see coming. A lot of people were taking the pressure drop as a shift and having to tack back across later and losing twice. It helped today if you were in the right place at the right time to make the gains.”
The OK Dinghy Spring Cup concludes Sunday with two more races and some very strong winds forecast. It should be a great finale to what has been a tough event.
– Robert Deaves
Results
1 GBR 2173 Charlie Cumbley 6
2 GBR 1 Jim Hunt 13
3 NZL 544 Greg Wilcox 16
4 DEN 1431 Bo Petersen 21
5 DEN 1442 Rene Johannsen 22
6 GBR 2150 Nick Craig 24
7 GBR 2151 Jon Fish 45
8 DEN 1420 Jørgen Lindhardtsen 47
9 GBR 2177 Alex Scoles 48
10 GBR 2045 Tony Woods 58
