OK Dinghy Worlds - Day 3 - Nick Craig extends

Nick Craig has extended his lead at the 2024 Tan Lines OK Dinghy World Championship at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron, Brisbane, Australia, after two more races on the third day. He takes a four-point lead into the final series from Andy Davis, with Roger Blasse in third another four points back.

The final two races of the opening series were completed on schedule with race wins going to Blasse, Johan Bjorling, Craig and Sean Cleary.

Waterloo Bay turned it on for the third day of racing with clear blue skies, sizzling temperatures, and a good breeze that provided challenging but interesting racing. Another four group races and another four winners.

It was a good day for the Scandinavians with Tomas Franzen leading his group for a while and Bjorling having the best day out of the 112-boat fleet.

In the first race, New Zealand’s Sean Cleary led at the top from Bjorling. The Dane passed Cleary and stayed ahead to win from Andy Davis and Cleary. In the other group, Franzen led at the top though Australia’s Mark Jackson was close behind and took the lead at the second downwind gate. Blasse was closing and despite getting a yellow flag, managed to pass both to win. Jackson was second and Craig third.

OK Dinghy Worlds in Brisbane — Nick Craig, GBR

In the second race, Germany’s Jan-Dietmar Dellas judged the pin perfectly on a big shift and took a 100-metre advantage off the line to lead at the top. Craig rounded in fifth but was soon fighting for the lead with Bjorling. New Zealand’s Steve McDowell crossed in third. Cleary led all the way in the second group to win from Sweden’s Patric Mure and Denmark’s Henrik Kofoed.

Blasse said, “Today was a little windier, which suited me better than yesterday. It was probably 10-12 knots in the first race and slightly increasing during the race. I got a fourth and had some good downwind speed so caught a lot of guys up after the first beat.

“The second race had another 5 knots on top, so it suited me even better. I got way at the boat end and did some short tacks. I didn’t go a long way to the right but managed to get in front of the fleet and probably ledBjoerling said, “It was pretty breezy today and I got some pretty good starts and just followed the fleer around. In the first one I led all the way round and in the second I was also in front but then I went to the wrong mark, so then Nick was kind enough to tell me that I had to go to another mark. So, I am really happy about today.

“I haven’t sailed for six months, and I am pretty rusty, so that was, I would say, pure luck.”

New Zealand’s Rod Davis commented, “It’s a tight ball game here and getting off the start line has been the major thing for all the top people. Conditions have been really good, little mistakes cost you dearly out here and the weed is a big problem, constantly cleaning weed of the rudder. It’s a great atmosphere though.”

The level at the front, “I would know the level just behind the front, but it looks like it’s getting mixed up all the time up there. I think the top five guys are coming though, I don’t know which one is going to win it, and it’s going to be game on once we start in the gold fleet. But about five guys have positioned themselves to have a run at this one.”

While Craig is looking dominant, the points are close and there are lots of opportunities for comebacks. The fleet is now split into gold and silver groups for the remaining four races. However, first there is a lay day on Thursday, so racing resumes Friday and concludes on Saturday.

Opening Series after 6 races
1 GBR 2261 Nick Craig 6
2 GBR 11 Andy Davis 10
3 AUS 1 Roger Blasse 14
4 NZL 11 Steve McDowell 17
5 AUS 825 Mike Williams 23
6 DEN 6 Johan Bjoerling 24
7 SWE 73 Patric Mure 28
8 GBR 44 Chris Turner 30
9 NZL 620 Sean Cleary 31
10 NZL 4 Mark Perrow 33