On Sunday 17th October South staffs greeted 18 OK's. It was great to see a good turnout of 12 home boats, but disappointing that only 6 visitors travelled.
The first race got underway in testing blustery conditions and current World Champion Jim Hunt set the pace. Hunt held the lead to the finish, but was made to work all the way by Gavin Waldron. Mike Edwards finished third from Neil Goodhead.
Race two found Hunt leading again, this time chased by Edwards to finish in that order. Waldron managed to hold off the fast finishing Goodhead for third.
The final race saw Hunt lead again at the first mark, with the challenge this time coming from the less imposing figure of Goodhead. Hunt again was made to work for the win from Goodhead. Junior Ed Bradburn held third for most of the race, chased by veteran Alan Atkin, Waldron and Edwards. Waldron and Edwards managed to pass Bradburn and Atkin late in the race to finish in that order.
It was great to see three keen juniors, Ed Bradburn, Will Croxford and Chris White competing so capably with the big boys. With all off them showing real promise for the future!
Thanks must go to South Staffs for hosting an enjoyable event and for providing a wonderful free tea after racing.

Results:

Rank	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	Points
1	2109	Jim Hunt		1	1	1	2
2	2085	Gavin Waldron		2	3	3	5
3	2107	Mike Edwards		3	2	4	5
4	2108	Neil Goodhead		4	4	2	6
5	2067	Ed Bradburn		6	7	5	11
6	2053	Alan Atkin		19	5	6	11
7	2104	Deryk Lovegrove		5	6	19	11
8	1980	John Salomonson		7	9	8	15
9	2098	Dave Danbury		9	17	7	16
10	2031	Dave Cooper		8	10	9	17
11	2056	Colin Slevin		11	8	12	19
12	1886	Paul Goodfellow		10	11	11	21
13	2188	Will Croxford		13	13	10	23
14	1364	Chris Rhodes		12	14	13	25
15	1962	Chris White		15	12	14	26
16	1927	Colin Page		14	16	16	30
17	2048	Rod Thorne		19	15	15	30
18	2074	Roger Cooper		16	18	17	33

26 OK's arrived to Farmoor reservoir for this years inlands and final world qualifier. The club put on a good quality event, dealing with the blustery conditions admirably.

Race 1: The fleet got away at the second time of asking after a little too much exuberance first time around. By the time a few big shifts had come down the course Terry Curtis and Andy Rushworth were showing their skills to lead before Andy displayed his capsizing ability. The chasing pack led by Andy & Will Turner and J-P Williams had a tussle for second leaving Terry comfortable out front. J-P took second in a photo-finish from Jon Fish who'd sneaked through up the last beat.

At the first mark of race 2, team Turner had a 1-2-3 whilst Rushworth and Curtis both had poor beats and had work to do to pull through. However, with the help of some large shifts, good speed and some upside-down action from Will Turner, Curtis came through for a second win with Rushworth just behind and Pete Turner third.

Race 3: Mayhem on the start line! The heavily favoured pin end became a tangle of boats as Andy and Pete Turner tacked / capsized on the line creating chaos. Fish extracted himself from the mess to lead from Curtis & Rushworth at the top mark. Curtis pinned Fish at the second windward mark to take first. Fish inspected his centreboard down the run, leaving Rushworth to chase Curtis. After a couple of lead swaps, Curtis took his third win of the day. Gavin Waldron came back from the start chaos to claim 3rd and Will Turner 4th.

After a small delay, race 4 got underway on Sunday morning in a building breeze. Curtis got nailed on the start line, tacked out, picked up 'a gift' and just led from Waldron and Williams at the top mark. Fish pulled through to second before some big breeze took Williams out of contention down the run. Fish and Waldron stayed upright to finish in 2nd and 3rd behind Curtis who had kept his dominant form from the day before.

After the hectic first 4 races, the fleet drifted for half of race 5! Terry Curtis won the race, and with it the event with Waldron and Rushworth tussling for second all the way to the finish. Stuart Williams marked his improving OK talents by taking fourth and also the first junior prize.

For the final race, the wind was back with a vengeance albeit with enormous gusts coming at just the wrong moment! Rushworth led Curtis at the top mark and both motored off downwind, gaining a decent lead over the chasing pack (due to gybe mark 'issues'). On the second run, both decided that swimming was easier than sailing, allowing Fish through to first with JP on his tale. JP sailed through when Fish capsized; only to see his massive lead come crashing down with a breaking carbon mast…it wasn't pretty. Fish came through to win from Gavin Waldron with Andy Turner third (and first veteran).

Overall, congratulations go to Terry Curtis who won with five bullets, from the consistent Gavin Waldron.

Results:

Boat no	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	total pts	Overall posn
2101	Terry Curtis	U Thames	1	1	1	1	1	6	5	1
2085	Gavin Waldron	S Staffs	DNS	5	3	3	3	2	16	2
2067	Jon Fish	Waldringfield	3	4	DNF	2	8	1	18	3
2113	Andy Rushworth	Christchurch	9	2	2	5	2	7	18	4
1774	Stuart Williams	Oxford SC	11	9	DNF	6	4	5	35	5
2083	Andy Turner	Ardleigh	4	7	DNF	9	13	3	36	6
2087	Julian Burnham	U Thames	10	12	7	8	7	4	36	7
2072	John Meadowcroft	U Thames	7	15	5	7	12	8	39	8
2059	Pete Turner	Ardleigh	6	3	DNF	4	5	DNF	45	9
2112	JP Williams	W Oxford	2	6	6	DNF	6	DNF	47	10
2108	Neil Goodhead	S Staffs	12	8	8	11	11	DNS	50	11
2104	Deryck Lovegrove	14	10	10	12	15	10	56	12
2021	Alex Scoles	Overy Staithe	13	11	12	DNF	14	9	59	13
2008	Geoff Woollen	Frensham Pond	16	14	9	13	10	DNS	62	14
2007	Antony Rich	U Thames	8	DNF	DNS	10	9	DNF	81	15
2056	Ed Bradburn	S Staffs	15	13	DNF	14	18	DNS	87	16
2045	Will Turner	Ardleigh	5	DNF	4	DNS	DNS	DNS	90	17
2048	Rodney Thorne	Burton	DNS	16	11	16	16	DNS	96	18
2034	Paul Pike	Covenham	17	DNF	15	19	21	DNS	99	19
2090	Garth Thompson	U Thames	DNF	DNF	14	15	17	DNS	100	20
2086	Mike Haigh	U Thames	18	DNF	13	DNF	DNS	DNS	112	21
2107	Chris White	S Staffs	DNF	DNF	DNS	17	20	DNS	118	22
2091	Russell Connor	U Thames	DNS	DNS	DNS	18	19	DNS	118	23
1927	Colin Page	19	DNS	DNS	21	DNS	DNS	121	24
2058	Mary Reddyhoff	Parkstone YC	DNS	DNS	DNS	20	DNS	DNS	128	25
2074	Alan Atkin	DNS	DNS	DNF	DNS	DNS	DNS	135	26

(No report yet!)

The OK fleet reconvened on Sunday afternoon at the picturesque Deben Yacht Club in Woodbridge. Sailed in slightly more wind than Saturdays Ardleigh open but equally as shifty, Goodhead started where he had left off the day before, leading the first race. However a navigation error let Deaves through and then Curtis passed him to take the win. Ball pipped Deaves at the last mark to take third. Goodhead didn't make any more mistakes, finding enough wind at just the right time to beat the strong tide and take two more wins by large margins. A second for Curtis in race two left him second overall while Mike Edwards's second place in the last race moved him up to third overall.

Overall Results:

Eleven OKs competed for the Ardleigh SC OK open on September 4th in light and very variable winds. The racing was characterised by large shifts and even larger holes in the wind as all the competitors struggled to find any sort of consistent direction. However, Neil Goodhead, used to the shifty winds of South Staffs SC won the first and last races, battling in these two races with Will Turner from Ardleigh.

The second race was more of a challenge for them, scoring 7th and 6th respectively, after a major shift out of the start put them at the back. Race two was finally won by Robert Deaves after a hard battle with John Charlton. Charlton took the early lead, but was caught by Deaves on the second lap. Every time Deaves closed the gap, Charlton came back. The gap between then at the finish was less than a boatlength.

Overall Results:

1st	GBR 2108	Neil Goodhead	2pts
2nd	GBR 2045	Will Turner	4pts
3rd	GBR 2081	Robert Deaves	5pts
4th	GBR 2107	Mike Edwards	6pts
5th	GBR 2096	John Charlton	8pts
6th	GBR 2101	Terry Curtis	8pts
7th	GBR 2082	John Ball	9pts
8th	GBR 2083	Andy Turner	14pts
9th	GBR 2065	Simon Shaw	16pts
10th	GBR 2048	Rodney Thorne	18pts
11th	GBR 2074	Roger Cooper	19pts

With a massive 32 point margin, Jim Hunt from Great Britain won the Dean & Reddyhoff OK Dinghy World Championships in Poole Bay sailed from 25 to 30 July from Parkstone Yacht Club with a maximum fleet size of 81 OKs. In winning the event, Jim Hunt has become the first ever British sailor to lift the title in its 40 year history, and has done so in one of the deepest fields of talent ever present at a World Championship.

Leading from race one, Hunt only once fell outside the top 5 and on the way to victory calmed placed consistently in front of the defending World Champion Nitin Mongia (IND), the winner of the previous week’s National Championship, Nick Craig (GBR), double world champion Karsten Hitz (GER), current European Champion Bart Bomans (BEL) and former world champions Greg Wilcox (NZL) and Jørgen Lindhartdsen (DEN).

Two races were sailed on Sunday and Monday in probably the most stable conditions of the week, with Hunt, Bomans, Hitz and Craig taking a win each. A solid westerly wind made for some great sailing conditions, but it was obvious from early on that this was going to be a high scoring regatta with Bomans scoring OCS in race 3, Hitz picking up a 51st in race 4 and the other challengers all adding a high score to their results.

For the next two days, the haze prevented any sea breeze building and all races were abandoned, although the fleet was at sea for 5 hours on Wednesday waiting for the wind to build.

On Thursday the race officer was determined to get three races in and kept the fleet afloat for some ten hours. Craig won the first race of the day in light winds to close the gap on Hunt who started badly and played catch-up to finish fifth. Hunt then led the next race by a large margin to take a second win and stretch his lead. In a very patchy and variable wind, Andrew Rushworth (GBR) went on to win the final race of the day with Hunt failing to recover from a large wind shift on the first beat to finish 28th. A 6th place for Craig moved him up to second overall.

The final day proved somewhat of a challenge for some. Race 8 was started in very light winds and saw several changes of pressure and wind direction. On the first reach the wind died completely and the sea breeze started to build turning it into a beat and at the bottom on the second reach – now a run – the windward mark was moved 100° seawards. Those who figured out what was happening made great gains moving from the 70s up to the top 20. Those who got it wrong, or were just plain unlucky, fell from the top 10 to the back. At the finish Rudiger Prinz (GER) led his fellow German Ralf Machmann across the finish. The ever consistent Hunt came third.

Anxious to complete the series of 10 races, the race officer started race 9 soon after but then postponed it at the last minute. By the time it was restarted the race officer was running out of time so it was no surprise that this was the final race. Again characterised by large shifts, Joe Porebski led all the way to win by a large margin and take the massive race trophy home to New Zealand. Craig and Hunt rounded off a successful week with a 2nd and 3rd.

Two fourth places on the final day lifted the 2003 World Champion, Nitin Mongia into third place, while a relatively poor 13th and 19th, dropped pre-event favourite Bart Bomans out of the medals. With seven nations in the top 10 and six different races winners over nine races, the 2004 OK Worlds was perhaps one of the toughest in recent years, but the one with also the clearest winner. One of the UK’s top dinghy sailors, Jim Hunt, kept his head and his consistency to become a worthy world champion.