Before it becomes a distant memory it’s appropriate to provide an account of the recent International OK Dinghy Worlds and National Regattas to DSC to celebrate all our sailors and to legitimately lay claim to having provided a new World (and National) Champion. Pamela Johnston finished first female in both regattas making her our very own World Champion in a very technical and physically demanding class. This is an outstanding achievement and will serve as an inspiration for DSC female sailors for years to come. Well sailed and congratulations Pam!

Congratulations also to John Condie, our fastest DSC in the nationals and Mark Rutherford, our fastest DSC sailor in the World! And a special mention goes to Tim Alewood who is undoubtedly our most improved OK sailor in the fleet. He was regularly sparring at the first top mark in the middle of the pack and had a fantastic regatta. Seeing all our fleet grow their skills, confidence and enjoyment of the class is always our number one goal and highlight.

Both regattas were held by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. The Nationals, with 90 registered starters, were held over the 19th, 20th, and 21st  of February in light to moderate, lumpy Moreton Bay conditions with 3 races held on each of the 3 days, each with a target time of 60 minutes. Dave Clarke (CYCA) took out the title.  

A competitor in action at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Photo credit: RobertDeaves.UK

2024 OK Nationals - DSC members Gold Fleet

• John Condie 16th
• Mark Phillips 39th
• Peter Robinson 40th
• Grant Wakefield 42nd
• Mark Rutherford 44th
• Rhys Llewellyn 46th 

2024 OK Nationals - DSC members Silver Fleet

• Jim Dwyer 6th
• Dave Haseldine 7th
• Pam Johnston 17th
• Andrew Thyrd 19th
• Blake Russell 32nd
• Steve Wyatt 38th

The Worlds with 110 starters were held from 26th February to March 2nd (including a lay day) with 2 races per day, each with a target time of 90 mins. The Regatta was won convincingly by Englishman, Nick Craig, with the best Australian being Roger Blasse, finishing 3rd. (If you ever get a chance, find some footage of Nick Craig sailing an OK. Not only is he an amazing sailor, but his hiking ability has to be superhuman.) Again, the racing was mainly held in lumpy, light to moderate conditions with the final race providing some thrills and spills with 15 knots seen over the course at times.

2024 OK Worlds - DSC members Gold Fleet 

• Mark Rutherford 34th
• Peter Robinson 46 th
• Grant Wakefield 52nd
• Rhys Llewellyn 54th

2024 OK Worlds - DSC members Silver Fleet 

• Dave Haseldine 14th
• Andrew Thyrd 16th
• Jim Dwyer 17th
• Anthony Johnston 29th
• Pam Johnston 36th
• Blake Russell 43rd
• Tim Alewood 50th
• Steve Wyatt 53rd

DSC was extremely well represented and probably the best represented of any Club with 14 DSC registered Boats attending, something we should be proud of.  

Mike Walker and David Swales who were sorely missed on the start line, came up to cheer the rest of us on and to do a lap of the boat park. Both Mike and David have competed in numerous OK Worlds and revelled in the opportunity to catch up with old mates from all over the world.

Then there was the logistical and trolley dolly support provided by Pip and Deb. You can imagine the potential chaos which was entirely avoided largely thanks to these two legends when 100-plus boats leave and return to a fairly small boat ramp. It was hard work for the ladies given the extremely high humidity and hot summer temperatures, but they always had a warm smile for every sailor. They are always the first to volunteer at regattas and we are incredibly grateful that they are willing to spend their holidays working hard on our behalf.

We should give a big shout-out generally to the 20-odd on-water volunteers who made the 2024 OK Nationals and Worlds such great events. The conduct of the regattas on and off the water was exceptional. The professionalism and the efficiency in getting all the races completed in trying conditions had to be admired.

A special mention should be made of DSC member Kate Thompson. Kate acted as assistant to the PRO for both events and whose experience on Race Committees was enthusiastically welcomed by Louise Davis, the PRO, particularly considering the requirement for a large number of qualified on-water volunteers needed to run such events. Kate with the other volunteers were all on the water for a minimum of 6 hours on each of the race days not including the daily pre-race briefings and often, Kate would be back in the race office helping to sort out results for another couple of hours at the end of each day. They were indeed long days for all of us but even longer for the volunteers.  

Her effectiveness was somewhat curtailed on the first day of the Nationals (the day of her 59th birthday) due to a COVID scare, causing her to be isolated from the rest of the starting crew on a wallowing flybridge. Fortunately, thanks to daily negative RATs, she was welcomed back onboard the committee boat with open arms. Even after all of that, I have it on good authority Kate thoroughly enjoyed the experience and learned a lot as a result.

The International OK Dinghy Worlds and National Regattas were recently held by the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Photo credit: RobertDeaves.UK

Kate is a proud DSC Member, OK Team NSW supporter, DSC RO and manufacturer of trophies for DSC and the National OK Association. The experience she gained working so closely with the PRO during such significant regattas will no doubt be an ongoing asset for DSC when it comes to conducting its own racing.

I for one am very appreciative of all her efforts which often go unheralded and unnoticed. All in all, DSC should be very proud of all its representatives at both regattas.

The sailing generally was incredibly challenging in mostly light to moderate variable conditions, subject to a lumpy sea state, lots of floating weed and some pretty big tidal movements across the course. This all made for remarkably competitive and close racing with less than 2 minutes separating most of the fleets across all races. As you might imagine when you compress that many boats in such a tight fleet, there was a lot of gunwale rubbing with 30 seconds to go on most of the starts, plenty of turns done at the first top mark and a few outright collisions (one boat more closely resembled a submarine for the tow back to the ramp). And on top of all that, COVID made an unwelcome return amongst the DSC group stopping a few of our members from competing at each of the Worlds and Nationals whilst laying others low.

For qualifying, registered starters were split into four groups with each group sailing against the other groups on at least two occasions. At the end of qualifying, a line was put through the results and competitors split into Gold and Silver for the final series.  

Racing was conducted on the same trapezoidal course so that all four groups could race on essentially the same course at the same time. For Qualifying, the first two groups started together and sailed the outside course and the next two groups started 10 minutes later on the inside course. (Yes, it sounds confusing, but it worked well and if you need a diagram let me know.)

Louise, the PRO made it very clear in both pre-regatta briefings that the Blue Peter would be used only up until the first general recall, after which the U Flag (followed by the Black) would be used. Safe to say I only saw the Blue Peter twice such was the enthusiasm to get off the line. However, it did mean racing happened with a minimum of delays allowing all racing to occur as scheduled. Something I was not anticipating and something for which the PRO and Race Committee should be congratulated for achieving.

Whilst the results probably do not reflect the aspirations some of us had going into the Regattas, I am sure everyone enjoyed the sailing hugely, learned lots and are better sailors for the experience. I encourage anyone who has the opportunity to represent DSC at a National or World event, either as a sailor or as a volunteer, to do so. It’s a great experience that only has a positive impact on the sailing life at DSC.

Again, we all need to congratulate Pam Johnston for being a DSC World Champion and commend all our DSC sailors for doing us proud on and off the water.

Also, a huge congratulations to the International OK Association of Australia for running two truly world-class events in conjunction with the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron. Finally thank you to DSC for your ongoing support of sailing. 

Dave Haseldine - Drummoyne Sailing Club