LUKE GOWER WINS OK DINGHY UK NATIONALS

North design powers 1,3,5,6 teams in Herne Bay

The OK UK National Championship hosted at Herne Bay in Kent gave the competitors a mixture of conditions, from blustery 25+ knots on the first day, letting the heavy weight teams in the class have an advantage, followed by a canceled day due to lack of wind! For the final day a consistent light breeze from the southeast allowed for three races. Luke Gower sailed an extremely consistent final day with 3 bullets to take the Championship title.

All the North-powered sailors in the top 10 used the M-19 mainsail. The dedication that the North team has devoted to the OK Dinghy class in the UK was shown with more than half of the fleet using North Sails.

We spoke to North Sails one design expert and sailmaker, Tom Lonsdale who finished in 6th place using his M-19.

“The full radial panel layout of the M-19 enables the head of the sail to be completely depowered so it is dead flat in the windier conditions, this was key to going fast upwind in the stronger conditions as shown by Richard Burton on day one where we had 20+ knots with him dominating with two wins.”

“The other advantage of this sail is in the lighter conditions, using less cunningham and mainsheet tension, you can put the power back into the sail whilst keeping the top ⅓ of the sail open and avoiding the ‘hooky’ leach you get on some OK sails. It gives good height and speed without the sail stalling out and enough power in the bottom half to get through any chop, plus giving great downwind pace. We saw it on day 3 when we had sub 10 knots all day and Luke Gower won all three races, with a total of six out of the seven races won by the North M-19.”

If you are interested in any of our OK Dinghy products, get in touch with one of our One Design Experts.