The OK Dinghy fleet has returned to Lake Garda, in Italy, in a replacement for the 2021 World Championship, cancelled some five weeks ago.
After a first day in atypical Garda conditions, Valérian Lebrun of France, who placed second at the 2019 Europeans, had the best day with a 2, 1, 2.
Double European Champion, Denmark’s Bo Petersen is just one point behind with a 3, 2, 1.
While Soenke Behrens of Germany, who won the opening race, sits in third overnight with a 1, 4, 5.
Behrens won the opening race ahead of Lebrun with Petersen in third. Lebrun then won the second race ahead of Petersen with Pawel Pawlaczyk of Poland taking third.
In the final race of the day Petersen was the winner ahead of Lebrun with Mogens Johansen of Denmark third.
OKDIA worked with Circolo Vela Arco to host an international regatta that has attracted 34 boats from across Europe. It’s a long way short of the 120-150 Europeans expected for the World Championship, but for those that made the effort, boy, do they love sailing on Garda.
With the forecast for a big change overnight, bringing rain and storms, an earlier start time has been set for 0800 on Tuesday.
OK Dinghy Garda open – Day 1 after 3 races (34 entries)
1st FRA 11 Valérian Lebrun – – 5 pts
2nd 21 Bo Petersen Man DEN – – 6 pts
3rd GER 77 Soenke Behrens – – 10 pts
4th POL 14 Pawel Pawlaczyk – – 17 pts
5th NZL 599 Greg Wilcox – – 17 pts
6th DEN 1565 Mogens Johansen – – 24 pts
7th GER 7 Andreas Pich – – 26 pts
8th FRA 1859 Yann Vilein – – 26 pts
9th GER 852 Michael Nissen – – 30 pts
10th GER 75 Dirk Dame – – 31 pts