Thomas Hansson-Mild leads OK Dinghy World Rankings into start of European season
by Robert Deaves 22 Apr 01:14 AEST
World No.1 Thomas Hansson-Mild, SWE © Robert Deaves 
With the start of the northern hemisphere season just weeks away, there is little change at the top of the first OK Dinghy World Ranking List for 2023.
Sweden’s Thomas Hansson-Mild still holds the No.1 place from New Zealand’s Greg Wilcox and Germany’s Sönke Behrens.
This release includes eight more events and contains the first events held by the new fleets in Palma and Bulgaria. There are also 43 new names on the list, which now numbers 649 sailors from 15 countries. Of the 50 ranking events included on the list 28 are still before the covid shutdown and 22 are from when it was restarted in 2022.
There is also a fast-growing fleet in Thailand. Morten Jacobsen won the 2022 National Championship at Sattahip from Thanakan Korkerd and Supakon Pongwichean. Then, Stefan de Vries won the Dutch Championship from Ralf Tietje and Stephan Veldman.
The Bulgarian fleet held its first regatta in 2022 after several years of growth. Stefan Raev won from Ivan Georgiev and Simoen Grubchev.
The two events in New Zealand, the East Coast Championships and the National Championships were both won by Steve McDowell. ‘Coach’ Rod Davis picked up a second and third, while Adrian Coulthard was third at the East Coasts and Greg Salthouse was second at the Nationals.
A number of Kiwis also travelled to Brisbane, Australia, venue for the 2024 World Championship, for the 2023 Interdominions and Australian Championship. Rob McMillan won from Roger Blasse, while New Zealand’s Mark Perrow was third.
Two events have been held in Palma this year. Lots of northern Europeans have been training there over the winter and the results of this are starting to show.
Tim Goodbody won the training regatta in March from Mark Branagh and Ralph Hennig. Then in April, the Real Club Nautico de Palma hosted the Trofeo BMComposites, which was a great success with 15 entries from five nations. Goodbody won again, this time from James Waugh and Germany’s Fabian Rossbacher.
The 2023 European season begins in just three weeks with the Spring Cup in Medemblik. Entry is here.
Early entry for Kieler Woche ends on 30 April. After that the entry fee rises sharly. Enter here.
The main event of the year is the world championship in Lyme Regis, UK, with an incredible 130 pre-entries.
Then in the Autumn, there are two events in southern venues back-to-back. The 2023 European Championship is being held at Arco, on Lake Garda, Italy, followed by the Autumn Trophy at the ever-popular Bandol, France. Preparations are also already under way for the 2024 World Championship at the Royal Queensland Yacht Squadron in Brisbane, with several containers planned already.
So strap yourselves in, hike hard, and get ready for another astounding year of OK Dinghy sailing.
OK Dinghy World Ranking List – April 2023 (top 20 from 649, full list here)
