The RCNP will host its first international event in this class two years after its arrival on the island thanks to some of the clubs members Luis Portella and Javier Estarellas.
The implementation of the OK Dinghy in Mallorca will culminate this year with the European Championship under the organization of the Real Club Náutico de Palma, the entity that hosted the first regional competitions of this class in 2022, which has been deeply rooted in the northern countries of the continent since it was designed in the middle of the 20th century, but is a novelty in Spain. The event is scheduled for 28 October to 3 November 2024, and is expected to bring together around a hundred sailors.
The OK Dinghy is a 4-metre boat rigged with a single 9-metre square mainsail that has the general appearance of a Europa or Finn, but is considerably less physically demanding. This makes it the ideal boat for sailors between the ages of 45 and 60, weighing between 75 and 90 kilos, who want to continue to enjoy the thrill of dinghy sailing without the constraints of having to rely on a crew member.
The idea of incorporating the OK Dinghy into the Balearic fleet was born during the months of confinement of the pandemic, in 2020, when RCNP member Luis Portella made one of these boats in wood in the garage of his house. Builder Javier Estarellas, a fellow club member and friend of Portella's, saw possibilities for creating a small racing fleet in Mallorca and made a second unit in fibre. Word soon spread and local boat owners interested in joining the OK Dinghy trend began to appear, as well as some European sailors keen to test their boats in the Bay of Palma.
In November 2022, the Audax Marina dinghy regatta hosted the first competition of the class and since then it has not stopped growing and developing. The awarding of the European Championship to the Real Club Náutico de Palma is a definitive endorsement of the project to establish the OK Dinghy on the island and a call for the incorporation of new sailors.
The competition will consist of five days, plus a previous training day. The regatta announcement is already available on the official website of the event, which is in addition to the J/70 World Championship that the RCNP will host in mid-September. Both regattas will test the organizational capacity of the club, whose calendar this year includes cruising and dinghy regattas every month.
