OK dinghies were introduced to Australia from 1958/1959. Research indicates that the initial contact was established when Will David from WA obtained the first sets of plans from Knud Olsen the designer of the OK Dinghy. OK No.1 “Skol” and OK No. 2 “Ole” were built in Hobart, Tasmania by Tom Kirkland and Tom Paxton and were launched at Sandy Bay on the Derwent River in late 1960. OK No. 3 was thought to have been built in Perth by Will David as that numbered set of plans was recorded as being issued to him. That may or may not be so as that number wound up in Cairns, Nth. Qld. on a boat named “Ugly” sailed by Hans Koenig.

OK No.5 “Vitesse” was built by Norm Fennell at Leichhardt in NSW and was first sailed at the Balmoral SC. Norm introduced others to the class in Sydney and soon a fleet was established at the Western Suburbs SC at Cabarita on Hen and Chicken Bay on the upper reaches of the Parramatta River. Our early OK Champions John Powell and John Hardie together with Norm Fennell, Don Board and others were responsible for the early success of the OKs at WSSC. Norm built his second OK, KA170 around 1962 and OK No.5 changed ownership to Alan Clark at Vaucluse YC and later to Jim Ley who came from Dubbo, NSW in those days. Jim continued to sail actively in the OK class well into the late 1970s. Norm Fennell moved on from the OKs to the Finn class where he was very active as a competitor and International Measurer.

In Victoria, a few members of Albert SC were sailing Finns left over following the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. Commodore Bill Larkins introduced the OK to the club and the Victorian OK Dinghy Association was formed in 1960. The club adopted the class and a scheme to finance the building of several boats was instituted. A club OK was exhibited at the 1960 Boat Show. By the end of 1960/61 a total of 13 boats were either built or under construction by club members. The first Victorian OK Championship was held on Albert Park Lake in 1961 and was won by Bill Cass sailing “Jinx”.

Richard Blundell from Tasmania, ex Publicity Officer for the class in those early years built his first OK No. 20 “Shiralee” in the winter of 1961. OK No. 8 “Spartan” was built by John Howell and with another new OK No. 19 “Naiad” a fleet of five boats was then racing from Sandy Bay SC during 1962.

The NSW OK Dinghy Class Association was formed in 1961. Foundation members were Don Board, Norm Fennell, Tony Hill, Mike Kirkbride, C. Lewis, Phil Maloney, C. Mansfield, Ian Nicholson, A. Pfeiffer, D. Pitt, John Powell and Ray Stone.

1962 – First Nationals Sailed Melbourne

The OK Dinghy International Association (OKDIA) was established in 1962.

The Australian OK Dinghy Class Association was also formed in 1962. The Inaugural Meeting was held at Albert SC, Victoria on 29^th December 1962.

The first Australian Championship for OK Dinghies was held in Melbourne, Vic. 1962/63 hosted by Albert SC. Richard Blundell reports that the event was to be sailed on Albert Park Lake but when the Inter-state competitors arrived in Melbourne they took one look at Albert Park Lake and forced the organisers to move the series down to the Bay. John Powell, NSW, sailing KA 176 “Pandora IV”, won the event to become our first National Champion.

1963 – First Green Island Classic

In 1963 the first “Green Island Classic”, an open ocean race of seventeen miles to Green Island was organised by the Cairns SC. Local yachting enthusiasts were sceptical about the success of such an event, but the organisers persisted and the race proved highly successful. This was the forerunner to greater things for the OK class in North Queensland. Similar events were staged later in 1963 and again in 1964, with the addition of return races from Green Island to Ellis Beach. In 1965 the Ocean Classics event was to attract overseas competitors for the first time thus establishing the World’s first International Ocean race event for OKs.

The first OK Worlds were held at Maubuisson, France in 1963. Won by Svend Jakobsen from Denmark.

1964 – Nationals Vaucluse YC

Second Nationals were held in Sydney, NSW 1963/64 at Vaucluse YC. John Powell from NSW retained the title he won in Melbourne the previous year.

Second Worlds were held at Roskilde, Denmark in 1964. Won by Henning Schachtschnabel from Denmark. At 20 years of age, Jorgen Lindhardtsen from Denmark competed in his first OK World Championship. Jorgen has since established himself as the grand old man of World OK sailing. He won the World Championship in 1978, was runner-up on a number of occasions and is a Danish Finn Olympian. Thirty-seven years later at the age of 57 he finished 4^th overall and won the Veterans Championship in the 2001 Sweden Worlds.

In August 1964 an International set of rules was adopted for the OK dinghy by OKDIA.

1965 – Nationals Sandy Bay, Tasmania

Third Nationals were held in Hobart, Tasmania 1964/65 at Sandy Bay SC. Won by John Hardie, NSW with Alan Clark, NSW second and Bram Knoop, Tasmania third.

Third Worlds were held at Hayling Island, England in 1965. Won by Goran Andersson, Sweden from Bengt Jorgensen, Denmark, 2^nd and Roy Martyn, Great Britain, 3^rd. A fleet of over 100 boats representing Sweden, Denmark, Britain, Belgium, France, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, Ireland, Kenya, New Zealand and Poland contested the event. Jim Walker from Vaucluse YC, NSW was the first Australian to compete in an OK World Championship and finished in the top half of the fleet in a very creditable 46^th place overall.

The Cairns International OK Dinghy Ocean Race was conducted over the weekend of 16^th & 17^th October 1965 at the Cairns SC. Won by World Champion, Goran Andersson from Sweden. Other international competitors included Rein Verweymeren, Dutch National Champion, Axel Olsen the American naturalized Dane remembered as the co-designer of the OK and Clive Roberts, New Zealand Champion. The Australian competitors included the National Champion, John Hardie and Richard Blundell from Tasmania.

Fourth Nationals were held in Cairns, Nth.Qld. 1965/66 at Cairns SC. Won by Dave Blundell, a New Zealander sailing in Sydney at that time, from Bill Adams, NSW, 2^nd and Dan Bolton, Nth.Qld, 3^rd. A fleet of 27 OKs contested this event including one of the first boats registered in Australia, KA3 “Ugly”, Hans Koenig from Nth.Qld. Noel Wheeler, Nth.Qld. finished 4