Musto Skiffs at the Ovington Boats Inland Championships 2014

Musto Skiffs at the Ovington Inlands © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Musto Skiffs at the Ovington Inlands © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Musto Skiffs at the Ovington Inlands © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The fleet launched in an offshore breeze which quickly built to 25 knots gusting 28 knots, which provided some entertainment both for the competitors and spectators ashore. Tom Wright went left and rounded in the lead from Ian Trotter who took the opposite side of the course with Richard Stenhouse 3rd, Richard Pelley 4th and Dave Poston 5th. Both Wright and Trotter capsized at the leeward drop allowing Stenhouse to pull through into the lead and take the win from Trotter and Pelley.

By the start of race 2, the breeze was a solid 28 knots. Stenhouse led from Poston, Trotter, Pelley and Ben Schooling. Poston and Trotter both capsized on the drop to allow Stenhouse and Pelley to extend with the Richard's having a good duel up the next beat. On the final run Pelley fell in on the final gybe to allow Schooling through to 2nd with Sten taking a comfortable win.

Sunday dawned very different with a glassy lake and bright sunshine. After a short delay, the races got underway in 5-6kts. Schooling led round after making the most of the shifts with Sten a close 2nd. The results stayed the same to the finish with last years Inland Champion Sam Barker 3rd. The races were quick fire 2 lap 25 minutes, so starts and first beats were critical. Race 4 and Barker led from the start and extended to a comfortable lead with Schooling 2nd and Alex Wright in 3rd. Race 5 and newcomer Alistair Morley took an excellent port flyer to lead up the first beat. Ian Trotter read the shifts well to lead round with Schooling just nipping into 2nd. Newcomer Dan Kilsby sailed well in 3rd place but was overhauled by Alex Wright into the finish.

Race 6 was the final race of the regatta with Paul Molesworth leading from Schooling, Wright and Barker. Small increases in breeze to the left meant the boats choosing this side pulled through with Schooling taking the win from Barker and Wright.

This result secured Ben Schooling the title from Alex Wright and Richard Stenhouse.

More Tim Olin photos can be found here.

Overall Results:

Overview of the UK season

The Musto Performance Skiff class has had another solid season of growth both in the UK and internationally. With 17 boats in containers to Perth, 25 boats competed at the Ovington Boats Inland Championships at Grafham Water Sailing Club. This was the last event in the UK travellers series with a record entry of 86 participants.

58 boats took part in the UK National Championships at Stokes Bay Sailing Club, which was the biggest entry of any adult trapeze class in the Yachts and Yachting Attendance table, only being beaten by the 29er class another Ovington Boats build design.

Further afield, the EuroCup series was another record breaking year with 125 entrants participating in 11 regattas throughout Europe from Norway to Mallorca.

In 2015 the UK National Championships will be held at Paignton Sailing Club in Torbay, with two World Championships, the first in early January at Mounts Bay Sailing Club in Perth, Western Australia and again in September at Fraglia vela Riva on Lake Garda, Italy, where it is expected to have in excess of 100 entries from as far afield as New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.