Musto Skiff Open at Castle Cove Sailing Club
by Ben Schooling 30 Oct 2015 15:31 GMT
10-11 October 2015
The Musto Skiffs paired up with the Scorpions for the penultimate leg of the UK Musto Skiff series at Castle Cove Sailing club in Weymouth. Only 8 boats travelled to join the 3 locals, but those who did were glad they made the trip as the harbour was sporting a healthy 15-20kt Easterly and everyone was looking forward to a big day!
Race 1 and Dave Posted deployed the lever to foot off the port end out towards the left. By the windward he had a narrow lead over Georgeous Hand and Alex Knight. On the second run Dave gybed off but into less pressure and both George and Alex held on in the stronger breeze to round ahead at the leeward gate and take first and second at the finish.
In race 2 Dave made no such mistake and led from start to finish doing a "horizon job" on the fleet. As the breeze peaked at 24kts the pack rounded the windward closely bunched and Alex was first to be despatched in spectacular style going over the handlebars on the bear away. Paul Molesworth was next to swim from a messy hoist followed by Serega and George on the gybe. The battle for 2nd was thus taken up by the lighter-weights Ben Schooling and Sam Barker who managed to hold onto 2nd and 3rd to the finish.
Sunday dawned rather grey but with a promising 15-17kts out the East on the race course. With the prospect of the breeze dropping into the afternoon, Dave made the most of his lever and took a comfortable bullet in race 3. George and Alex had a decent battle and swapped places a few times with George coming out on top at the finish.
Race 4 and Nigel Walbank got a great start and led the pack off the committee boat but those at the pin benefited from a left shift and Dave once again led from Alex at the windward. With the breeze starting to fade Dave's super powers were no longer as potent and Alex kept the pressure on right to the finish. Despite a few nervous tacks, Dave kept his cool for a third bullet with Ben squeezing past Paul for 3rd.
With the Scorpions sailing a full triangle / sausage / triangle course the Mustos had to keep going round to enable a reasonable finish window and the 5 laps, hour long marathons were starting to take their toll on the fleet! Thankfully the final race was a more familiar 40 minutes and with the breeze dropping to below 10kts the lighter guys had a chance to shine. Alex put his local knowledge to good use and found some neat shifts up the left to lead at the windward from Ben and George. As the breeze faded further, Sam came flat wiring up the second beat to pull through Dave and George. Alex held onto his lead till the finish with Ben and Sam a close 2nd and 3rd.
Congratulation to Dave Poston for a great display of boat speed in his favourite conditions! He now leads the UK series going into the final event the Ovington Inlands at Grafham Water on 14/15th November. I hope to see you all there.