French Musto Skiff Event at Lac du Der
by Emilien Taque 3 May 2011 13:11 BST
French Musto Skiff event at Lac du Der © Tania Samus /
www.photoskiff.com
51 boats on the line coming from 6 different countries, 100 litres of beer drunk, sunshine and heat, and a great mood all the time, the 2011 edition of the France Open Skiff event was a great success!
This regatta belongs to the MPS Eurocup circuit, and 10 mustoskiffs (that's 8 more than last year!) had travelled to join the other classes on the races. Starts were common, and a separate MPS ranking was extracted from the general handicap ranking.
But another big thing on this year edition was coaching sessions, with the great Graeme Oliver being with us to train and coach the singlehanders asymetrics (MPS, RS700, AC10 ans RS100). This was possible thanks to the financial help from the MPSCA, and also from our sponsor Schüco Benelux and from the accomodation organiser (called the UFOLEP). This allowed to ask for a truly symbolic price of 10€ per sailors for the whole week-end coaching!
On Friday a special emphasis was put on rig setting and on tacking/gybing : during the morning, while lying a boat on its side to help better understanding of how battens' tension affect the sail's shape, but also how using the cunningham can help opening the leech in very light winds. Graeme then showed the sailors how to tack and gybe, during a nice shore drill session. The singlehanders fleet hit the water in the afternoon in light winds, trying to put in practice Graeme's advice, each sailor being filmed in order to analyse his skills and ways of improvement when debriefing later on. In the end, a great very instructive session that everyone could appreciate.
On Saturday morning, the coaching session held was more about starting and general boat handling, still in light winds.
Then, on Saturday afternoon, the first two races could be held under a June-ish sunshine and 25°C (!), with a clear lead of Nicolas Duchoud (SUI 109) for the Mustoskiffs, who also ended the day first of the general ranking. On Sunday, after a morning debrief of Saturday's races and coaching, only one race was held in very light wind, which was won by Paul Dijkstra (NED 076) for the MPS's, letting Nicolas Duchoud still have the lead of the MPS ranking. But another Swiss boat (David Holenweg and Laureline Chevalley on RS800 SUI 1159) took the lead of the general ranking.
Monday gave us a bit more wind, letting 3 races to be held, in which Nicolas Duchoud confirmed his clear lead on the MPS ranking, while an excellent 49er team from Nederlands took the final lead on the general ranking by winning every three races of the day!
After a nice prize giving followed by a drink, everyone could go back home (By the way the latest leaving had the not very happy opportunity to see that the wind was coming up and up ending in more than 15 knots at the end of the day! Doh!)
Anyway, let's already book our calendars for the 2012 rendez-vous, with everything as good as it was, but just a bit more wind and more UK mustoskiffs to give us a harder challenge, and it will all be more than perfect!
Results can be found here and more photos on the PhotoSkiff website.
See what happend to the wind the next day...