Harken Musto Performance Skiff Nationals at Paignton Sailing Club - Day 1
by Dave Poston, Paul Molesworth & George Hand 10 Jul 2015 07:56 BST
9-12 July 2015
Race 1 saw a light start to the day with 6-10 knots from the south-east and speed sapping short chop. Ben Schooling lead to the windward after a excellent first beat however was closely followed by the menacing black kite of Bruce Keen. By the second windward mark Bruce had managed to steal 1st in the building breeze with Ben hot on his tail, Alex Knight rounded off the top three showing blistering pace and savvy decisions to sail through the fleet to 3rd
The breeze picked up to 10-12 knots for the start of race 2. Most of the fleet headed straight to the right hand side which had been favoured in race 1. Bruce Keen led the charge to the right followed by Richard Stenhouse and Dave Poston. Bruce comfortably extended his lead whilst the others fought it out behind. Alex Knight showed great speed in the slight chop to come through into 2nd place. George Hand did a similar job passing several boats to finish 3rd with Stenhouse 4th.
The final race of the day got off to a clean start with the fleet heading right as had been the trend of the day. Bruce saw Dave ahead of him in light wind a decided that it was time to head left offshore which turned out to be the winning move. Others who also headed left found themselves in unfamiliar territory at the near the front of the fleet. Bruce continued to lead the race to the end giving him 3 bullets for the day, with John Shelly second and Jamie Hilton putting in a great last beat to come through to third.
Overall Bruce leads over Alex in second and John in third.
Tonight the fleet gather for the Commodores reception, pasty, chips and beer.
Thanks again to Harken and Musto for their support for the event.
For more local information please visit the club website, www.paigntonsailingclub.com