Musto Skiffs at the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025

Jono Shelley in the Musto Skiff fleet during the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025 © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Ullswater definitely made up for last year's challenging conditions and delivered an absolute classic weekend of Musto Skiff racing at the 2025 Daffodil Regatta, with plenty of smiles and swims thrown in throughout all seven races.

Saturday provided a shifty southerly of around 12 knots, which led to plenty of snakes and ladders across the course. John Reekie, finding a big ladder up the second beat, kept a good lead that he held on to until the finish, with Jamie Hilton and Jono Shelly following him home.

Race start for the Musto Skiff fleet during the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

We had very similar conditions for the next two races, where birthday boy Jono had clearly cracked the code, not only celebrating his 30th... again, but taking the next two bullets with Jamie and I sharing the other podium places between us. The PRO decided to get ahead of the game and went for a 4th race with a now halved Musto fleet, which started in good wind but gradually dropped. This created a tactical affair with quite a few lead changes, with Jamie taking line honours and Richard Smith from WOBYC getting into the mix next, and Jono taking 3rd.

This meant the overnight top spot was shared equally between 'Team JJ', with Jono taking the split due to two bullets. He topped off his day enjoying a few birthday beers with the skiff family, which, unfortunately, in the absence of Danny Boatman, didn't turn into full bottles of Kraken! As a result, the competition was still all to play for on Sunday with slightly clearer heads.

Dylan and Jamie in the Musto Skiff fleet during the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Sunday delivered a well-awaited Ullswater South Westerly, starting at around 12 knots and building to 20 throughout the day.

The first race started a very close contest with everyone within a few boat lengths coming into the first bottom mark. Unfortunately, this is where the top dogs decided to exit stage left, with Jono's leeward mark being different from the rest of us, and Jamie taking an early swim, leaving the kids to fight over a top spot for a change. This turned into a battle of the Richard Smiths, with senior leading junior for most of the race, only to then turn that top spot into a bottom spot, d'oh! This left Richard Smith Junior to take the win ahead of me and Jamie, who did well to fight back into 3rd.

John Reekie in the Musto Skiff fleet during the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The last two races were windy three-horse events between Jono, Jamie, and me, with capsizes being the separator. Jono took a swim and dropped from 1st to 3rd, only to fight back to 2nd behind Jamie in the second race of the day. This meant the regatta rested on a winner-takes-all final race decider between the top two. I feel it's fair to mention that Jono was impressively struggling with the flu all weekend, and with a 'Michael Jordan - flu game-esque' performance in the final race, he managed to muscle up a final race victory in the strengthening breeze, and with it, the regatta with Jamie only one point behind him, and me finishing in third with report duties.

Overall, a fantastic weekend was had by all. A huge thanks goes to the race team and volunteers at Ullswater Yacht Club for excellent hospitality and for delivering a full series in testing conditions with quick turnarounds, whilst having to get everyone's exact times for a mass all-class handicap overall Sail Juice series result.

Jamie Hilton in the Musto Skiff fleet during the Ullswater Daffodil Regatta 2025 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

The Musto Skiff fleet look forward to the next Scottish and Northern circuit event, which will be in Largs later this month, so get your entries in early!

Overall Results: