2015 Scottish Musto Skiff Championship overall

by Ian Ellis on 5 Aug 2015 2015 Scottish Musto Skiff Championship – On the weekend of 1-2 August a strong fleet of 15 Musto Skiffs gathered at Chanonry Sailing Club, Fortrose in the North of Scotland for the most northern UK skiff Traveller to date. The event was combined with a Scottish Skiff series event.

The fleet consisted of an almost full turnout of the local fleet together with a selection of the top helms from Scotland and a large contingent who made the trip up from the North of England.

Saturday's strong wind forecast potentially put some off, but on arrival and rigging the race area looked ideal for the day's racing. As the first start approached and the boats launched the wind increased to a variable force four to five and this combined with a strong tide against produced a very short steep confused sea state. After a short postponement the first race started with close racing, but almost as soon as the first boats rounded the windward mark the capsizes began. Most boats took the perceived easy option of hoisting and heading out on starboard tack but as was quickly realised this just took them into the worst of the waves and by the leeward mark most had spent some time checking their rudders for weed. Dan Trotter coped best with the conditions and lead home Jono Shelly and Ben Yates from the home club.

The next two races followed a similar pattern with most people opting for the less lumpy North shore both up and down wind to try to avoid too many capsizes. It turned out that if you could stay mostly upright for the entire race then there was a fair chance of a good result.

After a bad first race Ian Renilson was back on form and showing everybody how it was done closely followed by Jono and Ian Trotter in both the second and third races.

The positions after day one were very mixed with most of the top half of the fleet having a good race, a bad race and one in the middle so it was all to play for on Sunday.

Sunday dawned calm and with little sign of any wind materialising and non-forecast some of the further travelled competitors decided enough was enough.

Despite the conditions after a lengthy postponement the race officer started the first race on Sunday in a very light and patchy breeze which just about allowed the boats to move. The lighter weight crews showed their hands with Ian Ellis taking the gun from Iain Morton and another steady performance from Jono in third.

After a further lengthy postponement and just before everybody was about to give up the sea breeze eventually filled in to give perfect conditions for the last two races with force three and flat water.

Battle ensued at the front between Dan and Jono. Jono had the slight edge upwind with Dan being quicker down. Both races went to the wire with Dan taking two first. The next six boats followed hot on their heels and showed the strong strength in depth of the fleet with place changing throughout and both races producing very different results.

This left Jono as the new Scottish champion without taking a race win all weekend but with the difficult and varying conditions a remarkably consistent set of results. Dan Trotter finished second despite three race wins.

Thanks must go to Chanonry Sailing Club for running another superb event.

Rank	Boat	Class	SailNo	Rating	Club	HelmName	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	Total	Nett
First		MUSTO SKIFF	526	850	Ullswater SC	Jono Shelley	2.0	2.0	2.0	(3.0)	2.0	2.0	13.0	10.0
Second		MUSTO SKIFF	527	850	Derwent Reservoir SC	Dan Trotter	1.0	(7.0)	4.0	5.0	1.0	1.0	19.0	12.0
Third	Billy Whizz	MUSTO SKIFF	224	850	Royal Findhorn YC	Ian Ellis	(10.0)	4.0	8.0	1.0	6.0	3.0	32.0	22.0
Fourth	Painted Warrior	MUSTO SKIFF	367	850	Holy Loch SC	Neil Wilson	(16.0 DNC)	5.0	7.0	4.0	4.0	5.0	41.0	25.0
Fifth		MUSTO SKIFF	374	850	ASYC	Alistair Kerr	7.0	(9.0)	5.0	6.0	3.0	7.0	37.0	28.0
Sixth	Flash Dance 2	MUSTO SKIFF	220	850	Chanonry SC	Ben Yeats	3.0	(10.0)	6.0	7.0	5.0	9.0	40.0	30.0
Seventh		MUSTO SKIFF	521	850	Chanonry SC	Iain Morton	9.0	(12.0)	11.0	2.0	9.0	6.0	49.0	37.0
Eighth	Broadcast Alert	MUSTO SKIFF	255	850	DBSC	Andrew Scott	(11.0)	11.0	10.0	9.0	7.0	4.0	52.0	41.0
Ninth	Beefur	MUSTO SKIFF	449	850	Dalgety Bay SC	Ian Renilson	8.0	1.0	1.0	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	58.0	42.0
10th		MUSTO SKIFF	200	850	Derwent Reservoir SC	Ian Trotter	4.0	3.0	3.0	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	58.0	42.0
11th		MUSTO SKIFF	536	850	Chanonry SC	Kevin Holliday	5.0	6.0	9.0	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	68.0	52.0
12th		MUSTO SKIFF	435	850	Chanonry SC	Michael Gough	12.0	(13.0)	12.0	11.0	10.0	10.0	68.0	55.0
13th	OMG	MUSTO SKIFF	464	850	Chanonry SC	Jon Bailey	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	8.0	8.0	8.0	72.0	56.0
14th		MUSTO SKIFF	294	850	Derwent Reservoir SC	Tom Conway	6.0	8.0	14.0 DNF	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	76.0	60.0
15th		MUSTO SKIFF	185	850	Chanonry SC	LE FAUCHEUX Pierre	(16.0 DNC)	16.0 DNC	16.0 DNC	10.0	11.0	12.0 RET	81.0	65.0