2015 Harken UK Musto Skiff Nationals – Light start on Day 1

by Dave Poston / Paul Molesworth / George Hand on 10 Jul 2015 2015 Harken UK Musto Skiff Nationals – Race one saw a light start to the day with 6-10 knots from the south-east and speed sapping short chop. Ben Schooling leads to the windward after an 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 first 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 third.

Race two
The breeze picked up to 10-12 knots for the start of race two. Most of the fleet headed straight to the right-hand side which had been favoured in race one. 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 second place. George Hand did a similar job passing several boats to finish third with Stenhouse fourth.

Race three
The final race 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 three 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.

Full results