Musto Skiff and B14 Open Meeting at Stokes Bay

by Tom Wright on 14 Apr 2011 Musto Skiff and B14 Open Meeting was welcomed with bright hot sun along with a consistent strong sea breeze which brought close to 30 Skiff sailors to the south coast of England.

The first warning signal scheduled at 12:25, there was a relaxing atmosphere around the boat park whist sailors spent their time rigging and preparing for a good day on the water. With a 16 knot Eastly breeze funneling down the Solent waters, the fleet launched and headed out towards the start line.

Stokes Bay Open 2011 meeting was under way…

Race one begin with sailors peeling off in opposite directions to either; battle the channel tides in a stronger wind or head for the shore to attempt to escape the channel. Forming back towards the mark, sailors grouped back together with little advantage from either way. Round the windward mark. Round the spread mark. With flying colours the fleet made their way towards the gate. Attacking boats from behind gybed off taking a risk to gain a couple of places, with the majority of the fleet continuing inshore.

The race continued Bruce Keen, Andy Peak and Tom Wright breaking away from the fleet, fighting for the first available bullet of the day. Close racing brought pressure and excitement between the three sailors. The race… continued. After 40 mintues of competitive racing Tom round the windward mark in first place followed very closely by Bruce and Andy. Tom performed a slow peaceful hoist letting Speed Bruce past and followed by Andy. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel the fleet made their way down the last leg and through the finish line.
First Bruce Keen, Second Andy Peak, Third Tom Wright

Different strategies and plans between the sailors became more vitally important as the tide was increasing in speed and the wind started to shift round to the left. With race two on the way 80% of the fleet headed off the start line close to the pin end, sailing towards the left hand side with the course with intentions of the wind continuing to shift left.

With a different strategy of starting from the usual port end, Tom set up for a ‘duck and weave’ start on port tack aiming to immediately head towards the channel. With few boats following, the stronger winds out to the right shown to be the fasted route to the windward mark. Tom round the windward and once again closely followed by Bruce and then Dan Vincent. The race continued with the fleet separating. Three large 20 minute laps put Tom in first place followed by Bruce and Dan.

Race Three begin, again with the majority of the fleet heading left and odd sailors going right; the increased ripping tide had overcome the stronger pressure, with the Sailors from the Left leading the fleet. There was great confusion among the fleet as the windward mark had drifted 100m short of the spreader mark.

Race four brought a whole new level of exciting sailing to the fleet, with a one lap rule apparently displayed on the committee boat, which half the feet didn’t notice. The streaming Solent waters created a difficult race with sailors hugely overstepping the windward lay line trying to avoid the deadly tide. Close to the windward mark, places where being lost and gained as the tide refused and made it difficult for sailors to pass around the mark. The last race of the day brought close to five hours of sailing and a table of results.

With entertainment planned for the evening sailors de-rigged and prepared for Dan’s mind boggling quiz.

Sunday was a perfect day for a nice paddle in the flat reflecting waters along with attempting to catch the sun, this in most cases resulting in sun burn. Sunday Racing was cancelled.

Overall Results:

First - Bruce Keen
Second - Andy Peak
Third - Tom Mustoskiff website