Musto Skiffs from the North East of England and Scotland turned out for the Dalgety Bay Sailing Club Purvis Regatta on the weekend of 20th and 21st of May. The fleet of 7 boats, including some of the newer members of the ever growing Scottish fleet had their own start, on the Asymmetric Course. The large turn around across all the classes for this years Regatta meant that the non asymmetric fleets, including the development youth fleet, were on a seperate course, from the Musto Skiff fleet, RS200s, and mixed handicap asymmetric classes.

Following a poll of members (see Q46) and a trial under the guidance of the MPSCA we have decided to allow the cunningham purchase ratio to be increase to 8:1.

The trial has bee run over a period of 5 months and sailors of various shapes and sizes have used the 8:1.

There was plenty of close racing throughout the fleet in the Musto Skiff Open at Derwent over 13/14 May, and people travelled from far-a-field (Lymington & Stone in the South & Largs & Dalgety Bay in the North), despite the poor weather forecast.

In a light & shifty force 2 on Saturday, local hero Ian Trotter (Derwent) made a slow start with a 6th in the first race, and then bounced back to win both the other races, whereas Richard Stenhouse (Rutland) was more consistent with a first and two seconds. However, these results were only achieved after close battles with other sailors, most notably Stephen Lowe (South Shields), who led for most of two races in the oldest boat of the fleet (056), but faded towards the end - mostly due to inexperienced boat-on-boat tactics as the leaders closed-in. Ian Renilson (Dalgety Bay) also featured, leading the first race for a while and contending with the leaders in the others. Kit Stenhouse (Rutland) also sailed well and was very consistent with 3 fourth places.

Entries from as far as Lymington and Blackwater joined locals from the North East for the South Shields Musto Skiff Open Meeting. Six races were planned for the two days. Conditions were warn with a light easterly and the race officer postponed until a steady 5-6 knot sea breeze kicked in.The fleet got away at the first attempt with Tim Chapman (Rutland) crossing Ian Trotter (Derwent) to take the early lead up the first beat. Trotter’s superior boat speed saw him pass to lead at the windward mark followed by Chapman, Gareth Davies (Blackwater), Ken Ward (South Shields) and Peter Griffiths (South Shields). With Trotter pulling ahead a close battle developed behind him with Steve Lowe (South Shields) closing on the group. The fleet split up the next beat with Chapman closing on Trotter, but pressed hard by Davies, and Ward. Downwind, Ward ran into trouble and Lowe showed good speed to pass Davies and take third behind Trotter, and Chapman with Ward in fifth.

On 29, 30 of April and 1 May, R.C.N.Denia (Spain) organized one of the biggest dinghy races this year, called Deniavela 2006. More than 300 entries, 11 different dinghy classes and three diferent race areas showed why Deniavela is becoming an unavoidable date. This regatta gives the prizes for the best local sailor on every class. This means that this race decides which ones can finally race on Spanish nationals, wich are not open races in most of our classes. It was also a great event for Musto skiff class. For the first time the whole spanish fleet met in a race. Sailors from Malaga, Palma de Mallorca and Valencia came one day before the event started for some training.

Already early in the morning some crazy Musto sailors shouted their trim instructions all over the place.This is exactly what makes this class a real hit. We have now already nineteen active sailors. The strength of the fleet was even increased tremendously by the visit of our world champion Richard Stenhouse and his charming wife Kit. On the other side the wind was not up to standards. But anyway it was not as bad as last autumn - the fog was missing.The racing organisation of our friends in Cham was as usual just great, many thanks. As said above, very, very light winds which allowed everybody to have some good places from time to time. If not, I would not have been condemned to write this report&.A big hug to the Oswald women part of the family for the great drinks. As usual Roger stood in the forefront but everybody knew who really made the work. This has to be said since only expert eyes did see the difference.I am looking already for the next great events (Alpsee and of course Lago d'Iseo). Yeah, SUI 132 (Dominique Walchli)

Competitors arriving at Northampton were greeted by bright but chilly conditions and, a gusty force 3, which steadily eased to a patchy force 2 by the time the sailors took to the water. Race 1 saw most who started cleanly enough head left of middle up the first beat and, with variations in pressure and big shifts up at the windard mark it was those who maximised the small shifts best who came out on top. Rick Perkins (Harken) rounded just ahead of Jamie Stevenson (Westway) followed by a tight bunch of six boats headed by Dan Dixon. In the streaky breeze the biggest gains and losses were to be made downwind, which made the judgement of angles and deciding when to heat the boat up critical. By the end of the first downwind Perkins and Stevenson had pulled further ahead and, Simon Reynolds (Blighline) pulled up to third, hotly pursued by Dixon. The battle in the following pack was intense with Will Crocker, Gareth Davies, Dave Poston and, Simon Dodds all battling it out. On the following rounds, the lead switched between Stevenson and Perkins, until Perkins stamped his authority on the final beat, to finish in that order. Reynolds pulled out on Dixon, who was followed home by Simon Dodds

It was my fate to pick up the onerous task of training Musto Skiff sailors in Hot and Sunny Florida. The plan was to help new Musto sailors in the US improve their sailing by stint of continuous training in ideal sailing conditions. Also to show-off our lovely boats to best advantage (i.e. upright and fast). The event took place off a tropical beach with white sands, coconut trees and water temperature of 79 deg. The morning breeze was invariably a gentle 5 to 8 Kits. which died at lunchtime before swinging round and building steadily and reliably to about 18 Kits. Just occasionally it reached the low twenties. This predictable wind was perfect for training purposes.

For those who receive the newsletter who aren't lucky enough to own an MPS there are a few boats for sale second hand (in various countries). Is your next challenge on this list ...??

Second hand boats are selling like hot cakes and often sell via the grapevine without coming onto the market, if you are interested in a used boat just let us know so if one becomes available we can let you know.

ALSO do you own a Musto Skiff but don't use it any more, there is a bit of a shortage of second hand boats with used boats getting snapped up. If your boat is not getting any use just email us and we'll advertise it for you FREE OF CHARGE

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