Musto Skiffs at the Grafham Grand Prix

Musto Skiff at the Grafham Grand Prix © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Poston takes the Win

While most people where still tucked up in bed on Monday morning recovering from yet another day of eating and drinking, Dave Poston was up and out de-rigging his boat in the dark with only the help of his head torch, getting ready to set off for the Grafham GP, part of the sail juice winter series. When the sun finally turned the lights on for the rest of the world there were 8 Musto skiffs entered into the 35 boat fast handicap fleet all ready and eager to get sailing in the forecasted 18knots with 30knt gusts!

Race 1 started on time and it was clear that indeed you have to get up very early to get one past Dave, from the gun he shot off and could not be touched, even to the point that he completed an extra lap within the time limit. The rest of us were left the fight if out for second which Richard Smith was doing a great job to hold onto until the final run where he decided to have a quick swim and allow Ben Schooling to sneak past.

Race 2 saw a dying breeze and no sign of the 30knts gust, giving conditions more suited to Ben, however Dave was clear off the line again and not to be touched. Ben came in second with Paul Molesworth third, who both got clear of the rest of the fleet by finding increased pressure down the less favoured left side of the run on the 2nd lap.

http://www.mustoskiff.com/images/1-events/2016/GBR/gp-poston.jpg

After two postponements race 3 finally got away, with a breeze that had filled back in. Once more Dave flew off the start and looked clear, however he (along with many others) did not spot that the windward mark was brought considerably closer and over stood by a long way. This allowed Paul and Ben to round together in the lead. Unfortunately Paul's spinnaker sheet was caught under the bow and so "encouraged" Ben to gybe off, which did not go to plan (sorry)! This allowed Dave to sneak through. Ben recovered quickly and with a new sense of purpose set off in hot pursuit, catching Paul and almost getting Dave.

The overall results giving Dave a well-earned victory of the fast handicap fleet, with Ben second musto in 4th and Paul third musto in 5th overall. In all 6 mustos where to be found in the top 11 places, although it was agreed the preparation of eating and drinking in the days before had taken its toll on the fitness. Next up for the sailjuice series is the Oxford Blue on 2nd Jan, with rumours of some south coast boats looking to venture north!

Full results here.