Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK National Championships at Largs Sailing Club - Overall

Prize winners in the Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals at Largs © Natalie Hilton

Jamie Hilton wins the Noble Marine Musto Skiff UK Nationals at Largs © Natalie Hilton

The day dawned mirror flat allowing the fleet to enjoy a second cup of tea and take in the Largs scenery in all its breath taking glory. By 10:30am a gentle southerly breeze had filled in as per forecast and the race officer lowered the postponement.

Race 8 got under way just before noon in 5-8kts with bands of pressure filling down the shoreline. The fleet were away cleanly and split up the beat, the 10 or so going left hooking into the pressure off the shore and making large gains over the pack that went right. Pin end Paulo Molesworth made the most of the favoured left side to lead round the windward from Sean Thijsse and Ian Trotter. Weekend Warrior Paul Rigg showed his light wind prowess to pull through to second on the next run but Molesworth kept a cool head to take his first Nationals bullet with Ian Trotter holding off Fynn Sterritt for third.

After some mark shuffling and course relaying it was clear that race 9 was going to be the last in the series before the 14:30 cut off but with the second discard kicking in there were still 4 boats in contention. After a pressurised start it was Andy Tarboton who made the most of the shifts to round the windward mark with a slim lead over Dan Vincent. The pair gybed set into pressure and pulled out a comfortable gap which they held to the finish. The chasing pack included Sterritt, Hilton & Turnbull. Hilton managed to hold his nerve up the second beat and squeeze into 3rd despite the light wind gurus of Schooling and Rigg pressing hard with Tunbull and Sterritt slipping back to 7th and 8th.

With the fleet heading for shore it was uncertain who had secured the title after the second discard but once the results were posted it was clear Jamie Hilton had done enough and taken the Noble Marine National Championship title for 2019 by a 2 point margin over Andy Tarboton and Daniel Vincent.

With 9 different race winners over the 9 race series and the title coming down the wire this 2019 event was one of the tightest in recent history. Huge congratulations to Jamie Hilton and massive thanks to Largs Sailing Club for hosting a fantastic event.

Overall Results: