Musto Skiff Open at Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club

A stormy Saturday during the Musto Skiff and 29er Open at Derwent Reservoir © Jess Cowley

We all arrived to an unusual northern day of torrential rain and light winds, but nevertheless, 28 Musto Skiffs hit the water in time for the first race.

Race 1 got under way in a shifty 5-10 knots with the youth of the fleet showing the way round. Rob Richardson won the race with Ewan Wilson got piped for second by Stuart Keegan and Euan Hurter finishing 4th.

Race 2 conditions were similar with shifty winds, but Ben Schooling managed to sniff out the breeze. Ben ultimately took the win in race two, closely followed by the consistent Dan Trotter and Ian Turnbull, who rounded off the top three.

Race 3 saw the wind swing right, making it a bit of one way beat. This was no match for Callum Escritt who showed the speed that can be gained in light wind when weighing in at 65kg, pulling his finger out to storm his way into second place. Sadly, his weight advantage wasn't enough to match the tactical decision made Alistair Conn, who beat him to the line to take the win. With the top three rounded off by Euan Hurter.

By Race 4 everyone was getting a bit cold with the constant rainfall that still hadn't let up. It was a clear start with more breeze coming from the right side of the course. Ian Turnbull rounding the top mark in the lead decided to gybe set and promptly sailed into a hole. This let Rob Richardson, Euan Hurter and Dan Trotter sail through him. After watching Ian sail into the hole on the left side of the run, Rob and Euan made a joint tactical decision not to repeat this on the second lap and made their way towards the middle of the course to keep away from the shore. However, it would appear that Euan Hurter forgot this tactical decision and ended up sailing straight into a hole by the shore, allowing Ian Trotter and the super quick, Callum Escritt, to sneak through drooling out of the podium positions. That meant Rob Richardson took another win, followed by Ian Trotter and Callum Escritt.

After day one, Rob Richardson was narrowly leading, with Callum Escritt in second and Dan Trotter in third.

The heavy rain continued into Saturday evening, but some of the fleet was able to warm up over dinner and reflect on a difficult day on the water.

After 24 hours of solid, heavy rainfall, the heavens finally eased and we woke up to blue skies on Sunday!! This had the Scots rushing for their sun cream!

Race 5 started in gusty conditions, once again, but with more breeze at around 9-12 knots. This race saw Andy Tarboton showing us the way round avoiding the holes and smashing in a bullet followed by Ian Turnball and Stuart Keegan to round off the top 3.

Race 6 had a slight increase in wind within the gust and an extra lap. This information was spread throughout the fleet, but sadly Danny Boatman missed the message and, when leading into the leeward, he was frantically shouting to his fellow competitors asking how many laps the race was. Unfortunately, this led him to round the least favourable gate dropping positions. This allowed Rob Richardson to sneak through for his third win of the event, closely followed by Dan Trotter and Andy Tarboton in third.

Race 7 was the final race and was by far the windiest race of the weekend, with all sailors now comfortably trapezing downwind. The wind was still left, making that the favourable side of the course. Dan Trotter started at the committee boat and as far as we could tell, rolled the entire fleet heading for the left corner. There was a good battle between 6 boats that could have easily won the race, but it was Andy Tarboton's day. He walked away with his second win of the day, fending off Ben Schooling and the super consistent Alastair Conn.

The top 5 overall included Dan Trotter in 1st place, Alastair Conn in 2nd place, Rob Richardson in 3rd place, Euan Hurter in 4th place, and Ben Schooling in 5th place.

With no events in Scotland this year due to Covid-19, it was decided by Northern event co-ordinator, Jono Shelley that both the Scottish Championship and Northern Series Trophies should be awarded at Derwent, and these were supplemented by a hoard of goodies from class sponsor, Ovington.

Local pin up, Dan Trotter's 4th place in the final race was enough to secure him the 2020 Scottish Championship Trophy. With Euan Hurter taking 4th overall and his 5th place at the UK Nationals in Brixham, he had the lowest aggregate score and was the well-deserved recipient of the 2020 Northern and Scottish Series Trophy.

I would like to extend a huge thank you to Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club for putting on the event and having such welcoming hospitality with the restrictions in place. We can't wait to get racing again next year!

Overall Results: