Musto renews sponsorship contract with the Musto Skiff Class

8th MUSTO Skiff World Championship 2017 © Bernardí Bibiloni / www.bernardibibiloni.com

Ovington Boats and the Musto Skiff Class Association (MSCA) have confirmed that the world leading technical clothing brand, Musto, has renewed its longstanding contract with the class to continue as their Title Sponsor for a further five years.

The contract renewal will ensure that the class is supported with both funding and activities, as well as prizes for events via Musto's extensive range of cutting-edge performance apparel and dinghy kit.

Musto became the first Title Sponsor of the class over 20 years ago after one of the company founders, Nigel Musto, discovered the prototype boat during a visit to the 1999 Hamburg Boat Show. Nigel arranged for a test sail of the boat, which was designed by the German sailor, Dr Joachim Happrecht in response to an ISAF (World Sailing) brief to create a fast singlehander boat.

After a test sail at Lake Garda, the sponsorship with Musto swiftly followed to ensure the successful launch of the class. Musto has been involved with the class ever since and remains a prominent sponsor, enabling the MSCA to be run in a professional manner and invest in new initiatives to promote the class.

Nick Houchin, Head of Marketing at Musto said: "The Musto Skiff is one of our longest standing sponsorship projects and, as we expand our technical inshore clothing lines, it is only growing in importance. Through the Musto Skiff class, we are able to support more people in getting out onto the water and experiencing the thrill of dinghy racing. We look forward to working with both Ovington Boats and the class association in our continued partnership."

Since the last renewal point in 2016, the class was also able to invest in a full redesign of their class website, which had been in place since 2002. The new website was launched at the end of last year and aimed to represent the class today, with more international news and video content to showcase events, as well as being a platform for increased access to training and coaching support materials.

The British based boat building business, Ovington Boats Ltd, holds the exclusive rights to build and distribute the Musto Skiff boat worldwide, and helps to support the growth of the class with dealers now based in 29 countries.

Commenting on the contract renewal, Chris Turner, Managing Director of Ovington Boats, said: "We have a long-established relationship with both the class and Musto, so we are really pleased to see Musto extend their sponsorship. Whilst we, as boat builder sign the contract, the class association will continue to directly benefit from this sponsorship in full to help with promoting the class and to support their increased activities and regatta schedule. Ovington Boats currently has four 'works' boats in service within the UK, two at WPNSA, one at Derwent Reservoir, and one in Ireland with 2016 Olympian, Ryan Seaton, which are all helping to open up the class to new sailors. After a difficult year for us all, we hope to see everyone on the water soon!"

Over the last 20 years, the class has seen considerable growth, both in numbers and geographically. The class is now represented in over 28 countries and is also recognised as a World Sailing International Class, with an extensive annual regatta and regional events programme. Every year, events are hosted locally in each country; in addition, a EuroCup series, a Championship regatta in Australia, and a World Championships are typically hosted, attracting 80 to 100 boats - including professional sailors from the Olympic classes.

Musto, which is well established as a world leading technical clothing brand in over 40 countries, has now been supporting the class for 20 consecutive years: being ever present at world class events and regattas from the UK to Australia.

Emerging from a challenging year with many event changes in response to the pandemic, the class is now looking forward to a 2021 Worlds in Lake Garda, Italy, which is scheduled for late September.

International Chairman of the Musto Skiff Class Association, Andy Tarboton, said: "The Class is really excited to continue the long-standing association with Musto. This has enabled us to grow strongly year-on-year; also providing benefit to every class member. The Musto brand is synonymous with high performance apparel across many sports, including sailing, and continues to be highly popular within our class. Musto's support will ensure the future of the class infrastructure is maintained, allowing us to adapt to the wishes of the class, as well as enabling us to provide a wide range of Musto kit as prizes for our major events, including the World Championships in Italy later this year."

The ACO 2021 Musto Skiff World Championships is scheduled for 25th September to 2nd October 2021 at Fraglia Vela Riva in Lake Garda, Italy. The event will feature Musto prizes across a range of categories, as well as a Musto branded t-shirt for all registered participants. Registration is expected to open in the coming weeks.