Musto Skiff European Championship 2025 during Warnemünde Woche
by Jamie Hilton 15 Jul 06:11 PDT
10-13 July 2025
Day 1 start line - Musto Skiff European Championship during Warnemünde Woche © Pepe Hartmann
Eddie Bridle has won the 2025 Musto Skiff European Championship in Germany, landing his first major title in the class.
With a comprehensive score of five wins and four seconds over a nine-race series, he convincingly won the title, fending off the ever-present challenge of Jono Shelley, who pushed him to the end.
Eddie showed prowess throughout, always fast out of the traps, seemingly never missing a shift, and always able to find the right groove. It really was an exemplary performance and a very well-deserved title win.
The Championship was hosted as part of the Warnemünde Woche sailing festival, which proved an excellent regatta venue for the international fleet representing Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Armenia, the UK, and South Africa. Playing host for the 87th time, they've clearly got the formula down to a tee—brilliant race management and onshore facilities, coupled with a proper festival feeling in the touristic beach town of Warnemünde.
After weeks of sunshine and a heatwave across Europe, the weather broke just as the event was about to get going, bringing with it high winds and a big sea state. Despite the disrupted schedule, we still managed to get in nine races over a range of conditions to shake out a worthy champion.
Day 1: The Championship gets under way
With 4 races planned, the 18-strong Musto Skiff fleet got rigged up and ready to launch for a 1pm start. At the time of launching, the sun was out with about 8 - 10 kts of breeze. We were anticipating some reasonably sized waves, but nothing crazy.
Race 1 - The first start was hotly contested with a fleet of keen beans predictably eager to make an impression on the Championship. A good number of boats were over the line, with Ben Clegg also wrapping himself around the pin—his second faux pas of the day after launching without his trapeze harness. The Race Officer quickly got the measure of us, restarting the race under U flag, resulting in all subsequent starts getting away first time of asking.
Jono and Eddie were quick to show their form, and there really wasn't much to separate them. Whilst Jono had the slight edge upwind and Eddie downwind, it was as if there was a bungee tied between the two, with only the lay line calls and starts determining who would come out on top.
In this race, it was Eddie who came out first, with Jono in second. Coming in next was Jamie Hilton, who climbed his way up the chasing pack to third after an indifferent first lap.
Race 2 - Eddie held on to his good form and secured another bullet, but this time it was Karsten Groth who followed him over the finish line after showing great pace upwind and converting a good first beat into a second place. Brennan Robinson showed great form, notably on the downwind, to land third, leaving Jono to take fourth. Jamie again found himself battling within the pack, slipping back to eighth this time with Alexander Greil, Ben Clegg, and Edgar Stalleicken ahead of him.
Race 3 - The wind picked up a bit more for this next race, and with it, the sea state. Ben Clegg was finding his groove and mixing it up with Eddie, Jono, and Karsten in the top spots before he fell victim to the waves with an outstanding pitchpole. Eddie secured his third bullet of the day, with Jono finishing in second. Karsten was on track for third before he also took a swim on the downwind, letting Jamie sail past into third. Edgar showed impressive form in the Musto, moving up the pack to cross the line in fourth.
Race 4 - For the final race of the day, Jamie got away nicely from the middle of the start line and picked a great lay to lead narrowly around the top mark before extending his lead down the run. He held onto his lead to the finish, depriving Eddie of a clean sweep of bullets for the day. This switched things up a bit, with Eddie finishing second and Jono, once again, just behind him in third.
Back ashore with scores totted up, Eddie was the clear leader overnight, with Jamie narrowly pipping Jono for second, but only on countback.
The forecast was looking ominous for the next day, so an early morning skippers meeting was set for 9am to assess conditions, with the first start planned for 11am.
Day 2: Racing suspended with strong winds
Somewhat expectedly, the fleet woke up to strong wind conditions and 2-metre-high waves. As such, racing was postponed for all classes. The Musto fleet was still keen to get out, even for a couple of races, so the PRO agreed to do regular check-ins, with the potential of a late afternoon—or even early evening—start if conditions improved. However, racing was eventually cancelled for all classes, including the Musto Skiffs, and the PRO proposed an earlier start of 9am for the following day.
With racing now cancelled, the majority of the fleet gathered at the campsite for an early social to share stories from the previous day's sailing, as well as a selection of beers from across Europe, before heading out for a group dinner in Warnemünde.
Day 3: another unplanned lay day for the fleet
Despite the previous day's cautious optimism, the AP was up first thing due to continued wind and sea state. The wind was forecast to build over the day, so an early decision was made to cancel all racing at Warnemünde Woche.
With another unscheduled lay day, some of the fleet took the opportunity to visit Rostock for a bit of tourist-ing and a fleet lunch in the town centre before returning to Warnemünde for the regatta party and BBQ. It was a great evening of good conversation amongst friends and a fine feast, including the obligatory German sausage, washed down with a couple of rounds of the local Rostocker Pils.
The forecast for the final race day was an East/Northeast 8-12 kts, with gusts up to 23 kts and potential thunderstorms. However, the Race Officer was hopeful that up to six races would be possible with an early morning start.
Day 4: the fleet gets back to racing
It was the final day of the Championship. Racing was finally back on, and despite the early start, there was an air of anticipation in the boat park with the fleet eager to get back to racing.
The wind was in the East, blowing 8-15 kts, influenced by several heavy rain showers. The sea state was a bit more subdued compared to the previous days, with the landmass offering some protection. There was still plenty of chop and rolling waves to contend with, but nothing that the fleet couldn't handle.
Race 5 - Another clean start, and once again, it was Eddie and Jono who fared best, showing excellent boat speed in the conditions, working the tiller and mainsheet hard to make their way efficiently upwind. Downwind there were some lumpy rides, with some extra fun on the port tack with waves big enough to surf down. Some wind shifts were also coming into play with large rain clouds moving down the racetrack, bringing localised changes in pressure and direction.
In the chasing pack, everyone was having their moments of glory or despair, depending on whether they fell on the right or wrong side of the shifts.
Back at the top, the battle continued, but it was Eddie who crossed the line first, with Jono coming in second. Brennan sailed well to take third, but after missing some wind shifts, Jamie had to settle for fourth.
Race 6 - Much like Race 5, Eddie and Jono were tracking each other around the racecourse. However, Eddie managed to pull away to bag yet another bullet, with Jono ending up with another second. Edgar edged ahead of the pack to take third, with Alexander Greil finishing in fourth. After a good start, Jamie had committed himself to the left side of the course, which turned out to be the wrong side of yet another wind shift. This saw him drop further away from the top three, increasing the pressure to maintain a final podium spot.
Race 7 - Jono owned Race 7, coming out of the traps well and building a healthy lead. He was the only boat to straight set downwind when the majority of those behind gybe set back inshore looking for pressure. It was Jono, however, who had locked on to the shifting wind pattern and extended his lead in a now increasing breeze, which made the second downwind much fruitier. So much so, Eddie capsized right on the finish line as he took a shaky second, with Ben coming in behind him in third.
A huge rain shower then came through with a big squall, followed by next to no wind for the best part of an hour. Determined to claw back as many races as possible, the race officer—in touch with the met office—kept the fleet informed of his intention to resume racing once the wind settled.
Sure enough, the conditions resumed normal service and Race 8 was soon under way.
Race 8 - After a shaky start, where most of the fleet failed to lay the line (who said there wasn't tide in the Baltic?), only Jamie and Pierre-Yves Pfirter got away cleanly off the pin-end, leaving Eddie, Jono, and the majority of the fleet to gybe around to cross the start line on port and head up the right-hand side of the course. As luck would have it, a right-hand shift meant these boats came out on top into the windward mark.
Jono had now found his groove. He pulled out another bullet, leaving Eddie with a second, but with gritted teeth, Jono knew it was too little too late. Ben bagged another third, and Jamie secured a fourth.
After the small interlude following the heavy rain shower, time was running out, making Race 9 the final race of the Championship.
Race 9 - Eddie and Jamie came off the pin, looking famous in around 15 kts. It wasn't long before both had flipped onto port tack, having spotted a rain cloud looming over the right-hand side of the racetrack. Eddie led into the top mark, with Ben Clegg in second and Jamie in third for a close battle downwind in big waves and "drop to the knot" conditions. At the leeward gate it was the same order, but still very close, with Jamie split tacking early to make his move on the front two.
The wind then switched off, first on the right, then on the left, before returning to the right with a 60-degree shift. This really shook up the order, and boats from a long way back were now reaching into the top mark.
Nevertheless, Eddie was far enough ahead to claim his final bullet of the day, winning the 2025 Championship Title. Coming in next over the line was Pierre-Yves, followed by Jono, and then Jamie. The final scores placed Jono in second overall, just six points behind Eddie, with Jamie taking the final podium position in third overall.
The Class concludes their 2025 European Championship
Despite the disrupted schedule, we still managed to get in nine races, and it was a great regatta overall. There was also a lot of camaraderie after racing, including some fleet outings on the unplanned lay days.
The fleet also welcomed some new faces, including German 49er FX sailor Gloria Clausen, who was participating in her first Musto Skiff regatta, having recently been introduced to the class via a demo day at Lake Como. In a borrowed boat, thanks to Alex Greil, she had a brilliant time racing with the small Mainsail X. Despite being so new to the class, Gloria competed well in every race, and her positive attitude and enthusiasm for it were clear. We are sure to see her making her way up the fleet at future class events.
What a brilliant opportunity to get the European fleets together, and a well-deserved result for Eddie Bridle. Thanks to everyone who made it to the regatta and to the German Class Association for making this regatta happen—notably our class representatives Gilbert, Hendrick, and Alex, who worked as a team to organise the Championship.
Thanks also to the excellent Race Officer and Race Committee team and all the volunteers at Warnemünde Woche. The Musto Skiff class looks forward to coming back to Warnemünde for future regattas.
Overall results