Billy No Mates Trophy Stenhouse is still King Billy!! Blue(ish) skies and a steady south easterly F4 greeted the 41 competitors who travelled to Derbyshire for 2nd Billy No Mates Trophy over the weekend of 26th & 27th April. The Billy No Mates Trophy was established to pit a variety of single handed boats and their helms against each other in handicap racing. Read more >>>

Scottish Skiff Racing
Kielder Water Sailing Club located in the Northumberland National Park hosted the 1st 2008 Scottish Skiff Grand Prix event on April 12th and 13th . On Saturday morning 35 boats rigged in between showers of sleet. Inside the club was a woodburning stove to warm those hands frozen by touching ice cold trailers. The skiff fleet included 10 Mustoskiffs, 6 cherubs, 5 49ers, 2 foiling moths, 2 29ers, 2 59ers. read more >>>

Ovington launch new web site with fully operational On line shop Ovington Boats have had on line ordering for some time although it has not been fully operational because of shipping variables and therefore final costs / payment. The new on line system now calculates your shipping costs and allows you to pay on the secure site. There will be some items that you will need to contact us to arrange shipping. It is a little difficult to post a Mast or Boat! Most items now have pictures so you can see what you are buying – helpful for those who are new to our boats or whose first language is not English. Visit www.ovingtonboats.com

Try a Musto Skiff this weekend! Ovington Boats will be at the Datchet Sailing Club ‘On the Water Boat Show’ this weekend (19th & 20th April). If you would like the chance to test sail a Musto Skiff come along to the Queen Mother Reservoir and have a go. You can just turn up – entry is free. Or better still call Dave Hall on 07719 594949 to book a slot. Datchet Sailing Club is located just off J5 of the M4 and J12 of the M25.

Skiffs descending on Florida! The 2008 Musto Skiff / Swift Solo combined North Americans regatta is taking place April 11th – 20th at Fort DeSoto State Park near Saint Petersburg Florida. This event is set to the largest gathering of single handed skiffs with about 20 boats looking to make it to the event. Musto sailors are coming from the UK, and all corners of North America. Read more >>>

Musto Training Day at Stokes Bay 5/6 April A fresh Force 4 from the NW greeted 8 sailors who had travelled to Stokes Bay to receive Rick Perkins’s pearls of wisdom. After a quick brief from Rick and videomeister Paul Manning we hit the water. For some it was a bit too much and respect is due to Nick Powell for taking his first ever sail in a Musto in conditions best described as challenging (even Andy Peake was capsizing). Therefore with a slightly depleted fleet the morning session started and soon the sailors warmed up as we started on the short line and negotiated the tight windward-leeward course. Read more >>>

The Musto Performance Skiff lass Association are delighted to announce Map My Tracks are to title sponsor the UK Nationals. The live GPS sports tracking service 'Map My Tracks' is backing this summer's Musto Skiff UK Nationals to launch its live events tracking service. The event will be the first time that live GPS tracking has been used in a non-Olympic dinghy event and is yet another first for the innovative Musto Skiff class. The event, to be held at Whitstable Yacht Club from 12-15 June 2008, will be among the first to benefit from Map My Tracks live event tracking. Map My Tracks was launched in February 2008 and turns most mobile phones into live sports tracking tools, providing map and performance data in real-time to sailors, live tracking on the internet and a range of website track analysis and replay tools. Read more, view NOR and Enter (please enter ASAP) >>>

World Championship transport The sailing year is underway, and I’m sure for a lot of you, the cobwebs of winter are still being cleared away. I’d like to just remind you all that the World Championships in Silvaplana is moving steadily towards us, and for those who have not yet decided, we would very much appreciate it if you would contact Alex Storrar to ensure you don’t miss a trailer slot. I appreciate that a lot of sailors are making their own way this year, but Alex needs to plan well in advance for his precious time. Find out more/book >>>

Rutland Musto Skiff Open Meeting 15/16 March 2008. 23 boats turn out despite the forecast ....This event was a good lesson in ‘How to win without winning’. None of the top three managed to finish first in any of the four races which were competed for in a variable and shifty F2. At this wind strength a slight difference in pressure allows the Musto helms to straighten their legs and the boatspeed to significantly increase, nobody was able to show any great consistency in predicting where and when this would happen. The first race was led from the start by Inland Champion Kit Stenhouse. Places changed behind her but it was Endeavour Champion, Steve Tylecote who edged out World Champion, Rich Stenhouse. Read the full report >>>

Austrian Musto Skiff Class Association The Austrian Musto Skiff Fleet are delighted to announce the foundation of the Austrian Musto Skiff Association (AMSCA) called “Österreichische Musto Skiff-Klassenvereinigung” The AMSCA has been founded in December 2007. Elected Chairman of the AMPSA is Martin Mayrhofer, Attersee. Martin is well known in the Austrian sailing scene due to his experience and success in skiff sailing. One of his major success was a 24th place at the last Worlds at Lake Garda or his latest win at the Attersee Cup 2007. He also sails with the Austrian 18 foot skiff team “dirndl + bua”. Home of the Austrian Musto Skiff Association is the sailing club “Segelclub Attersee” www.scatt.at the Lake Attersee, Oberösterreich. More details >>>

New Carbon Compass bracket available for the Musto Skiff Ovington Boats have developed a custom compass bracket for the Musto Skiff to take the Tacktic Micro. A two piece carbon moulding makes for a smooth clean fitting that sits neatly at the base of the mast. Available now direct from Ovington at £79.99 Inc VAT plus post. More pics >>>

A big thank you from Ovington Boats and the Musto Skiff class association Thanks to Tim, Rick, Barry, Kit and Richard, who all gave up all or part of their weekend to help on the Class stand at the Dinghy Show. A big and special thanks to Chris, Paul and Dan who did the complete weekend and also helped set up and pack up not only the Musto Skiff stand but the Ovi stand as well. The boat looked great of course and the stand was extremely busy – especially on Saturday. There was huge interest from many different people, and we sold some boats!

Class Rules Q&A from the International measurer and Technical committee If you have not been for a sail in your skiff yet in 2008, I’m sure it’s pretty high on your agenda’s. So having worked closely with Dave Chivers the class has released a revised set of rules for 2008. You will find the format is similar to previous, and we have used Simon Reynolds 2007 rules as a basis, which has been a tremendous help.The main differences are that the current ISAF closed standard class rules require us to re-format our existing rules, whilst doing this Dave and myself have re-worded some of the rules. We have highlighted on page 3 what is probably the most important clarification, that is PLEASE REMEMBER; IF THESE RULES DO NOT SAY YOU CAN – THEN YOU CANNOT! read more & see the latest rules >>>

The Musto Performance Skiff Class Association are delighted to announce the long-term event schedule to 2010 The Musto Performance Skiff Class Association (MPSCA) is delighted to announce the long-term schedule for major events for the class. At the recent ISAF Conference the Musto Performance Skiff was granted ISAF International status; upgrading the class from the previous Recognized Status. Following on from this International growth has continued and through this announcement the class is mapping out a series of events at high-quality international venues to attract even more sailors into the class. Read more and see the events >>>

The Dinghy Sailing Show 2008 will be Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd March at Alexandra Palace Organised by the RYA in association with Yachts and Yachting and Suzuki all sailors are welcome, even if you don’t yet own a skiff.

The Musto Performance Skiff will be displayed on our regular stand D1. More >>>

Paul Mannings's report from the Tiger Trophy 2008 18 Musto Skiffs enter the 2008 Tiger Trophy making us the biggest adult class. For those who did not come to the Tiger Trophy, I'm pretty sure it started off as the biggest Tiger to date. Big respect for all those who sailed and it was good to see a couple of 700 sailors joining in with the class on the après sail front, as well as on the water. Along with a couple of hundred spectators, Chris Henderson and I were greatly entertained. The biggest source of interest was watching a capsized RS300 drift past where we were standing with nobody in it...and an International Canoe which slowly sank 200m offshore. It was like watching Jaws, with the bloke trying to keep out of the water… More >>>

Holding 2 bits of string and a stick - The important part is to have a system that works for you and practice it so when you need to trim the sails you not thinking which rope is which or how to hold them. I usually trim the kite sheet in my front hand and hook the main sheet over my thumb with a bit of slack so it doesn't affect steering and I am ready to gybe More >>>

Steve Nicholson Memorial Trophy 26th January 2008 Five Musto Skiff turned up Saturday morning to compete in the Steve Nicholson Trophy at Northampton Sailing Club, with a South East, 18knot breeze blowing from the club house. The non asymmetric fleets launch for an 11' o clock start with the asymmetric fleet scheduled for mid day. With close examination of the single and double handed fleets, the skiff sailors were getting prepared, determined that they were going to demonstrate high-class sailing! Blasting downwind towards the starting area, dodging the single/double handed boats heading in for their lunch. Read more >>>

ExCel Doc racing by Tom Wright Ovington London Boat Show Grand Prix The Musto Skiff fleet were the first to launch at the London Boat Show, for their one hour sailing on the Victoria docks outside the Excel exhibition centre. Three races, all to count. The enthusiastic sailors all reached the start line with plenty of time to spare. Trying to judge a pattern and predict the wind was impossible. Any thing could happen! When the first race set off the fleet soon split up. Richard Stenhouse soon took control of the lead, heading right into the stronger and more consistent wind. Boats all over the place capsizing as the wind instantly shifted and disappeared shadowed by the tall buildings surrounding the dock lands. This was not just a test to see which sailor was the quickest on their feet but also their fitness and stamina. A tough challenge after the Christmas break. Read more and see video >>>

UK Sailors wanting their boat taken to the worlds, A/many multi-boat trailers will be picking up from various UK locations and delivering your boats to the worlds. Please book ASAP >>>

North American Musto Performance Skiff Championship and training, to be held in conjunction with the Swift Solo North Americans at Fort Desoto State Park in St. Petersberg Florida, April 12 – 20, 2008. The beautiful waters of Tampa Bay will play host to the largest concentration of single handed skiffs in North America to date. This is a lovely venue, with a great white sand beach for launching. Events include 4 days of training beforehand, as well as the regatta, numerous bbqs and dinners, and for the first time, we are featuring the match everyone has been waiting for, determining once and for all who is the fastest. Swift Solo and Musto Skiff sailors on bicycles on the lay day! So far we have 7 confirmed Mustos attending. Let’s try to make it 10! This will be the largest gathering of singlehanded skiffs seen to date in North America. I may have a (very) limited number of charter boats available for people who cannot bring their own. Contact Ron for more info >>>

5 Weekends of Elite Skiff training at Rutland by Tom Wright The musto skiff training has taken place for the past five weekends. Each weekend brought something different as we had wind conditions from 5knots to 30knots. The training brought all different ability skiff sailors. Over the past five weekends b14 and rs700 also attended.Each weekend involved different training exercises that had been cleverly design with a lot of time and thought by Richard and Kit. The exercise was then discussed with the race officers and mark layers. The exercises went from basic start routines with a quick race and a hook finish, to a compacted course with several gates to pass through up and down wind. The exercises brought great training, as many techniques were practices. There was all different types of starting exercise which focused on one major skill like holding station for 3 minutes, winning the flag, winning the committee boat and improving boat acceleration. Another greatly designed course was the river race. This practiced tacking and gybing but also great tactics to attack and defend against other boat. However most sailors struggled to find the river on a lake! The best of all was the downwind blast! More >>>

Dont miss the excellent top tips sheet from the event >>>

Happy New Year As it is new year it's also time to renew your membership of the MPSCA and order your T shirt Join/Renew Now >>>

2008 Class T Shirt Find out more & have your say here >>>

Musto Skiff DVD by World Champion - Richard Stenhouse - K16 taking control Olympian Richard Stenhouse presents K16 taking control The Musto Performance Skiff is a single handed, high performance sailing boat, with trapeze, main and kite, without the right techniques helming can be a bit of a handful. Richard shows how to bring the beast under control, so you don’t have to learn the hard way. Featuring all the boat handling skills he used to win the ISAF Musto Skiff world championships. Find Out More >>>

Skiff Training and Racing @ Rutland SC 16 skiffs arrived at Rutland for the fist of 5 weekends of training organised by Kit (MPS Inland Champion) and Richard (MPS World Champion) Stenhouse. Open to all Skiff sailors, visitors had travelled from as far as Lymington and Chester. More >>>

2007 Musto Skiff Survey - Supported by Ovington Boats
The 2007 MPS Survey is now closed and the results indicate that we have a great future ahead. Below are some key points from the survey, with a link to the full results at the bottom;

- 57% of the people who took the survey don't currently own a Musto Skiff
- 95 respondents who don't own a Musto Skiff plan to join the fleet in the next 12 months
- 0 is the number of the current owners are planning to leave the fleet
- The key events in 2008 (Worlds & UK Nationals) look set to have great turnouts - estimate over 70 boats
- There are a good spread of ages in the fleet
- The 70 - 90kgs range represents 78% of owners

To find out more view the full results >>>

Musto Skiff is now an ISAF International Class The MPSCA are delighted to announce that at the recent ISAF meeting in Portugal the Musto Skiff class has been upgraded to a full International ISAF class. Below is a snippet from the ISAF website. The Council approved two new member nations, Kyrgyzstan and Oman, increasing the number of ISAF MNAs to 125. The number of ISAF Classes has also increased. The Musto Skiff had its status upgraded from Recognized to an ISAF International Class. The RS Tera, O’pen Bic Sport, Ultimate 20, Laser SB3 and TP52 all become ISAF Recognized Classes. More >>>

2008 Worlds Website Up! With true Swiss efficacy the information for the 2008 worlds is now available. The worlds website is now up with lots of information for you to start planning your championships. This is a fantastic venue; don't miss this chance to sail in one of the most sought after European venues.
Read more >>>

Mast Head Floats - A cheap aid to training I used a mast top float for the first six months of sailing a skiff. I moved into the skiff from an RS400 having trapezed about 6 times before buying the boat. I had visited menorca sailing before and seen the floats that they used and felt that this may be a good idea to save myself and the boat from too much damage. I made myself a much smaller float than that used by the sailing schools. I used the smallest buoyancy bag I could find and made a webbing strap handle to attach it to the main halyard shackle. This was still a bit bigger than necessary but worked well. More >>>

The perfect Tactical xmas present for you Personally signed by the author RYA Tactics by Mark Rushall sheds a new light on the complexities of sailboat racing. No other sport requires the combination of so many elements – preparation, strategy, speed, tuning and most importantly tactics. However, it’s good tactics which can so often be that elusive missing skill. More >>>

Musto Skiff Inland Championships Although ‘windguru’ put off some, 20 boats turned up to contest the Musto Skiff Inlands, including 2 current World Champions and 1 National Champion, none of whom could win a race. Saturday’s racing started in a variable and patchy F2 breeze. Dan Vincent and Tim Chapman banged left, were first around the mark and stretched away in a private puff, although Chapman was later caught by the pack, Vincent stayed out in front to record a win, in front of Graeme Oliver. The Race Officer, Peter Saxton, did an excellent job and quickly turned around the racing for the Mustos, B14s, 49ers and Int 14s. Soon we were lining up for a second start, but this time joined by Nick Craig sailing his Musto for the very first time. Ominously for the fleet, he achieved all his goals in the first race by ... read more >>>

The Musto Skiff Learning Curve There can be very few people who step in a Musto Skiff , or any other singlehanded skiff, for the first time and find it easy. High performance dinghies are designed for speed and tend towards the unstable and overpowered corner of the dinghy design envelope. They are not easy. In order to race them or to even to really enjoy them most people will have first have to learn how to sail them. As long as new owners realise this and manage their expectations accordingly then learning to sail them will be a fantastically rewarding experience. Read more >>>

Life Member #3 Paul Manning has been elected through a 100% vote by the MPSCA Committee as a Life Member of the MPSCA in recognition of his contribution to the class. Paul's day to day involvement in the class/business has changed as a result of the sale of the project by Victor Boats to Ovington Boats and this seems a good time to recognise his contribution. Paul has worked tirelessly for the class and it members often going beyond the call of what many would think as reasonable. Read more >>>

Musto Skiffers at the Endeavour Trophy “Legendary Firefly sailor, Team racing star and Musto Performance Skiff owner Steve Tylecote has won the Endeavour Trophy at the Royal Corinthian Yacht Club this weekend. Sailing with Toby Lewis, Steve has, after a number of attempts, won the UK’s most prestigious dinghy racing Trophy. The Endeavour Trophy is the champion of champion’s regatta awarded annually for the winner of a weekend event made up of invited class National or World Champion’s from the UK. It has been raced for 47 consecutive years, and the first winner was a young Keith Musto representing the Cadet class.Read more >>>

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