The Iscomar sponsored Musto Performance Skiff event at the Princess Sofia regatta, Palma de Mallorca

Photos & report by Paul Manning, Vid by Sten

Before I write any details of the event, I’d like to thank Javi and the Stenhouse’s for their time helping me during the event. As everyone knows, our class is one of the friendly ones, and without help from the fleet these events would not go as well as they do!

Also a big thank you to Iscomar who very generously subsidised the ferry passage so all the sailors from outside Mallorca could take part on a more economic basis.

Finally, thank you to Club Nautic S’Arenal for inviting our class to take part in the prestigious Princess Sofia regatta, and for making us so very welcome.

The first two days were mostly spent checking rig set up, and general boat layouts, and there was much discussion over the basic principals behind our current rigging. Most queries were ably answered by Kit with the odd addition by myself.

The remainder of the event was spent on the water sailing in a breeze between 4 – 15knots. Needless to say the sun came out when Richard arrived on Friday, and any other classes racing earlier in the week will be most depressed by the photos!

The majority of sailors wanted to look into two main areas of sailing. Firstly, the newer and less experienced sailors were helped with more fundamental topics such as tacking and gybing, and then more time was spent on on the water tuning tips.

It was very encouraging to see how quickly the improvements were make, to the point that on Saturday most sailors went out in a 15knot breeze and 2 – 2 ½ metre waves. A very exhilarating experience for all…

Many new friends have been made, and sailing terms learnt. For those who cannot understand my accent when setting the rigging, Luca decided that cheese is up, and chocolate is down! It isn’t funny for those who were not their, but Kit and I had to be helped to our feet by Russ Clark afterwards as we were laughing so much :-)