Black Rock Musto Skiff Regatta

Report by Richard Ekburg& Photos Russell Bates

Black Rock once again hosted the Musto fleet for the last event on the 2011-12 season calendar. We shared the course with I14s, B14s and Moths in the annual skiff get together.

Saturday turned out to be a much nicer day than forecast with a fairly steady 10knt south-easterly and 25 degrees – not bad for winter sailing. The first race got underway with a big wind shift 5 minutes after the gun, half the fleet tacked onto it, but it never went back, so the race quickly turned into 2 divisions. Not that it mattered all that much, the little guys all finished up the lead group, and setting the trend for the weekend no-one could catch Jon Newman, who led home Tim Hill and an excellent race from Chris Piele.

There was a little more breeze for the start of the second race, with Paul Newman rounding the first mark just in front of Tim Moorhouse and Richard Ekberg. Paul cruised away for a good win without ever bending his knees, while the next 2 struggled with their extra 20kgs, Tim hung on for a good 2nd, but Richard got run down by Marcus Hamilton and Jon.

They gave us a 3 lapper for the 3rd race with the breeze fading a little. Paul and Jon had a match race for the whole course with the older, lighter, wiser brother Paul eventually holding out for a narrow win. Marcus and Tim Hill had another match race for the minor placings and Richard held off the fat boys division.

Sunday turned out to be a different animal altogether. What looked like a fantastic northerly to begin with soon turned out to be a complete monster. The wind gauge in the club saw a spike during the first run on the 4th race at 34knts. Not that this seemed to trouble Jon who rounded the top mark ahead of Richard, Marcus and Richie Robertson, and cruised away from the rest of us while we all had a turn on the centerboard. RiRo loved the fresher conditions and plugged away for a good 2nd from Marcus and Richard inches in front of Tim Moorhouse.

The 5th race was if anything a little windier. Much the same result at the front with Jon showing us some brilliant boat handling, to win easily from Marcus and Robin Dayes, who came around the last mark in last place and waved at everyone else on their centerboards while he cruised in for a terrific 3rd, followed in by Wayne Bates in his new boat and only second regatta. With the breeze backing a little to the west it was picking up particularly steep slow waves which turned out to be perfect for launching off, but sometimes the landings were not pretty.

We had all had enough by then and headed for the beach. The race team headed by Mark Taylor saw the writing on the wall and called the rest of the afternoon off. Black Rock conducted the weekend with their traditional professionalism and we’d all like to thank the 25 odd volunteers for their hard work.
With Tim Hill taking the day off and Jon Newman sailing a brilliant regatta for the event win, Jon also wins the overall Victorian Championships, sailed over the 4 Open Meetings for the season, with a win in each of the 3 events he contested. Tim came a very close 2nd with a consistent performance and Richie Robertson in 3rd.

Results (click the below for larger image)