ACO 8th MUSTO Skiff World Championship 2017
Club Nàutic S’Arenal (Bahía de Palma, Spain)
3rd June 2017
Worlds Day 6 – 2 races
Report by Rick Perkins
Media RIB driven by Paul Manning
Photos by Bernardi Bibloni Bigas www.bernardibibiloni.com
Video by Ugo Fonollá www.ugofonolla.com
Event Title Sponsor: http://www.aco.com/
FULL RESULTS HERE >>>
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The final day of the championships dawned with battles to be done for all the key titles. The sun was shining but the sea breeze was taking its time to build so the 12 o’clock start was postponed.
After a short delay the fleet set out and started just before 13:00 under P flag, which was general recalled so the U flag came out and then the race got away at the second time of asking but there were a number of boats recorded UFD.
At the first mark Oswald (SUI) lead from Kilsby (GBR) and Hill (AUS); Keen (GBR) was 10th and Schwerdt (GER) was 14th so Keen was gaining on points … breeze was now in at 10- 12 knots …
As the second windward mark there had been a bit of a reshuffle as the fleet footed into the mark following a sizable left shift; Peake (GBR) lead from Schwerdt and Keen.
At that point the race was abandoned; some were happy; some not but those who were recorded UFD were the most happy as they got to re-join the race restart,
Race 13 then was restarted just after 14:00 there was an individual recall, but no-one returned.
By this time the waves had built to a steep chop; Keen was leading with Robertson (AUS) second and Schwerdt third. Keen then hit a bad set of waves and capsized opening the door to the chasers.
At the finish Schwerdt took the win from Hilton (GBR) and Keen in third.
This gave Schwerdt a good advantage going into the final race; if Keen won, he just had to finish in the top 10.
The final race (14) got away under P flag at 15:39 just ahead of the 16:00 cut off … Keen was doing all he could by leading the race and at the first mark Schwerdt was 12th so at that moment Keen was in pole position ….
As the race unfolded Keen held his lead but Schwerdt was pulling through the fleet and at the finish it was Keen who took the win from Robertson (AUS) with Schwerdt in 3rd taking the title by just 6 points which over a 14 race regatta is a slim margin.
Congratulations to Frithjof Schwerdt who is the new World Champion.
Whilst the Keen / Schwerdt battle had been raging competition for the 3rd podium slot was equally tough and eventually Tarboton (RSA) prevailed over Hill (AUS) in 4th and local Martinez (ESP); these 3 were separated by just 7 points.
The bronze fleet was won by Patrick Harris (ESP) and the silver fleet was won by Stuart Keegan (GBR).
The youth category was won by Daniel Trotter (GBR), Master by Tim Hill (AUS) and Grand Master by Roger Oswald (SUI).
In summary we have had a great championships at Club Nautic S’Arenal; the class would like to thank the host club who have been fantastic.
John McAfee from Ovington Boats has done an excellent job of supporting the fleet and keeping everyone racing.
Finally, we’d like to thank class sponsors MUSTO and event title sponsors ACO.
See you all next year at Blairgowrie Yacht Squadron (Melbourne, Australia).
