Report by Jon Shelley;
Photos by Tim Olin See the full gallery >>>
Gillard brings his own ladder
A strong fleet of 12 MUSTO Skiffs gathered at Ullswater Yacht Club for Round 1 of the Scottish Skiff Series. The fleet included Tom Gillard multiple class champion, Ian Trotter regular MUSTO Skiff winner and Jamie Hilton fresh from a podium place at the recent MUSTO Skiff worlds in Australia. A special shout to Phil Devonport from Bass who turned up to race with very few miles on his ‘MUSTO clock’ and showed good promise in very tricky conditions.
Day 1 started at 8-10 knots for race one dropping to 2-6 knots for the final 2 races of the day – but with sunshine throughout which was a novelty. It was typical lake sailing with shifts and holes and the fabled snakes and ladders to contend with. In his famous style Hilton got to the first mark of the first race first, but in the end most people ended up with a shot at the front at some point during the day. Gillard however showed his class and appeared to have turned up with the biggest ladder. He sailed a very consistent set of scores to lead convincingly overnight with only Stu Keegan able to upset his dominance also taking a race win. Josh Moran Shelley and Trotter were just about hanging in there but left themselves much to do on day 2. Classic Ullswater sundowners and hospitality then commenced with a very good humoured Mr & Mrs Trotter narrowly missing out on the game of Mr & Mrs.
On Day 2 the wind was up a notch to 10-20k (yes, a big range!) and remained gusty and shifty through the day. With four races scheduled over 4&5 lap Windward leewards it was some work out for the fleet. Shelley started well with a bullet in the first followed by Gillard. Trotter and Shelley battled within boat lengths of each other at the front for much of the second race eventually coming together in a swearing mess at the leeward mark (ed. have since kissed and made up), letting Keegan and Gillard through to steal the show with a 1,2 and the ever-consistent Moran always nearby.
Race 3 and Shelley was out front and finished it off, but the real story was behind where Gillard and Keegan came together at the Windward mark leaving Gillard with broken tiller extension and heading for home and Keegan down the pack. So, a final race that mattered but nobody could do the maths(!).
Trotter, Keegan, Shelley and Moran all led at different points but confusion over the number of laps meant that Keegan missed out with Moran taking a well-earned final race win.
Well done Tom Gillard counting 5 top 2 finishes to take victory. A weekend that had a bit of everything. Thanks to UYC for being a great host both off and on the water.
