Northern and Scottish MUSTO Skiffs at Ullswater – 20/21 April 2019
Report by Jono Shelley
Here is what you need to know: Alastair Conn was in a different league – boat speed or tactics you ask? Both.
The second Northern and Scottish Skiff event was hosted by Ullswater Yacht Club over the Easter weekend. 6 races were held in sunshine and a shifty 6-12k took place. A healthy fleet of 12 boats raced on a shared course with the VXOne’s, Moths, Waszps and a mixed asymmetric fleet all with different starts. The standard was high with many boats that can be seen near the front of national events in attendance, the return of the rockstar Bov Turnbull and a well travelled Dave Annan to add some spice.
The tone was set early on with Ali Conn sailing through the fleet to take the first race win. Over the weekend most people had their brief turn at the front, with Ian Trotter managing to steel the win in race 2, but Conn managed to nail the shifts both upwind and down and show incredible pace to frankly humble the event favourite Jamie Hilton in his brand new boat in all of the other races.
2nd place overall mathematically came down to a last race ‘shoot out’ between Hilton, Shelley, Trotter, Stu Keegan and local boy Josh Moran who showed some great pace at the YDSC event and again at Ullswater. Shelley managed to grind out 2nd behind Conn, who by this point was in the distance, but Hilton was close enough to secure 3rd and therefore a well earned second overall.
And so concludes the Ali Conn show – watch out team Stokes Bay……
1st – Ali Conn
2nd – Jamie Hilton
3rd – Jono Shelley
4th – Ian Trotter
5th – Stuart Keegan
