Event: Musto Skiff Open 2024, Sunderland Yacht Club, 18/19 May 2024.
Results via Sunderland Yacht Club.
Summary Event Report:
Fifteen Musto Skiffs had signed up for the Musto Skiff Open 2024 at Sunderland Yacht Club as part of the GBR Scottish and Northern Circuit. However, just 11 boats made it for the last race day, with a difficult beach launch resulting in a snapped mast for one boat and three members of the fleet pulling out of the weekend due to injuries.
Saturday:
The fleet got ready to launch in glorious sunshine from the club slipway. However, with almost all the sand at the club launching area now gone following the battering from storms Babet and Ciarán, launching was slightly more challenging than usual. A couple of the fleet members decided to try a beach launch instead. One got away cleanly, but the other got caught in an unexpected rolling wave, resulting in a snapped mast. Sadly, this meant that the fleet was now a boat down.
Thankfully, the rest of the fleet managed to launch safely and headed to the race course. Immediately upon starting the racing, the famous lighthouse quickly disappeared behind a sea of fog (quite literally!), and the race was abandoned half way up the beat. The boats were then shepherded back to the harbour area for better visibility. Unfortunately, two more boats had retired by this point – Bill Maughan sailed back in with a suspected knee issue, and Steve Robson with back issues.
With a keen fleet of sailors raring to get some racing in, the PRO took the decision to set up a short course in the harbour area. Racing then resumed, and the fleet managed to get the day’s three races in, with the first race being a six-lapper. This seriously tested everyone’s boat handing skills with a much tighter course. However, this made for some fun racing in some tricky conditions. He may have only recently rejoined the fleet, but Graeme Oliver showed his impressive sailing skills, leading overnight with a 5, 2, 1. Euan Hurter ended the day biting at his heels in 2nd place with a 6, 1, 2.
Sunday:
The sun was coming and going, but there was wind, and the pea soup had lifted enough to allow the fleet to enjoy some open sea racing outside of the harbour. The racing could not have been closer for the final day, resulting in not one countback but three (!) to decide the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th place between Mikey Matthews, Graeme Oliver, and Danny Boatman, who all finished up on 14 points each!
Congratulations to Euan Hurter, who took first place overall to win the event. Joining him on the podium were Mikey Matthews in 2nd place and Graeme Oliver in 3rd.
Thanks to Sunderland Yacht Club for hosting the event and to the PRO team for safely managing the fleet in some difficult decisions on Saturday. Also, a big thank you to all the volunteers, from the galley to the bar and the beach team. A final thank you to photographer, Michael Oliver, who captured the racing in the foggy conditions and managed to get some fantastic shots!
Full event report to follow with more on the races.
Event Report & Overall Results
Full results via SYC Noticeboard:
Feature photo: © Michael Oliver, 2024
