Article by Mark Cooper
After 12 events in the 2024 Musto Skiff UK series, Sam Pascoe has won the 2024 Southern Circuit and the overall UK Series title. This comes after a flawless performance that saw Sam clinch the UK National Champion Title in June, followed by the coveted World Champion Title in July.
This year’s UK series included six events for the Southern Circuit, five events for the Scottish & Northern Circuit (which was won by Euan Hurter), and a UK National Championship hosted at Filey Sailing Club. With a weighted scoring system, awarding 100 points to the event winner and then descending scores based upon fleet size, the series counted three circuit events (north or south) and the non-discardable UK Nationals. What was amazing to see was that ten sailors scored above 300 points—an incredible performance and testament to how close the racing has been this season in the GBR fleet.
We had 83 individual competitors in the UK series this year, representing 59 different sailing clubs, which was an increase on an already bumper 2023 season. Seven different winners over 12 events shows how closely fought our fleet has been this series and what a great average turnout we’ve had compared to other high-performance boats. This just goes to show that the Musto Skiff really is the people’s adrenaline hit of choice.
As well as some great events across the UK, this season has also seen some very successful training events run by professional coaches and volunteers alike, which were once again sponsored by Noble Marine and Ovington Boats. The class has a fabulous record for an open exchange of information and training, and it continues to go from strength-to-strength every season with the standard developing fleet-wide.
While the circuit has now finished, there is still the 2024/25 Selden SailJuice Winter Series title for the class to defend. Over the years, the title has been won by Musto Skiff sailors, including Sam Pascoe, who is the current title holder. For this reason, it is likely to be eagerly contested, and with many of the GBR fleet heading to Sydney in January for the Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds, it will be a prime opportunity for a final tune-up and some extra regatta training. This will also lead us nicely into our new season, which will start with the Southern Circuit at the Ovington Inlands in mid-March.
With just a couple of events to be finalised now, the UK series event schedule is almost complete, and will include a mix of new and established open events, as well as some combined long-distance events for a bit of variety.
The following dates and venues have been confirmed by Circuit as follows:
GBR Class - Musto Skiff 2025 UK Series: Southern Circuit:
- 15/16 March – Ovington Inlands, Grafham Water Sailing Club
- 5/6 April – Stokes Bay Open, Stokes Bay Sailing Club (Skiff event)
- 10/11 May – Castle Cove Open, Castle Cove Sailing Club (Shared with K1)
- 21/22 June – Restronguet Open, Restronguet Sailing Club (Club Skiff Open)
- 5/6 July – Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
- 13/14 September – East Coast Piers Race Weekend, Marconi Sailing Club (Magellan Trophy)
- October TBC * – Brightlingsea Skiff Fest, Brightlingsea Sailing Club
- 8/9 November – Itchenor Firecracker Weekend, Itchenor Sailing Club
GBR Class - Musto Skiff 2025 UK Series: Scottish & Northern Circuit:
- 26/27 April – Daffodil Regatta 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
- 17/18 May – Musto Skiff Open, Largs Sailing Club (Musto Skiff’s only)
- 7/8 June – ELYC Regatta, East Lothian Yacht Club (Northern and Scottish Nationals #1)
- 5/6 July – Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
- 2/3 August – Chanonry Open, Chanonry Sailing Club
- 6/7 Sept * – Loch Lomond Open, Loch Lomond Sailing Club
- 27/28 Sept – Dalgety Bay Open, Dalgety Bay Sailing Club (Northern and Scottish Nationals #2)
Musto Skiff UK National Championship 2025:
- 18 to 21 September – UK National Championship 2025, Hayling Island Sailing Club
*Provisional. Event to be confirmed.
All skiff classes are welcome at most of these organised events, so 2025 is shaping up to be a great season with plenty of competitive sailing and fun on the water. In addition, the class also has the ACO 14th Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds to look forward to in Sydney, Australia, over 2 to 10 January.
The latest event calendar is available on the class website here. Some event details may change and additional events may be added, so check with your local class association representative or go to the GBR Class Facebook Group for the most up-to-date event details.
Well done once again to Sam Pascoe for his impressive season in the Musto Skiff, and I look forward to seeing everyone for the start of the new season in March, if not before then at the Selden SailJuice Winter Series!
Full Scores for the 2024 Musto Skiff UK series:
https://mustoskiff.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/MS-UK-Circuit-Weighted-Scores-2024.xlsx
Feature image: Sam Pascoe – ACO 13th Musto Skiff World Championship 2024 (© Michael Oliver)
