MUSTO SKIFFS AT THORPE
BAY
The Musto Skiff fleet descended on TBYC
hoping for better weather than the recent events, they
were not disappointed. With a building sea breeze of
up to 18kts it was to provide some excellent racing.
Race 1 started with Rick Perkins getting the best start
and never being passed with Richard (Sten) Stenhouse
and Graeme Oliver fighting between them for second place,
Sten eventually taking it.
Race 2 started with a building chop and
a one sided beat, with a wind bend up the shore followed
by a lift on port it made the beat a fight for clear
air and boat speed. This race showed just how close
things were getting as Oliver tried to mate with Perkins
at the first leeward mark, allowing Sten and Perkins
to stretch out a lead with Oliver playing catch up in
third and duelling with Perkins on the short beat to
the finish, Perkins getting past with about a boat length
to spare, Simon Reynolds again notching up a fourth
to keep him in the hunt after a consistent race and
a duel with Kit Stenhouse.
With the wind now at 18kts it was a case
of the better the boat handling, the higher up the fleet
you were, Sten and Oliver dominated the race with Perkins
and Reynolds fighting for third, Tony Phillips was starting
to put together a consistent set of results in fifth
with excellent upwind speed. This race saw a large chop
and with the tricky bear away and gybe it was important
to keep the speed on at all times.
Day 2 dawned with at first lighter breeze
which slowly built as the first race progressed. Sten
again dominated the race with excellent boat handling
Perkins and Oliver fought for the other chocolates with
Reynolds having an unfortunate over the handlebars moment
on the downwind leg pushing him out of the race for
the top places. Further down the fleet there were other
duels happening between Phillips, Danny Clark and Kit,
with Kit winning the duel over the hairdressers’, she
must have used more hairspray.
Race 5 saw a welcome return to form from
Dave Poston having tasted the Thames a few too many
times on Saturday. This race saw the closest action
of the weekend with no less than 5 leaders at various
times, the main reason being the fight against weed,
Oliver however managed to stay weed free after an altercation
with Perkins at the first mark dropped him to ninth.
Oliver crossed first ahead of Sten, Poston third and
Phillips forth. Reynolds unlucky to pick up half a ton
of weed on his board while leading recovered to finish
fifth.
All the attention was on Perkins and Oliver
for the last race as Sten had already won, Sten lead
at the first mark with Phillips and Oliver close behind,
Oliver decided to go right down the run which allowed
him to close in on Sten and Phillips, all this was to
come to an anticlimax as Phillips decided he liked the
idea of mating Musto’s and broke Oliver’s rack on the
first leeward mark rounding, a large wave doing the
trick nicely! This allowed Perkins through to second
with Reynolds and Poston taking third and fourth.
A great weekend was had by all, a big
thanks to all at TBYC.
Pos Sail No Boat Name Helm Club Pts
1st GBR 209 Helly Hansen Richard Stenhouse Rutland SC
6
2nd GBR 162 - Rick Perkins Whitstable YC 10
3rd GBR 161 Harken Graeme Oliver Whitstable YC 12
4th GBR 160 Blighline Simon Reynolds Whitstable YC 19
5th GBR 207 I’m Not a Hairdresser Toni Phillips Thorpe
Bay YC 26
Author : Graeme Oliver
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