Ullswater Open - April 16th 2005

The Musto Skiff fleet met at Ullswater for a one-day open event on the 16th April with four back-to-back races. Race one started in light conditions. A windshift turned the beat into a fetch but Richard Stenhouse managed to position himself best for incoming puffs, rounding the windward mark first and holding onto the lead to the finish in front of Graeme Oliver and Ian Trotter third. The wind came up and shifted west as the race officer moved the marks for race two. Dave Poston took some favourable shifts upwind to round the windward mark with a significant lead over Stenhouse which was extended while Stenhouse was held up by a 49er. Stenhouse steadily eroded Poston's lead and passed him on the last upwind leg, winning the race with Poston second and Oliver third. Race 3 saw Poston round the windward mark first. Stenhouse, Trotter and Oliver were all close behind and each place was hotly contested with Oliver resorting to forcing Trotter the wrong side of the downwind mark. Oliver passed Poston with a quicker kite hoist at the next mark and went on to win with Poston second and Stenhouse third. Race 4 had more frequent place changing as the gusts came through. Trotter shook the rust off his skiff sailing to win over Stenhouse with Oliver third. Thanks go to the race team and to the club for letting the skiffs stay for the following day's capsize-practice/training!

Overall Results:

1st Musto Skiff 163 Richard Stenhouse 4pts
2nd Musto Skiff 161 Graeme Oliver 6pts
3rd Musto Skiff 153 Dave Poston 9pts
4th Musto Skiff 168 Ian Trotter 10pts
5th Musto Skiff 169 Tim Chapman 12pts