Musto Skiff regatta in Dongo (Lake Como): 5th-6th June

Report by Edoardo Amato and Dieter Brunner

Last week-end 20 Musto Skiffs coming from 5 different countries (Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Nederland and Great Britain) gathered at the Skiffsailing Club in Dongo (Lake of Como) for the usual regatta, which is now part of the swiss sailing calendar. This year the event was made part of the Euro Cup Series, the inaugural Euro circuit putting together 10 Musto Skiff events in 10 different European countries!
This regatta is every year attended by a good number of sailor but this year we were really surprised seeing 20 entries!

Perfect weather conditions (sunshine and good wind) on both days allowed us to complete all the 8 races scheduled.

We were racing together with the 49ers (25 boats) and even if our course was a little bit shorter we had some awesome fast crossing!

It was amazing to see such a great fleet racing together!

On Friday, we had a nice training with the swiss sailors who came one day before the event with a perfect
breeze.

On Saturday a brilliant sunshine let the local thermal wind, called “Breva”, blow up to 18 knots and we succeeded in completing all the 4 races in great conditions. In particular we had some spectacular tacks just few metres close to the cliffs where strong gusts of wind made everything so tricky!

On Saturday evening we had a big BBQ dinner at the sailing club and a nice party.

On Sunday we had almost the same conditions of the day before with the thermal wind raising from 10 to 15 knots and the race committee allowed us to sail all the 4 races before the time fixed for the end of the races (the last start was given one minute before the time limit!). Some wind shift and drop down of the wind during the races allowed the sailors to show their tactical skills and let the more experienced trumph over the others.

Roger Oswald (SUI 308) was the undisputed winner on both days, winning all the 8 races! Dominique Walchli (SUI 132) showed his impressive skills in every conditions gaining the second position overall. The Italian sailor Daniele Poli (ITA 256) , despite his light weight, showed us how boat handling in the manoeuvres and tactical choices on our boat are often more worth than having a good speed!
Also Markus Mühlbauer (GER 348) and Dieter Brunner (SUI 306) did a very good job staying always in front of the fleet.

Nice performance also from the Dutch sailor Paul Dijkstra (NED 076) who had always a great speed!
I learnt a lot from this regatta: I learnt that one of the most important thing is to make a good start (and from now on I’ll always practice this to become better and better) with a good speed! And thanks to some good starts, for the first time I experienced what a regatta is when you’re in the first places of the fleet and you’re more relaxed and all the problems I felt before went away. I saw I had a good speed and I realized that all the troubles I had in the past might have been caused by my always being last of the fleet and my spending lots of energies to regain some position!

I’m very satisfied by this event (a special thank goes to the sailing club and the race committee who organized it properly) joined by a great number of boats and I hope everyone enjoyed his sailing here.
I want to thank all the sailor for coming (in particular Paul for coming from very far away) and looking forward to next year I hope to see many of you!

Results >>>

Additional report by Dieter Brunner

Bella Italia, radiant summer weather and thermals stramme ensured excellent conditions for the Eurocup Regatta in Italy. 20 MPS from five (!) Nations contributed an average of 4 Bf eight runs, which were more important than speed and Boathandling sophisticated tactics. Start on the left side of the starting line, long stroke was called up to the left bank, turning up to the windward mark and the promising slogan. In addition, trim weight was much in demand back in order to cope with the steep – filling the boat - without undercutting. Only the first race on Sunday at a little tamer 2-3 Bf paid off the right side, and rewarded the brave with rank shifts forward.

Roger Oswald mastered the conditions once again runner-up in different manner, and won all eight runs, thanks to superior speed sovereign. Behind this there developed a far more exciting event between Dominique Wälchli (ex-Finn Matador), Daniele Polli (ITA, 49er Swiss champion), Markus Muehlbauer (GER, ex 505 crack), Paul Ojlister (NED, 49er, MPS since 2 months) and the author of these lines. Also Paolo Jannarone and Eduardo Amato (both mixed ITA) in the chasing pack with a strong and took care of the one or two surprises.

Many thanks to the sympathetic Skiffsailing club for the perfect organization on the water and the tasty BBQ on Saturday evening. We return next year you return to this beautiful, wind-safe site.

More photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/skiffsailing/sets/72157624176501727/with/4710925881/