Pimp Clinic, Buedelsdorf February 28th 2010

With continental Europe having it’s fair share of snow and ice this winter and often the only way to get on the water being to put on your ice skates, the opportunity of the Pimp Clinic seemed too good to be true as a way of getting to know our recent acquisition – a Musto skiff each.

Late last year we decided to bite the bullet and get Musto skiffs since this would give us a few boats in Holland to sail against (a plus over the RS400 where we are the Dutch fleet). Over the skiff Benelux site (www.skiffbenelux.com) we learned the fleet in Germany is growing rapidly with double numbers at events on a regular basis. When Iver Ahlmann (GER 370), just back in Germany after some years in the UK, announced he was presenting all the leading tweaks on Mustos on the 28th of February we were very interested to go, even with the somewhat peculiar naming of 'Pimp clinic'.

Thus on a very rainy Sunday morning, somewhere towards the Danish border, 7 Germans, 2 English and 1 Dutch person arrived at a hall which was made for the job, exactly high enough to fit a boat with sail up (and luckily heated). Some of us owned boats, some were off to look at second hand boats in the next few weeks and others were currently thinking about making the move into the class. Very promising was there were 3 girls attending, 2 of them already owning a Musto. The day started informally with introductions, chatting about out experiences and as sailors can’t help but do…. going around the boat, checking out and discussing all the changes made to see if our own would be up for alteration. In short what would normally happen when a start is delayed on a no wind day, except we were not all wearing neoprene and lunch and drinks were taken care of (thanks, Iver!)

Iver produced a list of no less than 56 pimps which he applied to his boat (okay, 55, one is on the trolley). The pimps were split into groups: improving handling, improving durability and improving performance. Each one was looked at, the reasoning discussed, differences between generations of boats mentioned and most importantly how to carry out the pimp with DIY tips. The individual pimps are not all discussed here, at the clinic this took over 2 hours. The idea is to add the pictures made to the list and have this available on the website in Germany. It can be summarized by saying you need lots of progrip, lots of elastics, bits of rope, bobbles and good splicing skills. As we went through the pimps it became clear that splicing is a major skill for pimpers as the method to make attachments cleanly and smoothly. The clinic ended with us sitting round a table having a practical splicing lesson which left us with the idea that there is one area of sailing you can practice in front of the TV. I would advise everyone who enters the class, to take a look at the list, they resemble a lot of knowledge gained. For us the pimp clinic was an ideal opportunity to get to know the people and the boats better and a great start to joining the class.

Thanks to Iver on the organisation and the thorough explanation, it was well worth our trip. We will come back to Germany in the sailing season!

Elaine Turner / Sybrand Jongejans
MPS 421 / 422