 Musto
Skiffs compete at Kieler Woche for the first time
Report: Julian Ramm
Photos : Tania Samus see
more images at http://www.photoskiff.com/
It was on the Tuesday evening of the Kieler
Woche when – although I had just finished 4 days of
sailing in the 49er’s Worldcup in moderate to strong
winds – I decided I wanted another dose of that Kieler
Woche feeling.
Maybe it had to do with the fact that I didn’t do as
well in the 49er as I could have hoped for and maybe
it was simply because Musto sailing is so much fun.
In any event, I entered myself for the Musto Skiff event
at Kieler Woche (bending a few rules along the way as
I was long past the official registration deadline).
Segelsport Jess had generously given me the loan of
a completely new boat and after tweaking it a bit and
adding a few pimps I was all set to take on what turned
out to be a fairly international fleet: 25 sailors from
Switzerland, Austria, Dubai, the Netherlands, the UK
and Germany had made their way to Kiel.
The first race, scheduled to start at
1 p.m., was postponed as the race committee registered
wind shifts of up to 80 degrees, giving us a taste of
conditions prevailing on the “India” race course in
Westerly winds.
Later the same day the wind was more steady and three
races were sailed. Iver Ahlmann and Roger Oswald, the
two top contenders, set the benchmark from race one.
However, after a closely contested finish I came in
first in the third race of the day just ahead of Iver
and Roger.
Challenging wind conditions and the high standard at
the top end of the fleet promised some exciting racing
over the next few days.
As a perfect way to wind down this first and rather
long day we had a BBQ – courtesy of ACO – together with
the 29XX sailors. As you would expect, re-enactments
of feats on the racecourse and discussions of trim,
strategy and handling received as much attention as
the plentiful and excellent food.
Weather conditions remained more or less unchanged for
the next two days and saw winds of 12 to 18 knots –
albeit only at the leeward gate, whereas the windward
mark was so close to land that the most important tactical
consideration was to find a way of getting away from
this area of extremely gusty and shifty wind as fast
as possible.
Even so the race committee did an excellent job and
we got to sail 10 races in total. The wind wasn’t doing
its job on the last day so it was voted unanimously
to call it a day rather than postpone the start in the
uncertain hope of the wind picking up.
With hindsight this could be seen as the wrong decision
as the 29XX class did manage another 2 races later in
the day but it was a decision much appreciated by all
those who had to work the next day and a long way home
ahead of them.
The upshot was that Iver deservedly
won the first Kieler Woche and veteran sailor Roger
and self came second and third respectively.
The Musto Skiff class has made a very successful first
appearance at the Kieler Woche thanks, in no small measure,
to the hard work Iver and Cathy put into the preparation
of the event.
A big thanks to both of them and also to Holger Jess
who put a brand new boat at my disposal.
Full
results (IE required) >>>
Full
results (KW site) >>>
Foto and Video footage of Kieler
Woche
Some great photos, video and TV coverage
... full report on it's way. Make sure you watch these;
great to see all the publicity the event attracted.
For those who have never attended any of these massive
multi class events these photos and videos you you a
real flavour of the size and scale of an ISAF grade
1 event. Great to see the class has become a part of
these events. Congratulations to the team for pulling
this all together.
German
TV Channel portraits the Musto Skiff before races start
at Kieler Woche
Fantastic photo coverage by our very own Tania Samus
(Thanks for making it over to Kiel!)
http://photoskiff.com/sailing/kiel11/
Plus ...
Kiel
Week Racing Footage by "Audi TV"
Impressions
of Kiel Week by the Swiss team (Nicolas Duchoud SUI
109)
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