2006 Regional Review - Scotland by Ian Renilson

New members of the fleet ...

The 2006 season got off to a flying start for Musto Skiffs in Scotland with 6 brand new boats being ordered very early in the year. Along with a couple of second-hand boats that brought the total number of Musto Skiffs in Scotland to an incredible 15 boats - which is amazing for an area where sailing is such a small sport.

Since then we lost a few of boats mostly due to relocations - no-one moved to another class which is encouraging, and 2 are sailing their Musto Skiffs in England (boo hiss).

Now - as the season draws towards a close - people are looking at what they will sail next year and we have already had two further newcomers - Mark Goalen at Aberdeen and Ronnie Millar at Dalgety Bay. I am sure there will be more before next season.

There are currently 16 Musto Skiffs in Scotland at the following clubs:

o Dalgety Bay SC
o Largo Bay SC
o Prestwick SC
o Wormit SC
o Port Edgar YC
o Largs YC
o Oban SC
o Royal Findhorn YC
o Peterhead SC (Aberdeen)

These boats are spread all over Scotland and so anyone thinking of coming into the class will have boats nearby - this will give us a great platform for future growth.

Training Events

Training is very important to help people up the steep learning curve from being able to sail ‘conventional’ boats to being competent in a skiff. The simplicity and elegant design of the Musto Skiff makes it a manageable boat - but some new techniques are required and good training is the key to ensuring people get to grips with these new concepts quickly so that they can - handle the boats competently - enjoy their sailing - and compete with the more experienced sailors.

Class training is mostly integrated with training events run by ‘Scottish Skiff Racing’ (www.ScottishSkiffRacing.com), which works to promote all the skiff classes racing in Scotland, and between us we have run several training events this year to help people into skiff racing and improve skills.

In addition to numerous informal training sessions there have been 3 formal training events so far this year:

o Harvey Hillary coached us over a long-weekend at Loch Lomond in April.
o Julian Pearson coached us over a weekend at Prestwick in July.
o Ian Renilson coached a specific training event for Musto Skiffs at Dalgety Bay, attended by 9 boats. This was part of the Nationwide Training Spectacular organised by the UK Class Association & Ovington Boats in April.

We are committed to on-going training as part of our strategy for developing the Musto Skiff class in Scotland and more training events will be arranged in the near future.

Travellers Trophy Series

The Scottish Travellers Trophy series again been very successful - all our venues have been excellent and in just its second year 22 boats have competed in one or more event already - with the Scottish Skiff Championships still to come at Largs on 30 Sept/ 1 Oct.

The series has attracted the very best Musto Skiff sailors in the World (including all the top 3 at the UK Nationals), and with 1 event to go Ian Trotter from Derwent (last years UK National Champion) has sewn-up the top spot, but other places are still up for grabs.

The third Scottish Championships were held at East Lothian YC (North Berwick), and were attended by 13 boats, with Ovingtonsy going to Richard Stenhouse from Rutland.

Scots at Events Outside Scotland

Scots have competed well outside Scotland:

Gold Cup - Travemunde
o Ian Renilson - 5th
o Andy Bunyan - 12th

UK Nationals - Filey
A record number of Scots competed in the UK Nationals - which nearly achieved 50 boats.
o Ian Renilson - 3rd
o Gavin Homer - 15th (2nd in Silver Fleet)
o Martin Goodlad - 16th
o Ross McKerchar - 24th
o John Reekie - 25th

John Reekie excelled himself on the first day and was lying 4th after 3 light weather races, but he needs more practice in stronger winds!

Gavin Homer was the opposite and struggled in lighter winds, but could have got a top 10 position with his performance in the stronger winds.

Both these people are new to the class this year, and we can expect them to improve - along with everyone else - for next year.

Holt Tide Ride
o Ian Renilson - 2nd

The Future for Musto Skiffs in Scotland

The future looks very bright for Musto Skiffs in Scotland. It is emerging as a strong class and is attracting some excellent sailors - which will encourage more.

Also the depth of the class is very strong and the top sailors are working hard to ensure those coming into the class get the hang of the boat quickly, so we hope that having top sailors will encourage others throughout the fleet, not just the ‘elite’. The boat is such fun that you can enjoy yourself without being at the top of the fleet, and a combination of training and quality events will improve everyone’s sailing.
We also hope that the UK Nationals will be in Scotland in 2009, which will encourage more people into the class.

So:
o Sailors in Scotland without Musto Skiffs - should obviously get Musto Skiffs.
o Musto Skiff sailors outside Scotland - you should relocate to Scotland.
o And sailors outside Scotland without Musto Skiffs (REALLY sad people) - come to Scotland and get a Musto Skiff ?.

To find out more about Musto Skiffs in Scotland, and to arrange a test sail - at a club near you - please contact Ian Renilson:
IanR@Sunrise-Engineering.com
Tel: 01383 823811 (day/ eve)

Newcomers for 2006

Some of the Scottish newcomers in 2006 - faces to look out for in 2007:

Andy Hutchinson, from Dalgety Bay SC at the Kielder Water TT event, April 2006:

Gavin Homer, from Dalgety Bay SC, at the Scottish Championships, East Lothian YC, June 2006:

John Reekie, from Largs SC, at the Kielder Water TT event, April 2006:

Mark Haine, from Prestwick SC, at the training weekend at Prestwick, July 2006.

Steve Forteith, from Oban SC, at the training weekend at Loch Lomond SC, April 2006.

Andy Bunyan from Largs SC, at Kielder Water TT event. April 2006

Current Top sailors:
Ian Trotter, from Derwent Reservoir, 2006 TT winner, at Kielder Water TT event. April 2006:

Ian Renilson, from Dalgety Bay SC, at Kielder Water TT event. April 2006:

All photos courtesy of Alan Henderson, www.Fotoboat.com