Sam Pascoe Tops the Musto Skiff 2024 UK Series

by Mark Cooper 20 Nov 11:14 NZDT

Sam Pascoe (1st) - ACO 13th Musto Skiff 2024 Worlds at the WPNSA © Michael Oliver

After 12 events in the 2024 Musto Skiff UK series, Sam Pascoe has won the 2024 Southern Circuit and the overall UK Series title. This comes after a flawless performance that saw Sam clinch the UK National Champion Title in June, followed by the coveted World Champion Title in July.

This year's UK series included six events for the Southern Circuit, five events for the Scottish & Northern Circuit (which was won by Euan Hurter), and a UK National Championship hosted at Filey Sailing Club. With a weighted scoring system, awarding 100 points to the event winner and then descending scores based upon fleet size, the series counted three circuit events (north or south) and the non-discardable UK Nationals. What was amazing to see was that ten sailors scored above 300 points—an incredible performance and testament to how close the racing has been this season in the GBR fleet.

We had 83 individual competitors in the UK series this year, representing 59 different sailing clubs, which was an increase on an already bumper 2023 season. Seven different winners over 12 events shows how closely fought our fleet has been this series and what a great average turnout we've had compared to other high-performance boats. This just goes to show that the Musto Skiff really is the people's adrenaline hit of choice.

As well as some great events across the UK, this season has also seen some very successful training events run by professional coaches and volunteers alike, which were once again sponsored by Noble Marine and Ovington Boats. The class has a fabulous record for an open exchange of information and training, and it continues to go from strength-to-strength every season with the standard developing fleet-wide.

While the circuit has now finished, there is still the 2024/25 Selden SailJuice Winter Series title for the class to defend. Over the years, the title has been won by Musto Skiff sailors, including Sam Pascoe, who is the current title holder. For this reason, it is likely to be eagerly contested, and with many of the GBR fleet heading to Sydney in January for the Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds, it will be a prime opportunity for a final tune-up and some extra regatta training.

This will also lead us nicely into our new season, which will start with the Southern Circuit at the Ovington Inlands in mid-March.

With just a couple of events to be finalised now, the UK series event schedule is almost complete, and will include a mix of new and established open events, as well as some combined long-distance events for a bit of variety.

The following dates and venues have been confirmed as follows...

Southern Circuit:

15/16 March - Ovington Inlands, Grafham Water Sailing Club
5/6 April - Stokes Bay Open, Stokes Bay Sailing Club (Skiff event)
10/11 May - Castle Cove Open, Castle Cove Sailing Club (Shared with K1)
21/22 June - Restronguet Open, Restronguet Sailing Club (Club Skiff Open)
5/6 July - Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
13/14 September - East Coast Piers Race Weekend, Marconi Sailing Club (Magellan Trophy)
October TBC - Brightlingsea Skiff Fest, Brightlingsea Sailing Club [Provisional. Event to be confirmed]
8/9 November - Itchenor Firecracker Weekend, Itchenor Sailing Club

Scottish & Northern Circuit:

26/27 April - Daffodil Regatta 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
17/18 May - Musto Skiff Open, Largs Sailing Club (Musto Skiff's only)
7/8 June - ELYC Regatta, East Lothian Yacht Club (Northern and Scottish Nationals #1)
5/6 July - Lord Birkett Memorial Trophy 2025, Ullswater Yacht Club (mixed class)
2/3 August - Chanonry Open, Chanonry Sailing Club
6/7 Sept - Loch Lomond Open, Loch Lomond Sailing Club [Provisional. Event to be confirmed]
27/28 Sept - Dalgety Bay Open, Dalgety Bay Sailing Club (Northern and Scottish Nationals #2)

Musto Skiff UK Nationals:

18 to 21 September - UK National Championship 2025, Hayling Island Sailing Club

All skiff classes are welcome at most of these organised events, so 2025 is shaping up to be a great season with plenty of competitive sailing and fun on the water. In addition, the class also has the ACO 14th Musto Skiff 2025 Worlds to look forward to in Sydney, Australia, over 2 to 10 January.

The latest event calendar is available on the class website. Some event details may change and additional events may be added, so check with your local class association representative or go to the GBR Class Facebook Group for the most up-to-date event details.

Well done once again to Sam Pascoe for his impressive season in the Musto Skiff, and I look forward to seeing everyone for the start of the new season in March, if not before then at the Selden SailJuice Winter Series!

Start line action at the Noble Marine UK Musto Skiff National Championship 2024 - photo © Tim Olin / www.olinphoto.co.uk

Overall Series Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Graf	Stokes	Ulls	Weym	Sund	E Loth	Lym	Filey	Chann	Dalg	Oving	Itch	Events	Total points	Qualifying Points
1	636	Sam Pascoe	1	1	1	1				1					5	500	400
2	645	Rob Richardson	2	5	2	2				3					5	473	384
3	642	Euan Hurter			26		1	3		6	1	2			6	460	375
4	653	Sam Barker		7		4				2			1	1	5	470	386
5	637	Eddie Bridle	3	6		3				4					4	365	365
6	650	Danny Boatman	9		3		4	1		8		4			6	482	357
7	601	Mike Matthews	7		5		2			5					4	345	345
8	651	Jamie Hilton			15	5	5	4		9	2	3			7	517	327
9	633	Jonathan Shelley			4			2		26		1			4	324	324
10	622	Dan Vincent	8	10		7				13				4	5	381	309
11	652	Bill Maugan	10	9	10		12	11		7					6	331	296
12	546	Ian Trotter			8		7			12	3				4	284	284
13	4	Andy Tarboton	5	3		6								2	4	353	273
14	629	Brian Greensmith	16	12		15	6			24				5	6	348	264
15	608	Dylan Noble	13		9	11		7		27					5	269	223
16	469	Nathan Stanier	12	17		14			1					7	5	328	224
17	598	Ian Escritt			6		9			10					3	207	207
18	290	Ben Whaley	11			8				14					3	203	203
19	615	Richard Smith	20	21	13					15				12	5	231	207
20	535	David Annan	18	23		12	10			22					5	225	193
21	561	Brennan Robinson	14			13				17			8	6	5	257	235
22	414	Richard Smith	19		11	16				21					4	185	185
23	594	Fred Cudmore	15	14		10									3	175	175
24	614	Ben Clegg	6	4											2	172	172
25	602	Connor Miller	23	27	12		11			28					5	176	164
26	588	Andrew Whittle		13						34			4		3	163	163
27	520	Graham Oliver		11			3							3	3	249	249
28	385	Tristan Tomlinson	22							23			3		3	145	145
29	631	Mark Cooper		24		18			2				7	8	5	232	167
30	649	Dan Trotter			7					19					2	137	137
31	619	Stuart Keegan						5		16					2	130	130
32	616	Dave Poston		22						18					2	108	108
33	620	Steve Robson		37	16		13			29				13	5	137	129
34	646	Daniel Henderson		2											1	97	97
35	176	Chris Haslam	21	18		21									3	96	96
36	643	Jonathan Bailey			22			10		42	5	7			5	111	96
37	1	Thomas Whitehead								43			2		2	96	96
38	547	Serega Samus	24	19						31					3	95	95
39	226	William Tarn‑Chapman				24	8			32					3	92	92
40	624	Tom Kyne		25		20				33					3	91	91
41	448	John Reekie			20					20					2	85	85
42	605	George Cousins				9				39					2	84	84
43	394	Nigel Walbank		34		23			3	36					4	83	83
44	623	Bruce Keen		8											1	82	82
45	255	Andrew Scott			24		14	8		38					4	79	79
46	627	Ben Schooling		20				9							2	79	79
47	639	Ian Turnbull								11					1	78	78
48	583	Lee Cullen		28									6	15	3	93	93
49	375	Josh Belben		15										9	2	117	117
50	552	Ben Yeats									4				1	63	63
51	568	Griff Tanner		16											1	62	62
52	584	Andrew Gould											5	10	2	103	103
53	410	Oliver Bull						6							1	55	55
54	481	Josh Moran			14										1	50	50
55	456	Tom Scott								25					1	47	47
56	376	David Rickards		33		19									2	46	46
57	536	Brad Gibson			18								9		2	46	46
58	534	Andy Rice		30						37					2	46	46
59	300	Ben Rhodes										5			1	43	43
60	147	Alicia Biggs	25	31		25				41				17	5	48	44
61	521	Iain Morten									6				1	38	38
62	628	Richard Thurlby	17												1	36	36
63	483	Jon Gay				17									1	36	36
64	419	Charlie South		26											1	36	36
65	593	Yaroslav Petrov								30					1	36	36
66	536	Alastair Coates			18										1	35	35
67	374	Alastair Kerr			19										1	31	31
68	128	Chris Morgan										6			1	29	29
69	499	John Piatt		29										11	2	69	69
70	334	Rob Trotter									7				1	25	25
71	542	Ron Barnes								35					1	24	24
72	250	Sam Sloss			21										1	23	23
73	372	Theo Gumberly		32											1	21	21
74	216	Guy Rivlington				22									1	16	16
75	332	Bob Yeomans			23										1	15	15
76	556	Jon Willars								40					1	13	13
77	360	Jesper Van Der Harst		35											1	13	13
78	644	Michael Gough									8				1	13	13
79	323	Andrew Smith		36										14	2	34	34
80	300	James Whitehead			25										1	8	8
81	543	Steve Wright		39						44				16	3	19	19
82	500	Tom Conway					15								1	7	7
83	68	Gordon Mockett								45					1	2	2