10 years of Musto skff

Celebrations and a special boat for 2010

10 years ago many people gathered around the first Musto Skiff to be exhibited at the Dinghy Show and marvelled at the impressive posters showing Paul Brotherton putting the boat through its paces and wondered who would be capable of sailing such a challenging dinghy.

10 years on and the Musto Skiff class has become a mainstream dinghy, the class has achieved full ISAF status and hosts a full range of training and racing events in the UK and also overseas.

Rick Perkins, 2007 Musto Skiff National Champion said: "When I visited the show in 2000, I clearly remember looking at the Musto Skiff and discussing it with my wife. I pointed out that the boat looked far too difficult to sail and would likely only be sailed by pros and Olympic types. As it turned out our expectations about what is possible for an ordinary weekend sailor to achieve have moved on a great deal and the Musto Skiff class has become a mainstream dinghy sailed by ordinary club sailors all over the world, even me."

The Musto Performance Skiff Class Association (MPSCA) quickly realised that training and learning were going to be key to the development of the class and was very innovative with the organisation of training events and the class developed a culture of sharing information and expertise. Perhaps the leader of that culture is Richard Stenhouse who is the current World, European & National Champion. This has culminated in Richard, and wife Kit who also sails the Musto Skiff, in releasing the class K16 training DVD.

Richard said "After years of sailing in classes where information was very hard to come by it was great to join the Musto Skiff class as the others were so open with help which was handy as I had not used a spinnaker much and had never trapezed. I learnt a lot, and sharing that through the K16 DVD is a lot of fun .
To celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the class the builder Ovington Boats is producing a limited edition run of 10 boats (see the spec). Each of these 10 boats will be produced in a platinum coloured gelcoat (all other boats are white), they will be supplied with a black spinnaker with the MPS logo cut in, will have a fully pimped up rope kit and be supplied with all the necessary covers and bags.

Each 10th anniversary boat owner will also receive a special Musto Evolution Jacket which will be embroidered with the MPS 10th Birthday logo, seen above, which has been designed by Spanish MPS sailor Pablo Arandia.

Chris Turner from Ovington Boats said I can t quite believe we have been building the Musto Skiff for 10 years, the class has moved so fast. The class has certainly changed the face of dinghy sailing through raising the bar in the market which is evident from the number of other single handed spinnaker boats that have been launched since the Musto Skiff was first released.

One of the 10th Anniversary boats will be displayed at the RYA Volvo Dinghy Show, on the Ovington Stand, and the class also has other plans to celebrate this special year. The UK Nationals will be hosted by Hayling Island Sailing Club and the MPSCA hope to see a fleet in excess of 80 boats, in early 2011 the class has it s first Southern hemisphere World Championships in Melbourne, Australia.