Musto Skiff EuroCup at the Falling Leaves Skiff Regatta 2013, Belgium

by Luc Meeuwissen 8 Oct 2013 16:23 BST 5-6 October 2013

Falling Leaves Skiff Regatta winners © Luc Meeuwissen

The Falling Leaves Skiff regatta in Ophoven (BEL) over the weekend of 5/6 October would decide the 2013 Eurocup winner.

Ben Schooling eventually didn't show up, so local Paul Dijkstra would battle it out with Roger-from-the-Alps.

We welcomed two newcomers to the Skiffbenelux.com fleet; Frans Hettinga is sailing Paul Dijkstra's former Musto Skiff, Almansor & Bettina from Düsseldorf on a new rig 49er, proving that yes, a sub-50kg female crew can learn to sail on a 49er... without any prior sailing experience.

We pushed it a bit on Saturday, starting an hour later to benefit from increasing wind in the late afternoon and glueing short races to each other.

The wind started around 4-6 knots, swinging 30° back and forth making proper course laying a bit of a challenge. 7 starts were given in total, one recall, one abandoned when the wind dropped away.

So 5 races counting with one discard. Chocolate wafers were handed out on the water to give that last sugar and fat energy boost before the last 2 races.

The last race gave us a bit more breeze, but with a big dark cloud near us and the fact that we had already spent 4 hours on the water, we sent the fleet in to enjoy beer and good food.

Roger Oswald came down from the Swiss Alps to get his EuroCup title (again) and, oh boy, he took it with style, discarding a second place!

Paul was a clear second, the 3rd place was hard fought; overall handicap 3rd is Jelmer (who overtook nephew Paul in 2 races), but Musto Skiff only 3rd place went to Elaine Turner.

No sailing on Sunday due to a complete lack of wind. With a forecast of 1-2 knots (well yes... gusting to 3 knots) the Musto prizes were given out after breakfast and everybody enjoyed a beautiful sunny afternoon off the water.

We hope to see the 49er fleet back next year in bigger numbers - please avoid another simultaneous baby boom guys!

Can't wait to see the SUI Musto fleet return and hopefully they will bring a few GER's as well. A big thank you to Marieke for all the work on the committee boat and to our preferred mark layer and top cool guy Andi Kliver.

See you in Ophoven on 4/5 October 2014!

EuroCup Series Overall

A very close end to year of the EuroCup series saw two place changes in the top 4 overall at the Belgium Falling Leaves regatta. It would seem that if you are planning on a EuroCup campaign you need to consider this event in 2014. The dates are already set for 4th – 5th October!

Again a worthy, and well travelled winner, sees Roger Oswald win the series from Swiss compatriot Nicolas Duchoud, who is apparently stuck in the mountains somewhere doing national service (I could think of worse things to be doing). Holland's Paul Dijkstra just overtook the UK's Ben Schooling to take 3rd place by one point, followed by Alexander Greil from Switzerland and a group of German and UK sailors headed by class chairman Iver Ahlmann.

This series continues to attract an excellent turnout, with 106 boats scoring at least one result and quite a few taking part in more than the 3 results that count for the series, so if you are thinking about what to do next season, why not team up with some friends and travel to some of Europe's friendliest sailing venues! Next season's dates will appear on the Google calendar as well as the event's dedicated webpage on www.mustoskiff.com.

EuroCup Results: (best 3 events to count)

Pos	Helm	Sail No	FRA	ESP	DEN	NED	SUI	GBR	ITA	GER	NOR	AUT	BEL	Pts
1	Roger Oswald	SUI 436	86				100		92	100		90	100	300
2	Nicolas Duchoud	SUI 470	57				98		100	71		95		293
3	Paul Dijkstra	NED 076	71			100				94		43	90	284
4	Ben Schooling	GBR 291	100					85				98		283
5	Alexander Greil	SUI 306	29				95			82		88		265
6	Iver Ahlmann	GER 370			100					88	17	68		256
7	Till‑Jonas Gerngroß	GER 404			67					65	100			231
8	Bruce Keen	GBR 469		100				100						200
9	John Archer	GBR 476					90		69			28		187
10	Catharina Gauda	GER 368			50					53	83	25		186
11	Elaine Turner	GBR 421				63						35	80	178
12	Jamie Hilton	GBR 444						90				85		175
13	Daniel Henderson	GBR 482						98				73		170
14	Dave Poston	GBR 324						80				80		160
14	Florian Kemper	GER 347			83					76				160
16	Jelmer Kuipers	NED 175				88							70	158
17	Fritz Selb	SUI 420					78		31	24		45		153
18	Dieter Brunner	SUI 473	14				93		38					145
19	Alistair Conn	GBR 474						93				50		143
19	Dan Trotter	GBR 168						65				78		143
19	Nigel Walbank	GBR 394						68				75		143
22	Christian Porsche	GER 314							85			53		137
23	Erik Loeff	NED 269				75							60	135
24	John Evans	GBR 483						78				48		125
24	Geir Odmar Heldal	NOR 463								59	67			125
26	Philipp Koch	SUI 426					85		23					108
27	Moritz Zieher	AUT 395										100		100
27	Huud Ouwehand	NED 229				38						13	50	100
29	Matthias Wälti	SUI 308					75					23		98
30	Tom Wright	GBR 432						95						95
31	Tom Conway	GBR 294						20		41		33		94
32	Martin Mayrhofer	AUT 460										93		93
33	Nicolas Gueuning	BEL 411				50							40	90
34	Richard Stenhouse	GBR 442						88						88
34	Andres Gasser	SUI 259					88							88
34	Marek Oswald	SUI 308										83		83
34	Andy Rice	GBR 364						83						83
34	Justo Martinez	ESP 430		83										83
34	Heinz Keller	SUI 455					83							83
40	Stephan Züllig	SUI 407					80							80
41	Alex Greil	SUI 306							77					77
42	Richard Pelley	GBR 305						75						75
43	Gavin Brewer	GBR 097						73						73
43	Thomas Dührsen	SUI 332					73							73
43	Tim Chapman	GBR 333						43				30		73
46	Sam Barker	GBR 130						70						70
46	Junis Rindermann	GER 215										70		70
46	Heinz Wyss	SUI 172					70							70
46	Georg Busch	SUI 104					63		8					70
50	Cyril Wyss	SUI 174					68							68
51	Ronald Konitzer	CAN 480		67										67
52	Chris Sutherland	AUS 429										65		65
52	Michael Schwitter	SUI 204					65							65
54	Dylan Tidd	SLO 271										63		63
54	Edward Wilkinson	GBR 113						63						63
56	Torsden Bendig	GER 389							62					62
57	Klaus Costadedoi	AUT 345										60		60
57	Luke Draper	GBR 467						60						60
59	Günter Zieher	AUT 381										58		58
59	Rick Perkins	GBR 487						58						58
61	Mike Palfreman	GBR 409										55		55
61	Paul Molesworth	GBR 373						55						55
63	Thomas Kubler	GER 358							54					54
64	Richard Smith	GBR 419						53						53
65	Jon Simpson	GBR 160						50						50
65	Gunnar Amtedal	NOR 462									50			50
65	Joan Rosello	ESP 002		50										50
68	Alex Knight	GBR 265						48						48
69	Stuart Keegan	GBR 384								47				47
70	Sergei Samus	GBR 456						45						45
70	Sijbrand Jongejans	NED 422				25						10	10	45
72	Roelof Kuipers	NED 109				13							30	43
72	Jan Busch	GER 072								6		38		43
72	Gilles Peeters	FRA 405	43											43
75	Harry Gozett	GBR 138						40						40
75	Martin Bingham	GBR 127										40		40
77	Edoardo Amato	ITA 136							38					38
77	Gavin Page	GBR 297						38						38
79	James Sainsbury	GBR 186						35						35
79	Christian Berthier	GER 412								35				35
81	Hannes Look	GER 170			17					18				34
82	Mark Cooper	GBR 260						33						33
82	Mark Branagh	GBR 151		33										33
82	Niklas Mehner	GER 205			33									33
82	Rolf Nossun	NOR 451									33			33
86	Iain Morton	GBR 367						30						30
67	Heiko Schneider	GER 431								29				29
88	Mick Keates	GBR 283						28						28
89	Nick Grace	GBR 202						25						25
90	Martin Keegan	GBR 287						13		12				24
91	Ian Marshall	GBR 178						23						23
92	Konstantin Punzet	AUT 223										20		20
92	Frans Hettinga	NED 076											20	20
94	Aaron Barden	GBR 315						18						18
94	Philipp Stanglmaier	GER 447										18		18
96	Hernan Celli	ESP 038		17										17
97	Nick Logan	GBR 355						15						15
97	Ron Barnes	GBR 228										15		15
97	Mattias Walti	SUI 308							15					15
100	Andrew Whittle	GBR 289						10						10
100	Ian Martin	GBR 351						8						8
100	Patrick Optekamp	GER 270										8		8
103	Alex Adams	GBR 143						5						5
103	David Taylor	AUS 425										5		5
105	Jason Rickards	GBR 064						3						3
105	Michael Praxmarer	AUT 061										3		3