Warm weather and varying winds greeted the 5 UK teams that travelled to far end of Europe to Hungary. With conditions ranging from no wind too far too much, the teams were tested on both rigs. The week brought many pitchpoles and a few boats stuck in the shallow waters. Hyde came away with their first ever European win after dominating in th elight wiinds and holding on in the fresh stuff.

A wet, cold and windy bank holiday weekend concluded in sunshine for Round 2 of the 18ft Skiff Grand Prix yesterday.  Eight teams raced for the Holt Challenge plate in cold, wet and windy conditions for the most part.  Team Pica, the defending holders of the trophy, were given more to think about with new challenge coming from a variety of directions in the form of teams Ronstan and team LED.  On Saturday the bighting north easterly blew a consistent 14, gusting 16 to 17knots at times with some reasonable shifts making life challenging on a short windward leeward course with plenty of ragging the kite to make the downwind gate. 

The Australian 18ft skiff season finished last weekend, whilst on the other side of the world the new skiff season starts.  Six UK teams arrived at Stone Sailing Club in Essex for the first round of the UK Grand Prix.  On Saturday a mixed forecast contributed to a difficult rig choice with 2 of the 6 teams opting for smaller rigs.  In the first race  most teams had some time in the lead as others had a few swims, mainly due to the gusty conditions and rusty crew work.  Pica led for most of the course only to capsize on  the last downwind leg