Some of the top British and European single handed dinghy sailors have been arriving in Whitstable for the Musto Skiff National Championships which start on Thursday.

The event, which is being hosted by Whitstable Yacht Club, will be decided over a gruelling four day programme which will see competitors completing three races every day depending on weather conditions.

One of a series of asymmetric racing dinghies developed over the past decade, Musto Skiffs were designed by Germany’s Joachim Harpprecht in 1999,with an overall length of 4.55m, a beam of 2.35 m and a weight of 80 kilos, they call for agility and experience to stay upright.

Sailed by men and women, the skiffs are fitted with trapezes and wings to allow those on the helm to distribute their weight to gain maximum speeds from a mainsail and asymmetric spinnaker which together give a maximum sail area of 27.3m.

Whitstable’s Rick Perkins, the current British Champion, will be the person in everybody’s sights and accepts he will have a tough time defending his title again 60 plus competitors.