RS Aero 5 Squad weekend at Hayling Island Sailing Club

RS Aero 5 Squad weekend at Hayling Island © Tim Robathan

RS Aero 5 Squad weekend at Hayling Island, with visiting 9 and 7 rig sailors © Pete Barton

Heavy air gybe with the RS Aero's 9 rig: It's all in the timing © Pete Barton

In the 5 weeks since Queen Mary the RS Aero5 squad has already doubled to 10 young Aeronauts. RS Aero & Tera parents not wanting to miss out on the fun made up another 4 larger rigs and an open invite to the Hayling Aero fleet gave a total of 18 entries. 4 more new boats were delivered to new owners.

Plenty of variety ensued with winds ranging from 4-8kn on Saturday to 16-35kn on Sunday with sailors of weights ranging from 38kg to 98kg all enjoying their boats.

Saturday's coaching focus was on both tide and starting which was relevant at Hayling and in preparation for Sunday's race series. At the end of Saturday many sailors were looking forward to more wind - but you must be careful what you wish for!

Sunday, as expected, dawned with an increase in wind with an excited air of anticipation whilst enjoying Hayling's 5* breakfast. At launch time it was a 'fresh but not frightening' 18kn so we went for it. A 6 race series was planned using pursuit starts with each of the 3 Aero rigs starting 30 seconds apart for a race lasting approximately 18 minutes. A triangle-sausage course was laid with the gybe mark a long way offset to produce some fantastic tight reaching. The well sailed 5 rigs looked great in a blow with the larger rigs struggling to pull back their time quickly enough.

During race 2 a squall came through with winds escalating quickly to a recorded 35 knot maximum. Shallow water, waves and strong wind are often a fatal formula for rigs when they hit the ground in a capsize but it proved a great testament to the rigs and the lightweight hulls that no mast damage resulted in the extreme conditions. Another benefit of having just a 30kg hull! An early lunch was called to re-group and allow the squall to pass.

Re-energized we launched again into about 20-25 knots and succeeded in 3 more races. Some great screaming reaches, nervous runs and valuable heavy air gybing practice were to be had. The fleet was exhausted but still beaming at the debrief and looking forward to more time on the water over the Christmas break. Well done to all the sailors for their energy and attitude in the testing conditions.

The next squad weekend is at Oxford on 31st Jan / 1st Feb. Contact Jon Partridge via jon@rssailing.com at RS Sailing if you would like to join. Further info at www.rsaerosailing.org 

Visit our facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass

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