RS Aeros at the Frigid Digit Regatta, Seattle, USA

by Derek Bottles 23 Feb 2017 07:21 GMT 11-12 February 2017

Seattle's Frigid Digit regatta started as the major midwinter Laser event back 1974. This year the event featured Lasers, Optis and RS Aeros hosted by the Seattle Laser Fleet, Corinthian YC and West Coast Sailing.

Fourteen Aeros signed up. It was sunny both days and not too cold which allowed for 11 races averaging 30-40 min each. Day one was super light and shifty and on day two winds allowed for some hiking in 8 to 10 knots. With only one drop allowed the pressure was on everyone to keep their scores low.

The RS Aeros have certainly taken root in Seattle. The fleet has drawn in many top sailors and the sailing talent runs deep. In the RS Aero line up was no less than a gold medallist & world champ, 1 or 2 world champions and two or so North American Champions! I think we all pushed each other to get more and more performance out of the boats as each day progressed.

Carl Buchan managed the narrow win over Jay Renehan by taking the final race. Third in the 13 boat fleet was the mightily-bearded Dan Falk current North American RS Aero 9 Champion. Just behind Dan was of Derek Bottles, who had recently placed third in the Aero Midwinters in Florida. Libby McKee is back on the water in her new Aero, and was fourth after the first day but had to miss day two.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	R9	R10	R11	Pts
1st	2019	Carl Buchan	CYC	4	‑5	3	2	2	1	2	1	1	3	1	20
2nd	1976	Jay Renehan	SYC	1	1	1	‑8	3	3	1	2	2	4	3	21
3rd	1384	Dan Falk	CYC	2	6	7	5	5	‑9	3	5	6	1	7	47
4th	1872	Derek Bottles	CYC/SYC	‑7	3	6	7	7	6	4	3	4	5	5	50
5th	1127	Todd Willsie	CYC	‑12	8	10	6	6	8	7	4	5	2	2	58
6th	1644	Eric Becker	CYC	6	9	2	3	8	‑10	6	6	8	6	4	58
7th	1380	John Renehan	SYC	5	2	4	1	1	2	‑13	13	13	13	13	67
8th	1726	Jacques Garrigues	CYC	‑13	10	8	10	9	4	5	8	7	7	6	74
9th	2082	Libby Johnson McKee	CYC/SYC	3	4	5	4	4	5	‑13	13	13	13	13	77
10th	1481	Dan Herron		9	7	9	9	‑11	11	8	7	3	11	9	83
11th	1643	Nate Creitz	CYC	8	‑12	11	12	10	7	11	9	10	8	11	97
12th	1515	Paul Lisagor	CYC	10	11	12	‑13	12	13	9	10	11	10	8	106
13th	1969	Jack Holbrook	CYC/SYC	11	‑13	13	11	13	12	10	11	9	9	10	109
14th	1514	Andy Mack	SYC	14	‑15	15	15	15	15	13	13	13	13	13	139

Next up for the Seattle RS Aeros is the Seattle Frostbiting on Sundays March 5 & 19 and an RS Aero demo day on Saturday March 18.

Full details of each are on the North American Event Page here.