Magic Marine RS Aero UK Southern Circuit – Overall

Prize winners in the Magic Marine RS Aero UK Southern Circuit at Sutton Bingham © Saffron Gallaghe

RS Aero river racing in Wiltshire © Bradford On Avon SC

Papercourt RS Aero Open in 2017 © Papercourt Sailing Club

The grand finale of the RS Aero UK Southern Circuit was the RS Aero End of Seasons held at Lee on Solent SC on Saturday 11th November. 35 RS Aeros competed and with a variety of conditions through the day it proved to be a great end to the summer season! The prize giving for the annual series took place after racing at Lee-on-Solent.

The series venues varied from sea, lake and river meetings across Southern UK from Somerset to Kent and up to the Midlands, visiting both new and established RS Aero fleets. After 9 events 109 RS Aeros had taken part in at least 1 event, without including the larger National events.

The 9 events saw 5 different winners and it was great to see the Youths (U19) winning three of them with Tim Hire (Royal Lymington YC) winning both the Easterns at Downs and the Chelmarsh open to finish as top Youth in 3rd overall. Another Youth, Noah Rees (Torpoint Mosquito SC) won the battle of Papercourt. David Cherill (Broadwater SC) championed his home open on a tricky day in April and our World Champion Steve Cockerill (Stokes Bay SC) won the final event, the End of Seasons at Lee on Solent.

Ben Rolfe (Burghfield SC) had a consistent run of 2nds and 3rds on his scorecard to take 2nd overall whilst Peter Barton (Lymington Town SC) notched four wins to capture 1st overall with a minimum score line. 1st Master was Alan Markham (Upper Thames SC) in 7th. 1st Lady and 1st Lady Youth was Alice Lucy (Rutland SC) in 8th overall.

Leading those who only managed to compete in three events was Chris Jones (Sutton Bingham SC) with a 2,5,6 and the top sailor of those managing just two events was Gareth Griffiths (Island Barn SC) showing a good average with a 2,3.

Thank you to Magic Marine for their generous support of the Circuit providing vouchers to the overall winners - just in time to get kitted up in time for winter!

The 2018 RS Aero calendar is already evolving nicely! Before that we have a busy winter in the jammed with some of the most popular mixed class events and monthly RS Aero Winter Training weekends.

Full details of all UK events can be found at www.rsaerosailing.org/index.asp?p=events&rg=UK

Overall Series Results: (best 4 scores from 9 events)