R Speculation

In the meantime we took a demo boat to Salcombe for two weeks for our summer holiday.  Always helpful when you know the designer!

More than 20 people from aged 10 to over 70 had a go and we tested all the rigs in a variety of conditions.  Lots of fun had by a number of people all of whom wanted another go.

Observations:

The joy of the boat is how light it is.  My wife at 50kg and my son at 30kg went for the 5.  For the first time ever they could easily handle a boat (other than an Opi) ashore and launching into waves off the beach on their own.  At the larger end of the spectrum I preferred the 9.  So I weighed approx 3 times the hull weight.  This makes sailing so different and yet the fundamentals remain the same.

It is easy to get it wrong if you get your weight in the wrong place so arguably is better suited for someone who is confident having a swim rather than a complete beginner.  However the boat being light is also easy to manhandle the right way up.

Upwind it is clearly a physical beast.  I have sailed OKs in the past and these are hard work but more of a slog than the Aero which was very challenging to sail well.  You need to be fit!  Downwind is less physical and the boat is very well balanced.  With everything so light you can gybe when you want.  I can only approximate it to windsurfing.  Not that I am any good at gybing a windsurfer, but essentially if you want to drive the Aero round a corner then you can.

The whole family is looking forward to the new arrival.  It will be an argument about who gets to sail it.

Have not sailed the D0.  Think it looks very racy but unsuitable for our family without the rig options that the Aero has so we did not consider it.  I am overwhelmed by the lightness of the Aero and that is why it is so revolutionary.  The rig controls are simple and work well.  It is truly a modern Laser equivalent.  In every respect it is improved upon the Laser by a material margin.  I expect that in comparison the D0 is similar.

There has been a whole load of rubbish about the sail cloth and cuts previously in this thread.  I also sail N12s and Merlins.  Both these use Mylar for their mains and dacron for their jibs as they are considered to be the most appropriate for each application.  My observation/experience is that dacron sailcloth lasts longer than mylar but straight out of the bag is a little inferior as the mylar has the combination of lightweight and ability to hold its shape so well.  Thereafter mylar degrades much much quicker.   North sails have done a very good job with the Aero.  A single top section mast has been tailored to work highly effectively with three different sizes of mainsail (you change the mast bottom section).  It has been done brilliantly.

I had never sailed an RS boat of any type before this except a Feva.  Might be becoming a fan though.  Tera looks very good too.

soon!

The boats are being made and have been delivered for a couple of months or so and at a good rate from what I have been told, but pesky sailors keep ordering more...