RS Aero North American Championship at The Gorge, Cascade Locks

by Peter Barton 19 Aug 2015 18:24 BST 24-26 July 2015

RS Aero North American Championship at Cascade Locks © Todd Riccardi

The first RS Aero North Americans took place at one of America's most inspiring Championship venues, The Columbia River Gorge, Oregon. With the afternoon thermal breezes piping up against the Columbia River's current some fantastic long downwind rides were to be had through the breathtaking mountain scenery!

As with all the major RS Aero events this season the regatta was preceded with a coaching day with an RS Aero introduction, coaching and short racing provided by the RS Aero ICA Manager, Peter Barton, from the UK and Todd Riccardi of RS Sailing USA enabling many of the lessons already learned in UK to be passed on.

Following the coaching Michael O'Brien arranged a RS Aero Speed Challenge where each sailor had 10 minutes to post their fastest time reaching across the river and taking turns with three Velocitek Speed Pucks. The breeze was gradually easing, so everyone was keen to set a time quickly. 16 year old Sean Grealish placed first with a excellent speed of 14.4 knots set in about 18 knots of wind using the 9 rig. The first 7 rig was Jim Muir with an impressive 13.8kn.

For the Championship Racing the three RS Aero rigs, 5, 7 and 9, raced together during this inaugural event with no limit on rig changing between races. With good breezes the racing was close between rigs and the combined format provided a good fleet on one start line without the need to time racing and calculate handicap results. The course format was one large lap with zig-zag downwind reaching when the breeze was up, followed by a short beat to the finish. Wind conditions ranged from 10 to 22+ knots with most races sailed in 15-18 knots.

Nine months after the first boats arrived in the U.S., 22 entries signed up with sailors from both coasts and a total of 8 states (Oregon, Washington, Rhode Island, Massechusits, California, Florida, Hawaii and Utah) represented in this exciting and memorable regatta.

Dan Falk (Seattle) in a 9 took the top spot with a commanding performance, followed closely by the 7s of Peter Barton (GBR) in 2nd and Michael O'Brien (Seattle) squeezing a tie break for 3rd against Bill Symes (Columbia River) who very recently paced 2nd at the Laser Masters Worlds. Sean Grealish (Portland) was threatening and doing amazing combacks in his 9. He closed out his regatta with a nice first place and won the best junior award.

The windiest races, Race 3 & 4, on Saturday proved the closest racing between rigs. The 7s where a tad faster upwind with the 9s slowly pulling it back downwind resulting in very close tussles in both races with the 7s fighting to defend at the bottom of the downwind!

Following a short break after racing on Saturday Michael O'Brien recounts re-launching for a blast, "several boats launched and screamed back and forth across the river, reaching and gybing as fast as we could go.

I was one of those boats and I had the best time sailing I've ever had in any boat! Broad reaching in an Aero, in strong breeze is simply amazing. When we all came ashore, we were like giddy kids who had just been playing with a new toy. We must have more of this kind of reaching in our Aero racing."

Next year the North American RS Aero sailors are all keen to return to the Gorge – maybe for a Pacific Coast Champs. From a European perspective this is perhaps the Garda of the USA; breathtaking scenery, great thermal winds and even the added bonus of the conveyer belt current upwind!

Next up on the RS Aero International Calendar is the first UK Nationals in Weymouth over the August Bank Holiday weekend and with a whopping 62 boats already entered it is set to be a big one; www.rsaerosailing.org/index.asp?p=event&eid=973

Keep in touch with Everything Aero via www.rsaerosailing.org and www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass.

Overall Results:

Pos	Sail No	Rig	Helm	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	R5	R6	R7	R8	Pts
1	1384	RS Aero 9	Dan Falk	CYC Seattle WA	2	1	4	1	1	1	1	[23/DNS]	11
2	GBR 1515	RS Aero 7	Peter Barton	Lymington Town SC UK	4	6	1	2	3	5	[9]	2	23
3	1250	RS Aero 7	Michael O'Brien	CYC Seattle WA	6	3	5	5	5	2	2	[9]	T
4	1244	RS Aero 7	Bill Symes	Willamette SC Portland OR	3	5	3	[10]	2	3	7	5	T
5	1380	RS Aero 7/9	Derek Bottles	Seattle YC OR	1	2	[23/DNF]	15	7	6	5	4	40
6	1241	RS Aero 9	Sean Grealish	Willamette SC Portland OR	7	4	[23/DNS]	S	4	4	3	1	46
7	1127	RS Aero 7	Todd Willsie	CYC Seattle WA	5	8	6	7	10	[11]	11	3	50
8	1251	RS Aero 9	Eric Becker	CYC Seattle WA	10	[11]	9	6	9	7	6	6	53
9	1383	RS Aero 7	Ryan Nelson	Richmond YC San Francisco CA	[13]	10	7	4	8	9	8	8	54
10	1249	RS Aero 7	Douglas Stumberger	CYC Seattle WA	11	9	8	9	[13]	8	4	7	56
11	1513	RS Aero 7	Eric Aker	Massapoag YC Boston MA	[15]	14	10	14	6	14	10	10	78
12	1242	RS Aero 7	Doug DuBois	Park City SA UT	[18]	12	12	8	12	13	13	11	81
13	1129	RS Aero 7	Philip Gordon	Willamette SC Portland OR	8	7	2	3	[23/DNS]	S	S	S	89
14	1124	RS Aero 7	Jim Muir	Santa Barbara SeaShell Assoc CA	14	13	11	[16]	15	12	12	13	90
15	1516	RS Aero 7	Derek Stow	Massapoag YC Boston MA/RI	12	18	16	[23/DNS]	11	10	14	12	93
16	1514	RS Aero 7	Ian Ponting	Lahaina YC Maui HI	[19]	19	14	12	14	18	16	15	108
17	1481	RS Aero 7	Dan Herron	Vancouver Lake Portland OR	[20]	20	18	11	16	16	15	14	T
18	1517	RS Aero 5/7	Kai Ponting	Lahaina YC Maui HI	16	16	15	13	[17]	17	17	16	T
19	1378	RS Aero 7	Paul Gingras	The Sailfish Club FL	9	15	17	[23/DNS]	18	15	18	S	115
20	1131	RS Aero 5/7	Yannick Gloster	Santa Barbara SeaShell Assoc CA	17	17	13	17	19	19	20	[23/DNS]	122
21	1247	RS Aero 7	Catherine Gloster	Santa Barbara SeaShell Assoc CA	21	21	19	[23/DNS]	20	20	19	17	137
22	1381	RS Aero 7	Dion Hodgen	Willamette SC Portland OR	[23/DNS]	S	S	S	S	S	S	S	161