RS Aerocup Barcelona Edition - Day 1

RS Aerocup Barcelona day 1 © Frances Peters

RS Aerocup Barcelona day 1 © Frances Peters

RS Aerocup Barcelona day 1 © Frances Peters

A beautiful sunny morning in Barcelona to greet sailors on their first day of racing at the RS Aerocup made for a relaxed start made even more relaxed by the obvious absence of wind. For many, the resulting rest ashore while the race committee waited for wind was welcome after an evening of socialising, eating and drinking at the opening ceremony last night.

Right on queue just after lunch time, the wind arrived and racing was able to get underway in a 6 knot breeze. It was a family affair at the front of the 9 fleet as the Lynall brothers of Great Britain split tacks up the beat and popped out 1st and 2nd with David in the lead. A fickle breeze on the run with pressure on the inside meant an early gybe was strong and Anthony Lynall slipped down the fleet while his brother extended his lead to the finish.

It was Sweden's Julie Lamarre that led to the first mark in the 7 fleet, chased by Richards Zvilna of Latvia, who quickly snuck into the lead. Meanwhile David Axen of Sweden put pressure on and stole the gun for the race.

A strong current running across the course made the windward mark a pinch point and in the 5 fleet Silvia Haavel of Estonia misjudged the layline allowing Latvia's Anna Vernere and Ben Poe of GBR to break into the lead and extend. Light and tactical racing saw Haavel claw her way back into second place behind Vernere.

A slight pressure build before race 2 meant some of the sailors started to find their hiking legs. Pulling off a perfect port end start in the 9 rigs with a quick tack to cross the fleet, Aero class manager Peter Barton led easily to the top mark. Even Barton's head start wasn't enough to defend against Lynall's lightning pace and after a brief tacking duel into the second windward mark, Barton was forced to resign himself to second place, while Ben Rolfe (GBR) took 3rd.

After frustrations of missing a critical shift in race 1, Per Christian Bordal of Norway found his way into the top spot early in the 7 fleet and extended his lead by the finish. Meanwhile Axen and Zvilna chased. Haavel took an early lead in the 5 fleet and sailed a confident and solid race to leave Atkin and Vernere in her wake.

The final race of the day saw the usual suspects fighting at the top. It was Barton's turn to get in the way of Lynall's perfect score in the 9s and he narrowly took the win. Meanwhile British father and son, Nigel and Ben Rolfe battled for 3rd, with youth eventually overcoming wisdom! It's a day for the Brits on the 9 rig leaderboard. 'Lightnight Lynall' sits in the lead overnight with Barton hot on his heels and 'Team Rolfe' filling the next 2 spots.

Bordal had found his groove and posted a convincing win in the 7 class while Ants Haavel, father of Estonian 5 rig hotshot, Silvia, took 2nd. 4 nations fill the top 4 spots on the 7 rig leaderboard with Norway's Bordal on top. Zvilna of Latvia and Axen of Sweden are separated by just a point in 2nd and 3rd respectively, while Estonia's Haavel sits in 4th.

The girls showed the boys away around the track for the third race of the day in the 5 fleet, with Vernere of Lativia taking the win ahead of Estonia's Silvia Haavel and securing themselves the same positions on the overnight results. Caitlin Atkin (GBR) is hot on their heels in bronze.

We are lucky to have logistics specialists, Euronox and Ocean Roads supporting our first RS Aerocup. They have made it possible for nations from around the world to come together and compete against each other and socialise together in a fabulous setting. We were proud to have the opportunity to showcase our sport and our class to Mark Czerwinski of Ocean Roads first hand as he joined us on the water today. Admittedly spectating in the sport of sailing is often compared to watching paint dry especially in light airs like today and as someone with no experience of the sport, Mark was quick to observe that 'none of the boats are doing any tricks'! Eager to defend what we are all so passionate about, we put Mark in a boat and handed him the tiller after a quick issuing of instruction, at which point his face lit up! After we'd managed to extricate the tiller from his grasp, he conceded 'OK – NOW I understand what you guys love!' What a way to end the day.

Results after Day 1:

Be sure to stay in touch with the action as it happens on the RS Aero facebook group; www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass and online at www.rsaerosailing.org. It's set to be an excellent few days!