RS Aero Open at Felpham Sailing Club
by Caitie Atkin 10 Jun 2018 16:06 BST
9 June 2018
RS Aero Open at Felpham Sailing Club © Tony Lord
The RS Aero open in the south this weekend was at Felpham Sailing Club, 'the seaside mecca of the central south coast'. 20 RS Aeros arrived alongside the RS Teras to a decent breeze of around 6-11 knots and were greeted by the lovely team of members who were helping out at the club.
The first race was the windiest race of the day, and was won by Toby Schofield, RS Aero 7 rig, from Felpham Sailing Club. He was followed by Karl Thorne, also in a 7, and Chris Jones and Greg Bartlett who tied after the handicaps were applied.
The wind began to drop off in race two, and after a rapid first leg, the fleet was led by Peter, Charlie, Greg (all in 9 rigs) and Jack Miller, making his RS Aero debut in his RS Aero 7 rig. This front group continued to gain on the fleet throughout the race and proved uncatchable for the rest of the fleet. A high reach mark and a left shift made for an interesting second leg, forcing most people to tack off, and some to even fall out their boats;).
In the final race it was all to play for. As the gun went on the start, the port bias became even clearer than it had been in previous races, and the hotly contested pin end caused many people to tack out onto port to get into clearer wind. After the start the wind began to shift and fill more and more to the left, and Caitie Atkin, "with cunning and tenacity" (thanks Peter:))) decided to sail far out the left along with Greg Bartlett and Chris Jones. Greg therefore rounded the windward mark in first position, with Peter and Charlie a comfortable distance behind.
At the end of the second lap, the tables had turned as Greg appeared to stop in the middle of the course so Charlie and Peter sailed past. We later learn that this was as a result of him forgetting to tie a knot at the end of his mainsheet, and therefore having to re-thread it after it came out. The race ended with Charlie first in the nine fleet, and Chris first in the 7s.
In the final results, Charlie Sansom won overall, followed by Peter Barton and Greg Bartlett. Chris Jones was the first Master and RS Aero 7 rig in fourth place, Karl Thorne second 7 rig in fifth, Jack Miller was the first Youth in sixth place and Caitie Atkin first Lady in eighth.
Sunday sees coaching with the winner of the 7s, Chris Jones, and eight boats are currently signed up for what should be a fun day on the water!
We would like to thank everyone at Felpham SC who helped lay on a fantastic event, including everyone that helped with the launching and recovery of all the boats, those at registration and in the canteen, and the race committee for managing to get three good races done in tricky conditions.
This weekend has been a great warm up for the RS Aero World Championships at Weymouth, which currently has 145 entries! The early entry discount ends at the end of this month, so make sure you register and pay online asap for what will be a fantastic event!
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Rig | Helm | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | Pts |
|---|
| 1st | 1068 | RS AERO 9 | Charlie Sansom | Bowmoor SC | ‑7 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| 2nd | 2549 | RS AERO 9 | Peter Barton | Lymington Town SC | ‑6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 3rd | 2600 | RS AERO 9 | Greg Bartlett | Starcross YC | 3.5 | ‑4 | 3 | 6.5 |
| 4th | 1817 | RS AERO 7 | Chris Jones (M) | Sutton Bingham SC | 3.5 | ‑5 | 4 | 7.5 |
| 5th | 2318 | RS AERO 7 | Karl Thorne | Lymington Town SC | 2 | ‑12 | 6 | 8 |
| 6th | 2415 | RS AERO 7 | Jack Miller (Y) | Felpham SC | 5 | 3 | ‑9 | 8 |
| 7th | 1562 | RS AERO 7 | Toby Schofield | Felpham SC | 1 | 8 | ‑11 | 9 |
| 8th | 1568 | RS AERO 7 | Caitie Atkin (LY) | Whitstable YC | 8 | ‑10 | 5 | 13 |
| 9th | 1009 | RS AERO 7 | Emily Watson (L) | Bowmoor SC | ‑10 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| 10th | 1672 | RS AERO 7 | Richard Bentley | Felpham SC | 9 | 7 | ‑10 | 16 |
| 11th | 2317 | RS AERO 7 | Tomaso Macchi | Weston SC | (OCS) | 9 | 8 | 17 |
| 12th | 2133 | RS AERO 9 | James Gerwat | Felpham SC | ‑16 | 11 | 13 | 24 |
| 13th | 1413 | RS AERO 7 | Roshan Verghese | Felpham SC | ‑13 | 13 | 12 | 25 |
| 14th | 1675 | RS AERO 7 | Chris Whitney | Felpham SC | 11 | 15 | ‑19 | 26 |
| 15th | 1060 | RS AERO 7 | Mark Linney (M) | Chichester YC | 12 | 16 | ‑17 | 28 |
| 16th | 1181 | RS AERO 7 | Roger Belton (M) | Felpham SC | 15 | 14 | ‑18 | 29 |
| 17th | 1777 | RS AERO 7 | CatherineHemsley(LM) | Felpham SC | 14 | ‑17 | 16 | 30 |
| 18th | 1 | RS AERO 7 | Toby Lloyd | Felpham SC | 17 | (DNC) | 14 | 31 |
| 19th | 2223 | RS AERO 9 | Mark Fox (M) | Stokes Bay SC | 18 | ‑19 | 15 | 33 |
| 20th | 1582 | RS AERO 7 | Mark Rolfe | Bartley SC | (OCS) | 18 | 20 | 38 |
Next up in the south is round three of the RS Aero UK Southern Circuit at Lee on Solent SC on 23/24th June.
Details of the full RS Aero UK events list can be found at rsaerosailing.org.
Also, keep in touch with class activity through the RS Aero Class Facebook group.