2019 RS Aero Gulf Coast Championships
by Ash Beatty 23 May 17:47 BST
18-19 May 2019
2019 RS Aero Gulf Coast Championships © Ash Beatty
Saturday's racing showed who was in hiking shape as four great races were held in 15kn gusting to well over 20kn at times great conditions for the RS Aero 7 rig to revel in! Danny Plesch took a commanding lead into Sunday's races as Hank Saurage demonstrated his gybe-capsize manoeuvre in the first race and forgot to read the course in the second, doh! Congratulations to Chandler Self who battled it out to the end in her RS Aero 5 rig.
Sunday saw much more civilised racing as we sailed four more races in 10-15kn, with Danny cementing his victory.
Special thanks to Jack Yoes and his RC crew from Houston Yacht Club who did their usual exceptional job running the event and Sea Star for hosting. Thanks also to KO Sailing for providing the beer and the charter RS Aeros.
Next up in for the RS Aeros in North America are events at Massapoag (Boston) MA, Wickford RI and Houston TX in the run up to the big one the RS Aero North American Champs and Steve Cockerill clinic at the end of June at the Columbia River Gorge, Oregon where the last few charters are still available.
Full details of all North American RS Aero events can be found on the Events List.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Sail No | Skipper | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | R5 | R6 | R7 | R8 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | 5 | Danny Pletsch | Lakewood YC | 1 | 1 | 1 | [2] | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| 2 | 2757 | Hank Saurage | Pontchartrain YC | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | [4] | 3 | 1 | 16 |
| 3 | 2212 | Michael Sager | Houston YC | [5] | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 23 |
| 4 | 2475 | Jamie Gilman | ChYC | 3 | 3 | 3 | 1 | [5] | 4 | 5 | 4.5 | 23.5 |
| 5 | 2630 | Jack Hattendorf | Viridian SC | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | [6] | 5 | 6 | 6 | 34 |
| 6 | 1625 | Ash Beatty | LCYC | [8] | 6 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4.5 | 36.5 |
| 7 | 2409 | Robert Kembel | Viridian SC | [7] | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 49 |
| 8 | 1622 | Chandler Self | SeaStarBase Galveston | 9 | 8 | [RET] | DNS | 8 | 8 | 10 | 8 | 63 |
| 9 | 2278 | Jonathan Zier | CYC | 6 | [RET] | RET | RET | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 65 |
| 10 | 2406 | William Griffith | Viridian SC | 10 | 9 | [RET] | DNS | 10 | 10 | 9 | 10 | 70 |
| 11 | 2211 | Mark McNamara | Lakewood YC | [DNC] | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | DNC | 84 |