RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

The annual Island Barn RS Aero event would appear to be the most reliably windy over the years and this season's RS Aero UK Spring Championship was no exception for the 27 RS Aeros competing!

Beautiful blue skies and a strong breeze gusting up to 30kts provided a wonderfully exciting day's racing. Whilst the flat water helped, the challenge was in dealing with the ferocity of the gusts, especially when usually accompanied by a shift too. Four races, each three laps and a nice lunch break proved an excellent formula with sailors able to recuperate and refuel over lunch whilst swapping some tips on the best techniques to manage the extreme conditions.

The RS Aero 5s saw Tom Ahlheid (Frensham) continued his winning streak from Burghfield in March to take first with a 3,1,2,1 whilst Abby Hire (Lymington Town) took second matching Tom in the afternoon with a 1,2 to add to her 4,4 from the morning. Third went to Jonathan Bailey (Hunts) and local RS Aero Gareth Griffiths (Island Barn) took fourth after winning Race 1. Iona Willows (LymingtonTown/Dorchester) completed the top five showing potential with a 2,4 in her score line.

RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn - photo © IBRSC

The RS Aero 7s were incredibly close with Tim Hire (Lymington Town) and Peter Barton (Lymington Town) finishing every race within a couple of boat lengths of each other. They scored a 1,2 each before lunch and after Tim took Race 3 it was all down to the final race - if Peter could win he would win a tie break.

A better start saw Peter with a comfortable lead over Tim at mark 1. However local sailor Jeff Davison (Island Barn) had not read the script and had a large lead from a righty on the beat. Peter would now also need to catch Jeff as well as keep Speedy Tim behind him! Over three laps Peter caught Jeff and Tim steadily caught Peter, leading to a very close final lap.

With huge gusts down the final run there was always a chance of an overtake but Peter had just enough to defend a narrow lead. Peter took the event with Tim tied to be the closest of seconds, scoring 1,2,2,1 and 2,1,1,2 respectively. Jeff took a solid third with 2,9,3,3. Andrew Rawson (Weston) finished fourth and Paul Halliwell (Island Barn) took fifth showing good form in the strong breeze for his preparations for the RS Aero World Championship in the USA in just two months time.

RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn - photo © IBRSC

Thank you to everyone involved at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club for an excellent day and to Rooster in supporting the prizes. We look forward to returning!

Race Officer, Mike Jones, did an awesome job all day and forgave the RS Aero 7 fleet for a General Recall in the very first start! Mike commented; "It was a pleasure to officiate this fabulous dinghy class's Spring Championship in a very brisk breeze, with gusts of up to 30 knots. The class has attracted an extremely friendly bunch of skilled sailors of all ages. It was a particular pleasure to see so many teenagers and women enjoying the racing so much.

"The Open was blessed with a great breeze, blue skies, challenging shifts, a brilliant lunch and lots of friendly banter on and off the water.

"A really great advert for dinghy racing. Thank you sailors, mark layers, safety boats, results administrator, photographer, caterers and barmen for giving us the pleasure of hosting a perfect Open Meeting. Do all come again please!"

Next events in the UK RS Aero calendar are the River Champs at Avon SC, Glos, on 7 May, Paignton's POSH on 7/8 May (with Friday training), and in the north the Leigh and Lowton Open on 7 May. Check out the UK Events List.

RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn - photo © IBRSC

RS Aero 5 Fleet Results:

RS Aero 7 Fleet Results:

RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn - photo © Stephen Day