RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

RS Aero UK Spring Championship © gmazzarini.com / IBRSC

Despite the water looking like a mirror when everyone arrived, the fifteen local sailors and seven visitors all hoped that the predicted wind would fill in. Experienced Race Officer Mike Jones postponed the planned 11am start. By quarter to twelve there were some patches of wind but Mike elected for early lunch to let the wind settle.

Sure enough when we launched after lunch there was a nice breeze for three back to back races though the direction kept shifting between S and SW making it hard to set a good line. Undaunted Mike watched the patches of wind and got the fleets off first try.

Given the numbers the fleets were split as RS Aero 7 & 5 on an outer quad with RS Aero 9s (no 6's this time) 4 minutes later on an inner quad.

RS Aero 9s

With 12 boats on the start line the 9's were the biggest fleet. As the beat progressed the wind started to shift left leaving those who tacked right early hung out to dry. With the big shift, after the first beat there were fewer opportunities for gains, by lap 2 the wind had gone very right making the second beat very one sided with the final order Keith Smaggasgale (Broadwater), Jeff Davison (Island Barn) followed by Paul Wright-Anderson (Island Barn).

RS Aero UK Spring Championship - photo © Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

The course was quickly adjusted to the new direction and the fleet got away for a better beat. Getting the shifts right towards the end of the beat was trickly and caused a few changes. This time David Cherrill (Broadwater) came out on top followed by Andrew Cooney (Broadwater) and Keith. With all to play for in the final race three sailors could still win... Jeff pulled out all the stops and took the win followed by David and Andy Norman (Island Barn) making it tied on points between Jeff and David with Jeff taking it on last race.

RS Aero 7s

In the 7 fleet Chris Rust (Portsmouth SC) led off the committee boat end and played the shifts up the left with Andrew Barnett (Island Barn) close behind. Mark Ampleford (Island Barn), in his first outing since buying an RS Aero, had gone right to clear his air and benefited from a large righthand shift to also challenge but it was Chris, Andy then Mark at the windward mark and for the remainder of the 2 lap race.

RS Aero UK Spring Championship - photo © Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Race 2 saw Chris again lead from the first mark to the finish with a very clear bullet, Andy again in second, with local Carl Pittam taking third spot in at times very light conditions.

Race 3 had a slight port bias to the line and both Andy and Chris eyed up the pin end flyer but Mark approached on starboard and tacked into that spot to lead for much of the first beat only to lose out to Chris after some superior tacks. Chris kept a small lead throughout the race to win the final race in now champagne sailing conditions with Mark just behind in second and Andy in 3rd this time. So overall Chris with a clean sweep followed by locals Andy and Mark

RS Aero UK Spring Championship - photo © Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

RS Aero 5s

In the small but no less competitive 5 fleet Jonathon Bailey from Hunts dominated the first two races but had to give best to local Yana Skvortsova in the third Race.

As always huge thanks to the team of volunteers at Island Barn SC who make our open meetings possible and to Rooster and to Recycled Sail Bags for providing additional prizes.

Overall Results:

Next up for the UK RS Aeros is the Lymington RS Aero Open on Saturday 13th May.

RS Aero UK Events List