RS Aeros at the Lymington Dinghy Regatta

RS Aeros at the Lymington Dinghy Regatta © Adrian Chisnell

The 2024 edition of the Lymington Dinghy Regatta maxed out again at its limit of 120 dinghies. 16 RS Aeros took part - there could have been more if the late RS Aero sailors had tried to enter earlier!

The RS Aeros competed together on RYA PY corrected time scoring with all rig sizes represented. Both days saw excellent breezes from the N/NE with a mid 20s kns on Saturday against a strengthening flood tide and a softer shifty & gusty 8-14kn on Sunday with the ebb tide.

Saturday was exciting and physical. The effort of the beat (assisted by the tide!) was rewarded by fantastic rides downwind picking a safe passage around and through the western Solent chop. Sunday proved equally tiring, but mentally, in trying to piece together the challenging jigsaw of shifts, gusts, tide and other traffic on the course!

Notable achievements were Iona Willows leading the fleet in her RS Aero 5 at two first windward marks in Saturday's strong breeze and Neil Wharmby almost leading the first race on Sunday after perfectly navigating the shifty first beat. Overall the smaller rig sizes dominated the front of the results sheet all weekend, holding onto the larger rigs well.

Congratulations to Sammy Isaacs-Johnson (RS Aero 5, Maidenhead) on his win with a solid (4,2,1,2,4,1) by the narrowest of margins from Richard Mayo (RS Aero 5, Lymington Town) who was just 0.5 point behind having had a time tie in the last race! Chris Rust (RS Aero 6, Portsmouth) took third. Top Youth was Cameron Bignold-Kyles (RS Aero 5, Lym Town) in 4th, top RS Aero 7 was Rupert Stock (Royal Lym) in 5th and top RS Aero 9 was Peter Barton (Lym Town) in 6th.

Thanks to Lymington Town SC and Royal Lymington YC for another excellent Lymington Regatta and to Harken for their generous support with the prizes.

Overall Results: