RS Aero Magic Marine UK Nationals at the WPNSA - Review

What an awesome event! From 75 pre entries the RS Aero Magic Marine UK National Championships at WPNSA finally ended up with a whopping 73 RS Aeros. That bubble of 73 puts the RS Aeros at the top of the UK Nationals attendance leader board for any single-handed predominantly adult class - incredible when just 14 months ago none of these boats were built! After 4 sailors swapped rigs there were a final total of 77 entries.

The champs provided a great opportunity to meet fellow RS Aero sailors from around the UK with many sailors travelling long distances including Scotland, Isle of Man, Yorkshire and the East Coast. Already, in the UK alone, there are over 360 RS Aeros at approximately 130 locations. Everyone had plenty to discuss with the RS Aero just at the end of its first year. International sailors visited from Estonia, Holland and Antigua and all placed well in the overall points, boding well for the future International circuit.

Sailors ranged from 11 to 67 in age, weights were from 40kg to over 100kg and they came from a variety of sea, estuary and lakes nationwide. A good few of the 73 competitors were returning to sailing/competition due to their enjoyment of the RS Aero and all had a great time with great racing and the buzz of new fleet camaraderie.

Wind wise there was something for everyone over the 3 days of racing. We enjoyed two days out in Weymouth Bay and one in the Harbour with winds varying from a docile 4kn right up to 18kn of excitement.

The format was intentionally experimental. Racing and scoring was in 3 separate fleets (5,7 & 9 rigs) for the Champs, with a planned mass start for the first race of each day producing an additional PY series for the he RS Aero Challenge Cup. With predominantly light breezes at the start of each day the larger rigs dominated this series.

In such a controlled environment and now that we have a large amount of data it would be an interesting idea as a Class to contemplate a conditions based PY adjustment for similar races in the future. Courses varied between trapezium and triangle/sausage, each with good reaches when planing conditions existed.

Many thanks to WPNSA for their impeccable management, our PRO, Arky, and his team for great racing and sponsors, Magic Marine, for their support and fantastic array of prizes. RS provided awesome event support and the RS Aero Class made a great job of pitching up and having fun!

Prize-winners are listed below, and the full results can be seen in the main event report.

!-- * The Laser Radial may have had more entries, but this class has a greater percentage of youth sailors than the Aero, hence the claim being qualified with the words predominantly adult* single-hander. -->

RS Aero 5

1st - Will Taylor, Brightlingsea
2nd - Henry Jameson, Hayling Island
3rd - Matthew Caiger, Sevenoaks School

RS Aero 7

1st - Glen Truswell, Castle Cove
2nd - Peter Barton, Lymington Town
3rd - Jack Holden, Arun

RS Aero 9

1st - Luke Deegan, Gurnard/Antigua
2nd - David Rickard, Gurnard
3rd - Simon Hiscocks, WPNSA

The RS Aero Challenge Cup - 3 race PY Series from the first race each day

1st - Luke Deegan, Gurnard/Antigua (9)
2nd - Glen Truswell, Castle Cove (7)
3rd - David Rickard, Gurnard (9)
4th - Simon Hiscocks, WPNSA (9)
5th - Ian Swann, Hayling (9)
6th - Fergus Barnham, Snettisham (7)

Junior - Under 15 (not 15 this year), based on the PY series

1st - Henry Jameson, Hayling Island (5)
2nd - Archie Hainsworth, Alton Water (5)
3rd - Caitlin Atkin, Bewl Valley (5)

Youth - Under 19 (not 19 this year), based on the PY series

1st - Toby Freeland, Downs (9)
2nd - Ffinlo Wright, Isle of Man (7)
3rd - Peter Freeland, Downs (7)

Lady - based on PY series

1st - Debbie Degge, Bartley (5)
2nd - Emily Davis, Great Moor (5)
3rd - Caitlin Atkin, Bewl Valley (5)

Master - 55 or over this year, based on PY series

1st - David Rickard, Gurnard (9)
2nd - Gareth Griffiths, Island Barn (9)
3rd - Ade White, Notts County (9)

Family - Best 2 family members overall

We have 3 'All Aero' families and a whopping 11 Aero/Tera families...
1st - Will & Matt Taylor, Brightlingsea, Aero/Tera, 5pts
=2nd - Fergus & Finlay Barnham, Snettisham, 1st Aero/Aero, 10pts
=2nd - Mathew & Will Caiger, Sevenoaks School, Aero/Tera, 10pts
4th - Henry & Rupert Jameson, Hayling Island, Aero/Tera, 11pts
[All brothers, no parents managed to make the top 4!]

Club (best 3 club results in each of the 3 PY races, 9 results) - Gurnard

Furthest Travelled - Ants Haavel, Tallinn, ESTONIA

Endurance - finishing all 11 races

RS Aero 5 - Emily Davis, Great Moor
RS Aero 7 - Paul Harwood, Wimbleball, Exmoor
RS Aero 9 - Chris Smith, Poole & Chris James, Exe

Outstanding Services to the RS Aero Class

Robert Fisk-Moore, Chelmarsh Fleet Captain - Robert has led and nurtured the Shropshire based Chelmarsh Fleet making it now the largest inland RS Aero club in the world with 15 RS Aeros. Two brand new RS Aeros have just been delivered to the club following Robert's successful grant application to Sport England for RS Aeros to not only help people into sailing but to also keep existing sailors interested in sailing.

Outstanding Services to RS Aero Events

Ian Jameson - Our PRO at the Dutch Eurocup in July and the Start-of-Seasons Champs in April
Lucy Jameson - Assistance organising the Winter Training venues, the Dutch Eurocup and the Start-of-Seasons

Gross Under Achievement (to properly be able to recognise achievements we must first be able to recognise gross under achievement!)

Ian Swann - Wobbling in on a light wind run when near the front of the fleet and failing to recover quickly.
Simon Hiscocks - Starting on the one minute gun then turning around after 30 seconds to start just in time!
Jack Holden & Tom Partington - For contemplating fitting a compass to a rotating mast!
Giovanni Belgrano - for inviting his wife to name his new RS Aero!

For more info on the RS Aero Class visit the website, www.rsaerosailing.org or the facebook group, www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass.

Nearly 30 RS Aeros at the pre-Nationals coaching day - photo © Paul Robson