Downs Sailing Club holds first RS Aero open meeting at Deal

by Jeremy Blackman on 19 May 2016 Downs Sailing Club held their first RS Aero open meeting at Deal in East Kent on Sunday the 15th May as part of their singlehander open. With a fleet of six RS Aeros now at Downs four locals made it out to be joined by four more visitors to make a nice fleet of eight RS Aero 7s.

Initially the wind looked as if it was going to be light and nine rigs would be the order of the day but by the start of race one the wind had freshened to 15-20 knots and those who had rigged their 9’s quickly changed them to a 7s, leaving everyone with seven rigs. The waves made the off wind leg interesting enabling you to surf on the back of them down to the leeward mark. By race four the wind had dropped again and the race was shortened.

Visitor, Andrew Snell from Datchet SC, led the pack winning all four races closely followed by Nigel Rolfe from Burghfield SC. Rob Freeland was the top Downs sailor in fifth closely behind Caitlin Atkin of Whitstable SC, the First Lady and First Youth.

Next up in the UK is the RS Aero Schools Champs, within the NSSA Inlands at Datchet on 28/29 May followed closely by the UK Nationals at Royal Torquay YC 2-5 June. With 64 RS Aeros already pre-entered for the UK Nationals it is set to be another fantastic Championship in the fine sailing area of Torbay on the English Riviera.

Results

Rank	Class	Name	Club	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Net
1	RS Aero 7	Andrew Snell	Datchet SC	1	1	1	1	4	3
2	RS Aero 7	Nigel Rolfe	Burghfield SC	2	2	2	2	8	6
3	RS Aero 7	Peter Chaplin	Burghfield SC	3	DNF	4	3	19	10
4	RS Aero 7	Caitlin Atkin	Whitstable SC	4	4	3	4	15	11
5	RS Aero 7	Rob Freeland	Downs SC	5	3	6	DNS	23	14
6	RS Aero 7	Ken Davis	Downs SC	7	5	5	DNF	26	17
7	RS Aero 7	Paul Harris	Downs SC	6	6	DNS	DNS	30	21
8	RS Aero 7	Jeremy Blackman	Downs SC	8	DNS	DNS	DNS	35	26