RS Aero Magic Marine Inland Championships at Chelmarsh Sailing Club

by Clive Wright on 17 Oct 2016 Chelmarsh Sailing Club set in the south of Shropshire is one of the most rural regions in the UK, with beautiful countryside and not too many features to disturb the wind. It has a modern club house and a strong RS Aero fleet. This year's RS Aero Inland Champs were held here following last year’s very successful event.

With an impressive 41 entries and a forecast of ten, gusting twenty knots, the 2016 Inland Championships promised to be a fantastic event. Competitors travelled from as far North as York,Lymington in the South and Ipswich in the East. It is clear that the RS Aero class continues to grow and has become a strong and competitive fleet with a number of younger sailors now coming in to push the more experienced. RS were also on hand, delivering new boats and making charter boats available.

The event started in lighter winds than forecast with even the Aero 9s struggling to get on the plane. This made for some close racing and determined pushing of the line at the start. The PRO, Gareth Wilkinson, quickly established his authority with a few individual recalls, a general recall and even giving the black flag an airing. Looking for pressure and playing the shifts soon began to pay off.

Peter Barton was consistent in the Aero 9’s and established a hat-trick of bullets. Chris Larr and Anthony York, both from Northampton SC took a close second and third place respectively with Chris winning race four.

In the Aero 7’s, there was everything to play for after two races at the break for lunch. John Harvey of Thornbury SC won the first and Mark Carleton of Papercourt SC took the second race. However, Caroline Whitehouse from Bartley SC had posted two good results alongside two youth sailors, Drew Wright from Chelmarsh a former optimist sailor and Chris Hatton from Severn SC, a top Comet sailor. Drew Wright took bullets in each of the last two races to win overall, closely followed by Caroline Whitehouse and Mark Carleton.

Archie Hainsworth of Alton Water and Cathy Bartram from Chew Valley battled it out in the Aero 5’s. It was impressive to see them keeping pace with the Aero 7’s and some of the 9’s at times, despite the light winds. Eventually, Archie Hainsworth won the tie break, showing just how tight the racing had been.

In all, the RS Aero Inland Champs at Chelmarsh proved to be an outstanding event enjoyed by all. It was exciting for sailors and a great spectacle for those watching, helped by a gorgeous sunny autumn day, spectacular countryside, close tactical racing and great food from the galley.

Many thanks to Chelmarsh Sailing Club for hosting such a successful event, RS Sailing for supporting and making charter boats available, Magic Marine for sponsoring the generous prizes and competitors for travelling.

Next up for the RS Aeros in the UK is the Chew Valley open on Saturday 22nd October and then the Southern and Northern Circuit grande finale ‘End of Seasons’ at Rutland on 5/6th November, together with the rest of the RS Classes.

RS Aero 9

Rank	Sail No	Helm	Club	Category	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	2093	Peter Barton	Lymington Town SC		1	1	1	-4	7	3
2nd	1888	Chris Larr	Northampton SC		2	-3	2	1	8	5
3rd	1676	Anthony York	Northampton SC		-8	4	3	2	17	9
4th	1581	Ben Rolfe	Burghfield SC		5	2	-9	3	19	10
5th	1551	Nigel Rolfe	Burghfield SC		3	-8	5	6	22	14
6th	1071	Peter Chaplin	Burghfield SC	Master	9	5	4	-17	35	18
7th	1744	Matt Thursfield	Chelmarsh SC		7	6	7	-17	37	20
8th	1298	Richard Watsham	Starcross YC / RNSA		4	13	6	-17	40	23
9th	1135	Phil White	Frampton on Severn		-13	9	8	7	37	24
10th	1404	Jeremy Higson	Bartley SC		10	7	(DNC)	9	43	26
11th	1007	Antony Lynall	Avon SC		6	-12	12	10	40	28
12th	1207	Mark Tissiman	Chelmarsh SC	Master	-11	11	10	8	40	29
13th	1062	Martin Barrett	Ripon SC	Master	-14	14	11	5	44	30
14th	1095	Tony Jukes	Chelmarsh SC	Master	12	10	13	-17	52	35
15th	1092	Richard Woods	Chelmarsh SC		-16	16	14	11	57	41
16th	1656	David Partridge	Chelmarsh SC	Master	-15	15	15	12	57	42

RS Aero 5

Rank	Sail No	Helm	Club	Category	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	1173	Archie Hainsworth	Alton Water / RHS	Youth	-2	2	1	1	6	4
2nd	1178	Cathy Bartram	Chew Valley SC	Lady	1	1	-2	2	6	4

Rank	Sail No	Helm	Club	Category	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total	Nett
1st	1700	Drew Wright	Chelmarsh SC	Youth	-9	2	1	1	13	4
2nd	2135	Caroline Whitehouse	Bartley SC	Lady	3	3	2	-24	32	8
3rd	1575	Mark Carleton	Papercourt SC		-11	1	4	4	20	9
4th	1744	Adam Rowlatt	Chelmarsh SC	Youth	7	-20	3	2	32	12
5th	1002	David Cherrill	Broadwater SC		5	4	-8	3	20	12
6th	2001	Chris Hatton	Severn SC	Youth	2	-8	7	7	24	16
7th	1792	Andy Hill	Hayling Island SC		4	9	-14	8	35	21
8th	1927	Jack Hardie	Frensham Pond SC		8	7	-9	6	30	21
9th	1598	John Harvey	Thornbury SC		1	-12	10	12	35	23
10th	1509	Peter Craggs	York RI SC		13	5	5	-16	39	23
11th	1508	Robert England	Chelmarsh SC	Master	6	-15	15	5	41	26
12th	1573	Adrian Stell	Papercourt SC		-14	10	6	11	41	27
13th	1302	Karl Thorne	Lymington Town SC		10	11	-12	9	42	30
14th	1618	Dave Harris	Severn SC	Master	16	6	13	-17	52	35
15th	1413	Adrian Speke	Chelmarsh SC		-17	14	16	10	57	40
16th	1258	Nick Craven	Yorkshire Dales SC		-18	18	11	13	60	42
17th	1264	Jackie Craven	Yorkshire Dales SC	Lady	12	17	-18	15	62	44
18th	1214	Harry Binns	Bassenthwaite SC	Youth	-19	13	19	14	65	46
19th	1594	Julie Archer	Ullswater YC	Lady	15	16	17	-21	69	48
20th	2133	John Tanner	Chelmarsh SC	Master	-20	19	20	20	79	59
21st	1211	Nick Eales	Lymington Town SC		21	-23	21	18	83	60
22nd	1655	Quentin Leiper	Chelmarsh SC	Master	-22	21	22	19	84	62
23rd	1412	Peter Wilson	Chelmarsh SC		23	22	23	-24	92	68