RS Aeros at the Roadford Rocket

by RS Aero Class Association on 1 Mar 2017 Ten hardy RS Aeros were undeterred from travelling by a forecast of ‘Lundy,….Storm 10 later’ as Storm Ewan was due to make landfall on the Cornish coast and threatened to rip up the English peninsula wreaking havoc across Roadford Lake perched behind its dam wall on the rolling foothills of Dartmoor.

Sensibly, race officer Richard Willows had brought the start forward and shortened the race in advance, allowing competitors to finish and pack away before the worst hit. An impressive 40 starters and 30 finishers were rewarded by an awesome sail in a ‘Fresh, but not too Frightening’ breeze on what was a relatively warm morning.

As a two hour pursuit race it was to be a true hare and hounds game. The two RS Aero 5s started with the Lasers, four minutes after the Solos, and the eight RS Aero 7s chased after them five minutes later. The Supernovas had just a one minute lead on the ‘7’s and the Blazes were just three minutes behind. With the breeze up any trapeze boat who could keep it clean was in with a fair chance and with Fireballs, Ospreys, Hornets and RS 400s all starting close together it was hard not to have one eye on your rear view mirror and the other on a watch, willing for the 13:30 finish to save you from being devoured by the chasing pack.

Andrew Frost (Sutton Bingham) in his RS Aero 5 nailed his start and led the 5s and Lasers up the first short beat to the dam. The biggest start of the day was the RS Aero 7s with eight boats and it was Greg Bartlett (Starcross) who flew off the line to lead untroubled for the first lap. Ben Rolfe (Burghfield) steamed down the run and into second place. With the wind blowing down the length of the lake it was a 3,000 meter beat back and the seasoned legs of Peter Barton (Lymington), aided by a whopping Cornish cooked breakfast, that hiked past the youngsters to take the lead and steadily extend for the rest of the race. The 5s of Andrew Frost and David Mahoney (Lymington) had a close tussle throughout but Andrew came through (and also beat his father, Richard, in his Solo!). Greg won the close battle against Ben to edge into the top ten overall. Peter worked hard to get by the lead Supernova and Lasers to take third. When the fat lady finally sang at 13:30, two Fireballs revelling in the conditions were at the front with Chris and Jon Gill well ahead for the overall win - enjoying a rematch after the Stacross Steamer!

Borrowing a ‘7’ for the day Dan Bridger (Salcombe) was happy not to be on his ‘9’ and came in fourth RS Aero with first timer Darren Roach (Royal Navy) a commendable fifth. Another RS Aero first timer in that breeze was Roadford’s Kevin Reed who finish first home boat overall.

The Roadford Rocket doubled as Round seven of the RS Aero UK Winter Series and with just the final two legs to go at Wimbleball, Exmoor, (19th March) and the grande finale RS Aero Spring Champs at Island Barn, West London, (25th March) the series remains wide open as each competitor only needs their best three from the 10 events to count!

Overall Results:

Pos	Class	Sail No	Helm	Crew	Club	Pts
1	Fireball	15083	Chris Gill	John Gill	Portishead	1
2	Fireball	14708	Colin Jarvis	Derek Jarvis	Portishead	2
3	RS Aero 7	2093	Peter Barton		Lymington Town SC	3
4	Laser	210631	Ben Flower		Starcross	4
5	Supernova	1092	Iain Horlock		Exe	5
6	Hornet	2108	Richard	Sam	Starcross	6
7	Phantom	14	Simon Hawkws		Wimbleball	7
8	RS500	518	Mike Way	Anne Way	Starcross	8
9	RS Aero 7	1637	Greg Bartlett		Starcross	9
10	Laser radial	210262	chris Jones		Sutton Bingham	10
11	RS Aero 7	2	Ben Rolfe		Burghfield	11
12	Fireball	14789	Hannah Showell	James Beer	Starcross	12
13	Rs400	727	Bob Warren	Jack Warren	Restronget	13
14	Osprey	1356	Emma Stevenson	Simon Hawks	Wimbleball	14
15	Rs400	6	Dave Stockton	Paul Birbeck	Wimbleball	15
16	RS Aero 7	2001	dan Bridger		Exe	16
17	Blaze	803	Hugh Kingdom		North Devon YC	17
18	RS Aero 7	2134	Darren Roach		RNSA	18
19	RS Aero 5	1312	Andrew Frost		Sutton Bingham	19
20	RS Aero 5	1457	David Mahony		Lymington Town SC	20
21	RS Aero 7	2157	Nigel Rolfe		Burghfield	21
22	Solo	4901	Richard Frost		Sutton Bingham	22
23	Finn	603	Grant Simmons		Starcross	23
24	Int Moth	4501	Dan Ellis		Yealm	24
25	RS Aero 7	2133	Kevin Reed		RLSC	25
26	Laser	180229	Mike Taylor		RLSC	26
27	Redwing	249	Eric Evans	Karen Raymont	North Devon YC	27
28	Rs400	1097	Mark Swan	Paul Raven	Exe	28
29	Supernova	702	Bern Harvey		RLSC	29
30	Laser radial	197782	Richard Heaton		Sutton Bingham	30
31	Laser 4.7	1	Luca Guyon		RLSC	31
31	Laser radial	5	Billy Kingdom		RLSC	31
31	Int Canoe	242	Ed Bremner		RLSC	31
31	Rs400	411	Richard Cain		Starcross	31
31	Blaze	797	Mike Holmes		Paington	31
31	RS Aero 7	2146	James Clapham		Royal Torbay	31
31	Blaze	607	Laurence Maunder		Wimbleball	31
31	INT Moth	3875	Chris Tilbrook		Starcross	31
31	Supernova	1061	Norman Halstead		RLSC	31
31	29er	346	Ellie Hutchings	Ellie Poole	RLSC	31