RS Aero World Championship at Cascade Locks, Oregon, USA - Day 1
by RS Aero International Class Association 27 Jun 01:32 PDT
26 June - 1 July 2022
A breezy easterly greeted competitors for Day 1 of the RS Aero World Championship 2022 hosted by the Columbia Gorge Racing Association in Oregon, USA.
After a short delay whilst the 30kn gusts subsided the fleet launched for three races. With the late spring snow melt creating a strong current, picking and holding a good lane out of the current and was critical, as were identifying reliable lay-lines.
First off were the largest fleet, the RS Aero 7s, and leading to the first mark was Gary Ratcliffe (AUS). Carl Buchan (USA) soon hit the front to win the race - a fitting tribute to the RS Aero Worlds in the USA as Carl won Gold in the FD in LA in 1984 were RS Aero designer Jo Richards took the Bronze! Race 2 saw Jack Millar (GBR) fast out of the blocks to lead the 1st lap. Peter Barton (GBR) took the lead on the 2nd beat and narrowly held off Dalton Bergan (USA) for the win. In Race three Carl Buchan (USA) led after a port tack start from the pin were the race office had finely balanced line bias vs the need to get right. Noah Rees (GBR) selected the favoured leeward gate which was further to sail but enabled him to get right quicker to take the lead and the race.
That leaves a tightly packed top few with Noah leading by a point from Dalton, a point behind is Peter and another point back is Carl.
The RS Aero 5s has some close tussles and was ultimately an all USA affair with two Seattle RS Aeros sharing the top 2s with Ryan Zehnder (USA) leading the day narrowly with a 1,2,1 from Dieter Creitz (USA) with 2,1,1. From the east coast Dylan Williams (USA) is 3rd with 4,3,3 whilst Roy Van Maanen (IRL) challenged the USA stronghold in Race 1 with a 3rd to finish the day in 4th.
The flat water produced by the wind being with the current made for some excellent RS Aero 9 racing. Seattle's Dan Falk (USA) sailed fast and smart to take all three wins. Michael Johnson (USA), Derek Bottles (USA) and the east coast's Madhavan Thirumalai (USA) are all in the hunt.
Whilst today' strong easterly produced some interesting variation the more normal summer westerly is set to be back with a vengeance tomorrow afternoon providing a welcome helping hand upwind and some exciting waves to catch and scoot around. Noah and Jack have had double burgers!
The day concluded with after sailing drinks and snacks and a fleet debrief led by Carl Buchan where competitors shared their insights into what they felt worked well on the race course.
Thanks to all the RS Aero Worlds supporters - West Coast Sailing, RS Sailing, Seattle YC Foundation, Prism Kites, Rooster and Kingfisher Ropes.
Results can be found at www.regattanetwork.com/event/23410#_newsroom