RS Aero European Championship at Weymouth & Portland Sailing Academy - Day 3
by RS Aero International Class Association 3 Aug 22:41 PDT
1-5 August 2022
Day 3 of the 4th RS Aero European Championship dawned windier than expected and PRO Mark Woods made the call to race inside the harbour alongside the RS Teras with the RS Aero 5 & 6s out first followed by the RS Aero 7 & 9s.
The RS Aero 5 & 6s launched into 23kn of breeze, which steadily softened to 18kn. The RS Aero 7 & 9s raced their three races in a breeze dropping from 18kn to 10kn providing opportunities throughout the fleet. A couple of substantial and prolonged right and left shifts kept sailors and the Race Team on their toes.
The large RS Aero 5 fleet made consistency key over 3 races with Chloe George (GBR) again one of the most consistent with a 4,3,5. Over two races Roscoe Martin (GBR) stepped up to 2nd with a 1,1 and Mark Ripley (GBR) and Lijia Xu (CHN) scored a 2,4 each. Winner of Race 7 was David Peaty (GBR) who backed it up with a 6th.
In the RS Aero 6s Chris Hatton's (GBR) run of 1sts was finally brought to a halt when Luca Mitchell (GBR) took the win in Race 9. That still leaves Chris out in front, now with Ants Haavel (EST) 2nd and Luca a point back in 3rd.
It was Craig Williams (GBR) who won the day in the RS Aero 7s with a 4,3,1 to jump up to 3rd overall. Martis Pajarskas (LTU) held his lead at the top with Tim Hire (GBR) in 2nd. Jon Emmett (GBR) took the win in Race 8 to step up to 5th.
The RS Aero 9s were ready for the lighter breeze later in the afternoon after two days of hard hiking! Peter Barton (GBR) won the day but his string of 1sts was brought to an end by Simon Geyman (GBR) won Race 9 and was 2nd best scorer on Day 3.
After a late finish the daily awards were postponed to be rolled over until tomorrow night. Lijia Xu will also then field a Q&A session with a few key Top Tips for speedy sailing. Later DJ Covell will pump out the tunes for a final party night before Friday's grand finale on the water.
Day 4 on Thursday is set to be out in Weymouth Bay with a start time of 12:00.
Check out the photos of the day by Digital Sailing with 50% Discount code 'RSGAMES' until 20th August, https://www.digitalsailing.co.uk
Thanks to all the supporters of the RS Games; RS Sailing, Rooster, Selden, Harken, Noble Marine, Kingfisher Yacht Ropes, LifeJacket Skin Protection, Spinlock, Fernhurst Books, Hyde Sails, MarkSetBot, Digital Sailing and Allen Sailing.
Full results available here.