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North Sails Performance 2023 - LEADERBOARD

RS Aero UK Spring Championship at Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

by Gareth Griffiths 28 Apr 06:04 PDT 22 April 2023
RS Aero UK Spring Championship © Island Barn Reservoir Sailing Club

Despite the water looking like a mirror when everyone arrived, the fifteen local sailors and seven visitors all hoped that the predicted wind would fill in. Experienced Race Officer Mike Jones postponed the planned 11am start. By quarter to twelve there were some patches of wind but Mike elected for early lunch to let the wind settle.

Sure enough when we launched after lunch there was a nice breeze for three back to back races though the direction kept shifting between S and SW making it hard to set a good line. Undaunted Mike watched the patches of wind and got the fleets off first try.

Given the numbers the fleets were split as RS Aero 7 & 5 on an outer quad with RS Aero 9s (no 6's this time) 4 minutes later on an inner quad.

RS Aero 9s

With 12 boats on the start line the 9's were the biggest fleet. As the beat progressed the wind started to shift left leaving those who tacked right early hung out to dry. With the big shift, after the first beat there were fewer opportunities for gains, by lap 2 the wind had gone very right making the second beat very one sided with the final order Keith Smaggasgale (Broadwater), Jeff Davison (Island Barn) followed by Paul Wright-Anderson (Island Barn).

The course was quickly adjusted to the new direction and the fleet got away for a better beat. Getting the shifts right towards the end of the beat was trickly and caused a few changes. This time David Cherrill (Broadwater) came out on top followed by Andrew Cooney (Broadwater) and Keith. With all to play for in the final race three sailors could still win... Jeff pulled out all the stops and took the win followed by David and Andy Norman (Island Barn) making it tied on points between Jeff and David with Jeff taking it on last race.

RS Aero 7s

In the 7 fleet Chris Rust (Portsmouth SC) led off the committee boat end and played the shifts up the left with Andrew Barnett (Island Barn) close behind. Mark Ampleford (Island Barn), in his first outing since buying an RS Aero, had gone right to clear his air and benefited from a large righthand shift to also challenge but it was Chris, Andy then Mark at the windward mark and for the remainder of the 2 lap race.

Race 2 saw Chris again lead from the first mark to the finish with a very clear bullet, Andy again in second, with local Carl Pittam taking third spot in at times very light conditions.

Race 3 had a slight port bias to the line and both Andy and Chris eyed up the pin end flyer but Mark approached on starboard and tacked into that spot to lead for much of the first beat only to lose out to Chris after some superior tacks. Chris kept a small lead throughout the race to win the final race in now champagne sailing conditions with Mark just behind in second and Andy in 3rd this time. So overall Chris with a clean sweep followed by locals Andy and Mark

RS Aero 5s

In the small but no less competitive 5 fleet Jonathon Bailey from Hunts dominated the first two races but had to give best to local Yana Skvortsova in the third Race.

As always huge thanks to the team of volunteers at Island Barn SC who make our open meetings possible and to Rooster and to Recycled Sail Bags for providing additional prizes.

Overall Results:

PosSailNameClubR1R2R3Pts
RS Aero 5
1st3929Jonathan BaileyHunts11‑22
2nd2214Yana SkvortsovaIsland Barn‑3213
3rd1698Caroline BaldwinIsland Barn2‑335
4th2077Tom AhlheidFrensham Pond(DNC)6DNC6DNC12
4th1070Tristan AhlheidFrensham Pond(DNC)6DNC6DNC12
RS Aero 7
1st3669Chris RustPortsmouth‑1112
2nd4228Andrew BarnettIsland Barn22‑34
3rd1505Mark AmplefordIsland Barn3‑425
4th2787Carl PittamIsland Barn‑5358
5th2191David BaldwinIsland Barn‑6549
6th2441Finlay ToddIsland Barn4‑7610
7th1589Brendan O'LearyIsland Barn‑76713
RS Aero 9
1st4189Jeff DavisonIsland Barn2‑1013
2nd3198David CherrillBroadwater‑6123
3rd4298Keith SmaggasgaleBroadwater13‑64
4th1747Andrew CooneyBroadwater‑8246
5th2786Andy NormanIsland Barn4‑537
6th1463Paul Wright‑AndersonIsland Barn34‑97
7th2607David RyderIsland Barn‑106.5511.5
8th1063Peter JosephBroadwater59‑1114
9th3042Paul HalliwellIsland Barn7‑8815
10th3175Gareth GriffithsIsland Barn96.5‑1015.5
11th3852Nick AllenPapercourt11‑12718
12th2785John KewleyIsland Barn‑12111223
13th1603Rob AhlheidFrensham Pond(DNC)DNCDNC30
13th1778Angus DaviesQueen Mary(DNC)DNCDNC30

Next up for the UK RS Aeros is the Lymington RS Aero Open on Saturday 13th May.

RS Aero UK Events List

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