RS Aero UK Winter Training at Restronguet Sailing Club
by Patrick Clarke 3 Apr 2025 05:35 PDT
29-30 March 2025
The penultimate RS Aero Winter Training Weekend was held at Restronguet SC over the weekend 29/30th March, marked by Spring tides and the change of clocks on Sunday to keep the participants on their toes.
The turnout was at the maximum with a total of twenty-one boats, with two from the home club sharing a day each. The first visitors arrived on Friday afternoon and all were assembled for a ten o'clock start in glorious weather on Saturday that only turned to rain at the end of the day.
A building SW'erly breeze made for ideal conditions to get things started with some warm-up drills in the morning before a break ashore made welcoming by the fare served up from Katy's Galley.
The afternoon session began with a starboard-hand rectangular course requiring exactly nine tacks on the windward leg, a 360-degree turn on the short reaching leg between the Mylor Fairway buoys, and five gybes on the run to the downwind mark with a strongish cross tide. Then a pause to pair off for a short drag race reaching to the leeward mark to go around again.
The gusty conditions took their toll on the unwary. The afternoon concluded with some windward-leeward race drills.
Sunday dawned again with ideal conditions and a NW-erly breeze building to offer still more varied training opportunities near St Just Pool on the ebbing tide. The windward-leeward drills focused mainly on honing the gybing technique, which was one of the main gains, especially among the home fleet.
A series of windward legs with rabbit starts each after a reset to a further windward mark enabled a variety of different set-ups to be put into practice across the breadth of the fleet according to their relative position in relation to the shore line, the over-20m deep channel and the open water over the shallower bank towards the middle of the Carrick Roads.
An early lunch followed by an exhausting series of short two-lap races on a triangle-sausage course heralded a fine end to two days of consistency great sailing. In all, 13 of the regulars for the Winter Training including, two from the home fleet, plus a total of eight other Restronguet SC sailors enjoyed a fabulous weekend of training from Sammy Isaacs-Johnson and George Cousins (himself also a RSC local).
The event was much admired by other local sailors and passers-by alike and most rewarding for all concerned.
Great weekend at Restronguet Sailing Club for the RS Aero Winter Training weekend as it visited Falmouth Harbour and the splendid Carrick Roads sailing area.
The final RS Aero Winter Training Weekend is at Yorkshire Dales SC over Easter weekend, 19/20 April. The RS Aeros make a welcome return to Restronguet SC to compete for the RS Aero UK Southwestern Champs over the Bank Holiday weekend of 3-5th May.