Bewl played host to the 7th RS Aero ‘Lift-Off’ event held since November for a busy day’s induction, coaching and demoing. The event combined with Bewl’s ‘Volvo Sailing Academy’ and ‘In the Blue’ day providing lots of activity with options available to family and friends too. The RS Aero event was open to both members and visitors with a total of 18 sailors taking to the water.
We kicked off with an informative run through the boat; rigging, launching, boat care and design. Then we moved on to the sailing side of things; sail controls, technique and boat handling – describing many Aero specifics where the lightweight 30kg hull and responsive carbon rig may vary from previous classes sailed.
Being a Volvo day we were privileged to have the Team Volvo Olympic Squad Sailors in attendance and Nick Thompson, 4 times Laser World Championship medalist and all round top bloke, was on hand to help out with his really smart top tips on good hiking techniques.
Over the course of the day in the medium breezes we had a varied range of sailors from 45kg 12 year olds feeling their way with the smaller ‘5’ rig to 100kg adults enjoying the power of the larger ‘9’ rig.
Two sailors had orders already in place and wanted to test sail to confirm. All went well with the sailors now eager for delivery and one adding the versatility of an additional rig!
or more info on what’s going on in the RS Aero Class check out; http://www.rsaerosailing.org