A whopping 123 competitors over the 4 Round Series
The RS Aero UK Inland Championships at Bowmoor concluded the 2015 UK Series, and both were generously supported by Magic Marine. Over the 4 event series there have been a whopping total of 138 entries. After taking out 15 double entries that opted to use more than one rig there were still a massive total of 123 unique entries! This included 13 Ladies, 15 Youths (under 19) and 24 Masters (55 and over).
The 36 RS Aeros at Bowmoor meant the last few podium slots for the 2015 UK Series were hotly contested as the scoring remained wide open going into that final event.
Matthew Caigar (Sevenoaks) retained his lead in the RS Aero 5s by decisively winning at Bowmoor, pipping Cathy Bartram (Chew Valley) on a tie break for the series. Archie Hainsworth (Alton Water) held on to 3rd place despite some late charges.
In the RS Aero 7s Peter Barton (Lymington Town) had done enough early on to seal the top spot. Peter Townend (Chelmarsh) reinforced his 2nd overall by achieving 2nd at Bowmoor and Paul Robson (Reading) took 3rd.
The RS Aero 9s had a close finish with Richard Watsham (Starcross) winning with a 1,2 from David Rickard (Gurnard) on a 2,2. Matt Thursfield (Chelmarsh) won Round 1 at Chelmarsh to complete the podium with 3rd overall.
Movers and Shakers
The final round at Bowmoor saw several sailors shoot up the rankings with new faces at the front of each fleet.
Mark Carleton (Papercourt) dominated the 7s to jump up to 4th overall, narrowly missing out on the podium.
Charlie Pearce (Dabchicks) took 4th at Bowmoor in the RS Aero 5s to pull through to 4th overall and was rewarded by winning a 3 way tie against Emily Davis (Great Moor) and Ben Poe (Sutton Bingham and Lymington).
The local RS Aero 9s of Al Keck (Bowmoor) and David Lynall (Bowmoor) dominated at the final event but needed another result for a series. Andrew Snell (Army SA) shot up to 5th overall with his 4th at Bowmoor.
We have experienced all conditions over the series and our understanding of the RS Aeros and the relative rigs is much deeper now. At Lymington we had 25kn gusts against a strong ebb on day 1, reducing to a pleasant 12kn dropping to a drift on day 2. Chelmarsh was medium, but with a large differential of 10-20kn, challenging shifts and silky smooth flat water – a very different planing challenge to Lymington. The UK Nationals at Weymouth varied from light to ‘the windy side of medium’. Bowmoor finished the series with a light to medium breeze with typical inland ‘sniggling’ skills required. We scored the series as 3 separate fleets, but also enjoyed some interesting inter fleet racing with PY results too.
Next up is the RS Aerocup : Barcelona (link: http://www.rsaerosailing.org/index.asp?p=event&eid=1010 ) on 29th October – 1st November. With 34 competitors from 7 nations already registered it will be the biggest international bubble to date and a fantastic precursor for next years European Championship in Germany.
Keep in touch with Everything Aero via;
- the Class website at www.rsaerosailing.org/
- and facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass/
Ladies
- 1st Cathy Bartram (Chew Valley) – 2nd RS Aero 5
- 2nd Emily Davis (Great Moor) – 5th RS Aero 5
- 3rd Caitlin Atkin (Alton Water) – 7th RS Aero 5
Youths (under 19)
- 1st Matthew Caigar (Sevenoaks) – 1st RS Aero 5
- 2nd Archie Hainsworth (Alton Water) – 3rd RS Aero 5
- 3rd Charlie Pearce (Dabchicks) – 4th RS Aero 5
Masters (55 and over)
- 1st Peter Townend (Chelmarsh) – 2nd RS Aero 7
- 2nd David Rickard (Gurnard) – 2nd RS Aero 9
- 3rd Gareth Griffiths (Island Barn) – 4th RS Aero 9
Top Club (top 3 placings)
- 1st Chelmarsh 11pts (2nd in 7s, 3rd in 9s, 6th in 9s)
- 2nd Lymington Town 16pts (1st in 7s, 7th in 7s, 8th in 9s)
- 3rd Alton Water 20pts (3rd in 5s, 7th in 5s, 10th in 5s)
- 4th Gurnard 23pts (2nd in 9s, 8th in 5s, 13th in 9s)
- 5th Papercourt 40pts (4th in 7s, 12th in 7s, 24th in 7s)
- 6th Bowmoor 47pts (12th in 9s, 14th in 9s, 21st in 9s)
- 7th Royal Lymington 49pts (14th in 5s, 14th in 7s, 21st in 7s)
- 8th Hayling Island 56pts (13th in 5s, 21st in 5s, 22nd in 9s)