Spring had definitely arrived at Hayling last weekend for the fifth weekend of the RS Aero Winter Training, once again held alongside the RS Tera squad. The blue skies, mild temperatures and a medium to light breeze made a welcome change after a windy and wet winter in the UK!
The 16 sailors were made up from a near equal mix of Youth, Hayling locals and visiting RS Tera parents with travellers from as far afield as Scotland, the Isle of Man and the East Coast. All focused into an extended shore briefing from coaches Peter Barton and Paul Robson whilst the morning fog cleared. After an early lunch we ventured out at the top of the tide where predictably a light breeze had filled in. Everyone opted for the ‘7’ rig, enabling good training in a matched fleet.
It quickly became evident how much the regular squad had improved over this winter and the past year. Archie knocked in several 1sts and Charlie had a couple of podiums too. New recruits Dylan and Izzy were also seen to make their mark near the front.
More tide and more breeze on Sunday morning created interesting and welcome challenges with an opportunity to put theory into practice. Hayling local Andy Hill was regularly at the front leaving some visitors scratching their heads as the Hayling ‘moving carpet’ slid across the course. Caitlin joined mid morning after finishing her German homework and immediately found the front of the fleet – great all round preparation for this years European Championships in Travemunde, Germany!
The weekend ended with pursuit races where the 5s started 30 seconds ahead of the 7s over a short two lap triangle/sausage course. In the grand final Caitlin blasted away down the reaches only to be awarded a 720’ penalty for jumping the start. This left Ed Storey close enough to pounce into the lead at the end of the run to take more gold than just Hayling sand back to the Yorkshire Dales!
Over the weekend we were fortunate to see a varied range of both wind and tide providing an ever changing challenge. Many thanks to Peter Atkin for co-ordinating the series of weekends and to Paul Robson for coaching the whole series.
Next up is the RS Aero UK Spring Championships at Grafham this weekend with nearly 20 boats pre-entered. For the youth contingent a recent addition to the UK calendar is the NSSA Inland Champs at Datchet on 28/29th May.
Keep in touch with Everything Aero via;
the Class website at www.rsaerosailing.org/
and facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/rsaeroclass/