forum | General Discussion | Transition into RS Aero from RS Tera and Feva

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Home >> General Discussion >> Transition into RS Aero from RS Tera and Feva

Great writeup Beth. Looks like the leaders in the 5 fleet need to watch out for you ;-)

28/06/2020 09:56:00
Chris Hughes
Posts: 16

I began sailing when I was 10 years old in the RS Tera Sport and was soon thrown into my first competition after a month or two of getting in the boat - Regatta Fleet at a very cold and windy Derwent Reservoir Sailing Club! I finished in a solid last position. It was a scary event for me. I hardly knew how to steer a boat let alone be on a start line. The winds were heavy, or at least I thought they were. Even after this failed attempt at the sport, I continued for another two years in the Sport fleet [making some progress] before moving into the Pro fleet in late 2016.

I was not particularly good in the Sport fleet, but once I moved into the Pro fleet things changed! Although the boat was much better balanced everything became an awful lot more technical. One day something clicked and I soon began to get some good results. Dad and I would regularly sit down and watch Olympic races to look at each individual sailors technique and I tried to apply each technique to my own sailing to find the best suited style for me.

The most memorable competition of mine will always be the 2018 RS Tera World Championships. I was going into the competition expecting a top 20 result. For two months prior to the competition, I went out training by myself working on little details like tacking, gybing and keeping the boat flat. This did ultimately pay off. In the first race, I finished in a strong 18th place, which gave me a lot more confidence going into the rest of the competition. The second race, to my surprise, was even better. I crossed the line in 16th place but I never would have imagined the position I finished in the last race. I finished 2nd.

After three races I came off the water buzzing and was 2nd overall. I somehow managed to keep this up through the rest of the regatta with mainly top finishes [including a first].

That winter I moved into the RS Feva with Tilda Brayshay and we had a blast together. We competed in several competitions our best being the 2019 RS Feva Nationals in Abersoch. Unfortunately, my sailing the RS Feva was cut short [just 15 months in all] due to Covid-19 and the cancellation of the 2020 Worlds in Germany. This was supposed to be our last competition together before I moved back into a single-handed boat.

Following the cancellation of the RS Feva World Championships, we bought an RS Aero and it made such a good transition from the Feva. It’s a light boat so is so much easier to pull up the slipway but is also fairly simple and straight forward. There are not overly fancy setups and is also a really comfortable boat. Since the club has reopened, I’ve really enjoyed being out on the water and thoroughly enjoyed the time spent in the Aero. It has also been a great boat for Mum and Dad to sail. Dad has sailed the RS Aero 7 whilst mum has regularly used the RS Aero 5, like me. It’s a great boat that we all enjoy and isn’t too complicated.

27/06/2020 14:00:00
Beth Miller
Posts: 2

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