Lymington Festive Stadium Racing - Hampshire, UK, Sat 20th Dec
10 local RS Aeros turned out for the 2025 edition of the Lymington Festive RS Aero Stadium Racing and were blessed with blue skies, mild temps and an excellent high tide on the river. The medium breeze blowing from SSE straight down the Lymington River provided excellent racing with opportunities for both the lighter and heavier sailors.
The entries divided into to two Classes with seven RS Aero 7s and three RS Aero 5s. Racing was fun, but also red-hot on this mid winter day, with half the fleet titled RS Aero sailors! (2 World Champs, 1 UK Champ, 1 World Female Youth Champ & 1 UK Youth Champ!). This year we had gender parity with a 50% male/female split .... and 5 of the 6 podium spots were females!
Master of ceremonies, RO Liam Willis, set a 'P' shaped course making the most of a windward start off the pontoon, then two reaches and a run. The flag allowing relaxation of rule 42 was exercised periodically in each race for short periods. This promoted fast planning on the reaches and air rowing down the run which certainly kept everyone toastie warm! The beats and runs being tight in against the pontoon brought the action within touching distance of the vocal crowd of enthusiastic spectators. Any high performer who dared stretch out a lead was brought back into the action with discretionary penalty turns! The day's conditions were just too good to waste any racing with a discard, so it was every race to count and some conservatism and spirited comebacks were vital for a good series.
The coveted award for best Christmas attire was, as ever, hotly contested. Elfy Ears and the Rudolf Bowman came close but the runaway winner was Jenny Bennett's Santa Claus who also nailed the RS Aero 5 racing despite her Santa costume and boat draped in tinsel! Congratulations to new RS Aero racer, Rebecca Wharmby, in winning two races at her first RS Aero event.
RS Aero 7s finished with three wins a piece between Chloe George and Peter Barton and it came down to how good (or bad!) your worst races were, giving Peter the edge this time.
Thanks to all the volunteers for helping facilitate a great morning's racing!
