14 RS Aeros enjoyed a great breeze at Spinnaker Sailing Club in the heart of the New Forest for the annual RS Aero Sustainability Challenge. Racing was held in one fleet with all rig sizes represented and based on PY corrected times. 

On the competitive start line Gareth Griffiths was hot out of the blocks each race in his RS Aero 9 and striving to gain his time ahead of the chasing bubble of RS Aero 7s. In turn, the RS Aero 6s were often doing a good job of hanging onto the coat tales of the RS Aero 7s. The RS Aero 5s were the envy of everyone as the large gusts buffeted the lake every so often!

Sailing on small sheltered lakes is always great practice and especially appropriate when it is overly testing on the coast. The skills of speedy reactions, acceleration, keeping speed, linking gusts and shifts, and fast intuitive decisions are all so valuable and can then be put to use on more open waters too.

Four races were efficiently banged off by RO Tom Clay with a lunch break for a valued rest in between. Tom managed to give us all angles in each lap for a comprehensive skills test of RS Aero sailing as some fruity gusts alternated with calmer moments. With over 100 legs raced during the day, averaging less than 2 minutes each, it was all a good workout!

The annual RS Aero Sustainability Challenge is our opportunity to remind ourselves of the importance of minimising the impact of our sport on the environment. This can be from simply avoiding single use plastic and litter to lift sharing and avoiding the spread of invasive species on our trolleys and kit. As well as rinsing trolleys it is important for visitors not to leave trolleys in the water whilst racing, often a temptation at a non tidal location with a large shorefront to launch.

Spinnaker Sailing Club itself was also an ideal club to showcase venue sustainability. The lake is leased under strict environmental and wildlife protection terms and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Ramsar Site. Spinnaker SC works with Natural England, the Wildlife Trust and Wessex Water and the angling club to manage the site to enable recreational water sports in a sensitive manner respecting the natural environment. They have fresh water available for re-usable drink bottle re-fills and their commitment to sustainability has included the recent installation of solar panels and the fitting of a battery storage capability.

The Green Blue have recently launched The Green Blue Boating Pledge, whereby they are inviting all inland and marine boat users to make the pledge to follow its environmental best practice to RESPECT, PROTECT and ENJOY are inland and coastal waters. Check out the link and make your pledge commitment now!

The cherished RS Aero Sustainability Challenge trophies provided by The Green Blue were awarded at the prize giving, together with awards goodies kindly supplied by Rooster, Selden and RS Sailing. Thanks to Spinnaker Sailing Club and all their volunteers for a great day out at their lovely club!

Next up for the UK RS Aeros is the autumn’s big one - the UK Inlands - and with over 50 RS Aeros already signed up we are set for some great racing at Draycote this weekend. Check out the evolving UK winter calendar for off season opportunities on the 
RS Aero UK Events List

Congratulations to everyone;
1^st RS Aero 9 & 1^st Grand Master -   Gareth Griffiths, Island Barn RSC
1^st RS Aero 7 & 1^st Overall -   Peter Barton, Lymington Town SC
1^st RS Aero 6 & 1^st Female -   Iona Willows, Lymington Town SC
1^st RS Aero 5 -   Dave Hairs, Highcliffe SC
1^st Youth -   Ethan Sparkes, Chichester YC
1^st Master -   Chris Jones, Sutton Bingham SC

RESULTS