It was a windy premiere for the RS Aeros on the Grober Wannsee in Berlin: 19 RS Aeros were registered for the event, 16 of which appeared on the day itself. The host of the RS Aero Cup was the Berlin Yacht Club, which is located in the bay southeast of Schwanenwerder. The wind was rushing across the dark autumn waters at 22 to 32 knots, whitecaps glittering cheerfully and menacingly as we made our way up. In the first race, Berliner Eric Rieve (GER 3370) fought against Marcus Walther (GER 4343) for first place, with Eric Rieve beating him before the finish line. It was a grueling battle with the gusts, with most sailors capsizing at some point during the day and the lightweights opting to sail in after two races.

Marcus won the cup with three first and two second places. The class chairwoman Juliane Barthel (GER 3273) from Dummersee and Jan Balke (GER 1541) from Tegeler See in Berlin chose the RS Aero 6, but did not have the power of the RS Aero 7 on the downwind sections. Despite this, Juliane was always at the front of the fleet and came second in the overall ranking with two first and two second places. I used my extra ballast for a few third, fourth and fifth place finishes, which gave me third place overall.

Many thanks to the Berliner Yacht-Club for hosting us together with the 29ers and organizing a great event in a great location. Many thanks also to all the travelling RS Aeros sailors who made the effort to go to Berlin. We look forward to hosting you again next year.

RESULTS