Round 7 of the Selden SailJuice Winter Series.

Round 9 of the RS Aero UK Winter Series

 

Wow, what an epic weekend at Rutland for The Tiger Trophy!

 

We had a full on ballistic day at Rutland on Saturday. A max gust of 45kns was recorded on the mid lake tower during racing! Spray was blowing off the top of the wave crests at times. We were body slamming breaking waves even at the top of the course! In the top of the gusts we struggled to make good headway upwind and had to stay alert to keep the bow up out of the waves downwind in the most significant gusts!

 

After a postponement only two races were held on Saturday so they both counted, as did Sunday's Pursuit race. Only 29 of the 148 entries managed to complete both of Saturday's races which limited those in overall contention! Fortunately these included 5 RS Aeros with all three rigs represented. Well done to everyone for giving it a go for some crazy wintery fun!

 

Sunday's Pursuit Race saw an increasing breeze but not to Saturday's level. With the breeze set at 'fresh but not frightening' for most of the race the trapeze boats came through on the long legs. However the real damage had been done on Saturday with so many of Sunday's performers out of the overall game. 

 

RS Aero 5 - Sam Blaker took top spot in the RS Aero 5s with a creditable 20th overall. Abbey Hire was top female RS Aero in 49th, just ahead of Alice Lucy in 51st. Sammy I-J got ahead to lead the RS Aero s around Sunday's Pursuit.

RS Aero 7 - Tim Hire and Peter Barton duked it out in the RS Aero 7s, enjoying some close racing throughout the weekend to collect a fantastic 9th and 6th overall respectively. Tim finished first youth overall from a large youth entry.

RS Aero 9 - Full credit the Greg Bartlett and Chris Larr for sticking with their RS Aero 9s and completing a series in the demanding conditions to finish an impressive 14th and 16th overall respectively which is a huge achievement in the big 9 rig on a very breezy weekend.

 

 

In the overall SailJuice Series Tim gains a place to 4th overall and now that Peter has a series of results he jumps up the 2nd overall going into the final event. There are now over 600 boats entered in the series this winter!

Tim Hire retains the lead in in the Youth category. Abigail Larr and Abbey Hire hold 3rd and 4th in the younger Junior category. 

 

This Sunday 9th sees the RS Aero Winter Series visit Highcliffe SC again for two morning races around the pretty Christchurch harbour. On Saturday 15th it is the big one, the RS Aero UK Winter Champs at the Oxford Blue, which is the final event of this winter's the SailJuice Series. Come and join the fun and Enter Here.

 

50% Sail - Prize Draw!
Once again this winter RS Sailing have generously put up a 50% discount voucher for a new sail to support our RS Aero UK Winter Series 2019/20. Everyone who qualifies by competing in at least 3 of the 14 events will be entered into a prize draw with an equal chance of winning! The draw will be made at the Spring Champs at Chew in April.