The draw of a day out RS Aero sailing at the seaside brought a fleet of 23 RS Aeros to Lee on Solent to enjoy their beach side location, mid solent race course and wonderful new club house.

 

The forecast could not make its mind up and with the likelihood of medium/light winds the fleet opted to upsize with two good fleets of RS Aero 7s and RS Aero 9s Class racing. A nice easterly breeze gave a great start to Race 1 but it did however drop through the race. A short refreshment break ashore was rewarded with the clouds clearing to reveal blue skies and the breeze returned to peak at an energetic 12kn against the ebb current for Races 2 and 3.

 

After a slow start with a 3rd in Race 1 Tim Hire came back with all guns blazing to clinch the RS Aero 9 fleet with two bullets. Peter Chaplin backed up a 2nd in race 1 with a last run comeback in Race 3 to take 2nd overall from Peter Barton in 3rd with local hot shot Fernando Gamboa in 4th. Race 1 winner, Nigel Rolfe rounded out the top 5.

 

The RS Aero 7s had some really close competition and similar to the 9s, there was plenty of place changing with opportunities available across the course. Chris Rust won his first RS Aero event with a 1,2,3,  just one point ahead of Andrew Rawson in 2nd. In 3rd place overall Abby Hire stepped up with a 4,6,2 to demonstrate that RS Aero 5 sailors can mix it at the front of the 7 fleet when not too overpowered. Winning the final race (and you are only as good as your last race!) was Tomas Macchi took 4th overall.

 

Many thanks to Lee on the Solent SC and all their volunteers for providing an excellent day of RS Aero racing. It was a wonderful treat to visit their newly refurbish main clubhouse on the promenade with its finely refurbished interior and splendid views of the central Solent. Thanks to Rooster and Selden for supporting the event with a nice spread of prizes!

 

Next up for the UK RS Aeros this weekend is the RS Aero Northern Championship at Yorkshire Dales in the north and a combined Class Training & Race weekend at Eastbourne Sovereign SC on the south coast.

 

Larger Photos in the Gallery, by Paul Millard (PRO)