Welcome to the International Class Association website for the RS Aero. Here you will find all there is to know about the RS Aero including the latest news, how to register your boat, and links to relevant documents.
Reports & Results
Massapoag YC 73rd Annual Regatta - Boston, MA, USA
10/09/2022 - 11/09/2022
10/09/2022 - 11/09/2022
.jpg)
Write-Up
Massapoag Yacht Club 73rd Annual Regatta - Boston, MA, USA, Sept 2022
As much fun as you can have with no W !
Thanks to Derek Stow for his report;
Once again, on the weekend after Labor Day, Sep 10/11 this year, RS Aero sailors from various New England states and even New York made their way to Lake Massapoag, south of Boston, for the Massapoag YC Annual Regatta. This regatta is renowned for the friendly, welcoming, laidback atmosphere of the host club, and for intense, close races run by a top notch race committee. Having said that, I am sure some folk really only come for the food. (Check out Marc Jacobi’s reviews of our past regattas at MYC and you will see what I mean.)
As much fun as you can have with no W !
Thanks to Derek Stow for his report;
Once again, on the weekend after Labor Day, Sep 10/11 this year, RS Aero sailors from various New England states and even New York made their way to Lake Massapoag, south of Boston, for the Massapoag YC Annual Regatta. This regatta is renowned for the friendly, welcoming, laidback atmosphere of the host club, and for intense, close races run by a top notch race committee. Having said that, I am sure some folk really only come for the food. (Check out Marc Jacobi’s reviews of our past regattas at MYC and you will see what I mean.)
This year we were pleased to welcome Melissa Solnick from Manhattan, one of the earliest adopters of the RS Aero in North America and the newly elected Secretary of the North American RS Aero Class. Melissa had just returned from sailing in the RS Aero Arctic Championship in Iceland and had some fascinating tales to tell. Did you know that, in Iceland, RS Aero sailors push the rudder down with their feet, not their hands? Think about it.
Melissa did a great job of updating us on latest class news and listening to our ideas and suggestions about the future of the RS Aero Class, as well as being the life and soul of the party in the breaks on land between the racing. I’m not sure why, but Melissa challenged me to write a regatta report without using the W word. Hmmm, w(#% is quite important for sailing. You can’t really sail without any w(#%. Well, I can’t refuse a request from our Class Secretary, so I will do my best. Here goes.
We were pleased to welcome to this event once again our good friends from Mascoma Sailing Club in New Hampshire, Gary Orkney and Sally Sharp, who had just returned from a lengthy tour of Scotland by road and water, and were excited to debrief us on their adventures.
Rounding out the 7 boat RS Aero fleet were myself, Derek Stow, my son Chris, fellow MYC RS Aero fleet founder Eric Aker, and Patrick Chokron. Patrick started RS Aero sailing last year and has earned a reputation for being that guy who always arrives last at the club (often after the rest of us have already taken to the water) and yet still somehow manages to arrive at the first start in time.
Joining us this year at the regatta were 24 Sunfish, 11 Lasers and 4 Day Sailers. The race committee did a super job of setting trapezoid courses, keeping the fleets separated (most of the time) and, when necessary, changing or shortening the courses for the other classes when they were in danger of not being able to finish within the time limits. They even changed the start time for Sunday to an hour earlier so that the Lasers and RS Aeros could get in twice as many races on Sunday as they did on Saturday; or in the case of the Sunfish and Day Sailers, some races.
Most of the RS Aero sailors were sailing with their 9 rigs, which was just as well, as it was a perfect weekend for demonstrating how fast the RS Aero 9 moves though the water in conditions when many other boats are essentially dead in the water. I remember a couple of times when I sailed up to a clump of a dozen or so sailors from another class apparently camped out at a mark, and just cruised right past them.
I won’t embarrass myself or others by commenting on all the scores except to say that Eric and Chris were tied for first RS Aeros overall in the regatta with Eric winning on the tie-breaker. And in the first race, Sally in a 7 rig was very close to the lead Aeros (all 9s) as they drifted from the leeward mark to the finish line, so close in fact that on handicap her adjusted time was enough to give her the race win over Eric by two seconds, for which we were all very pleased. Patrick sailed a very consistent regatta to take third overall and Sally was first woman and first 7 rig.
Also worthy of mention is that, John Eckart, a member of the RS Aero fleet at MYC, chose to race with his other friends in the Sunfish fleet this weekend and succeeded in tying for first overall. Perhaps it’s true that sailing in other classes makes you faster in all boats. Hmmm!
Thank you to all the visiting sailors and to all the volunteers on land and water who worked so hard all weekend so that we sailors could have some fun in what were, at times, somewhat challenging conditions for all of us.
How did I do, Melissa? I don’t think you will find the W word anywhere in this report. Just like the regatta really.
There is organized racing for RS Aeros at Massapaog YC from May to October. This is currently the only active RS Aero fleet in New England east of the Connecticut River. Check out the club website at https://www.sailmyc.org. Come and join us. And look out for news of our Small Boat Regatta in late May or June next year.
The next RS Aero regatta in New England is the Fontelieu One Design Regatta at Cedar Point YC, CT, on Oct 1/2. https://www.cedarpointyc.org
USA Gallery for larger photos
USA Gallery for larger photos
Results
3 races, no drop
|
