RS Aero Open Meeting at Covenham Sailing Club
by Richard Butler 18 Apr 2018 08:22 BST
RS Aero Open Meeting © Covenham Sailing Club
An excellent turnout of 12 sailors assembled for the first event in the RS Aero UK Northern Circuit at Covenham Sailing Club in Lincolnshire.
They were greeted by a light but constant south westerly breeze but with the promise of a gentle increase during the day and a steady change in direction. However, the plan of six short races was looking optimistic! After due deliberation, the fleet divided into three RS Aero 9s and nine RS Aero 7s.
PRO Alan Tasker set the fleet a 'P' shaped course with a light breeze fluctuating, creating some challenging decision making on the course for the first two races before lunch. Although muttering could be heard in the back half of the fleet about luck, the results showed that those at the front were consistently at the front with Steve Stewart (3,5), Paul Spiers (2,3) and Andrew Molyneux (1,1) reading the wind and tricky conditions better than most.
After a nice extended lunch a light southerly breeze returned and we were off again. After a light race three the wind was now strengthening and from the south east but with no time to reset the course a decision was taken to get on with sailing a skewed course in the force 2-3 now blowing. The fleet started on a reach, the reach became a beat and the dead run was a fetch, but it was the best sail of the day. Two of those who were consistent in the morning were consistent in the afternoon, Andrew (1,4) and Steve (1,5) - and they were joined by Dan Phillips (3,2) and Alan Brooks (2,4).
As usual the racing was close with everyone crossing the finish together and a single mistake causing many places to be lost or gained. In typical RS Aero sportsmanship in the post sailing analysis Dan and Steve noticed they had been recorded as finishing in the wrong order so swapped places to Steve's advantage!
Many thanks to the team at Covenham Sailing Club for laying on a great day's racing in tricky conditions and for their first RS Aero Open.
Next up for the RS Aeros in the North and Midlands is the RS Sprints at Rutland this Saturday 21st of April followed by joining the large home fleet at Yorkshire Dales on Sunday 6th May. For full details of all UK events, see the UK events list.
Overall Results:
| Pos | Class | Sail | Name | Club | R1 | R2 | R3 | R4 | Pts |
|---|
| 1 | RS Aero 7 | 2298 | Andrew Molyneux | Huddersfield | 1 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 7 |
| 2 | RS Aero 7 | 1581 | Steve Stewart | Yorkshire Dales | 3 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 14 |
| 3 | RS Aero 7 | 1062 | Dan Phillips | Ripon | 4 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 15 |
| 4 | RS Aero 7 | 2297 | Alan Brooks | Huddersfield | 7 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 17 |
| 5 | RS Aero 9 | 2421 | Paul Spiers | Notts County | 2 | 3 | 8 | 7 | 20 |
| 6 | RS Aero 7 | 1653 | Richard Butler | Covenham | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 26 |
| 7 | RS Aero 9 | 2186 | Alan Beaton | Notts County | 10 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 27 |
| 8 | RS Aero 9 | 2155 | Iain McGonigal | East Lothian | 8 | 12 | 10 | 3 | 33 |
| 9 | RS Aero 7 | 1264 | Jackie Craven | Yorkshire Dales | 5 | 11 | 5 | 12 | 33 |
| 10 | RS Aero 7 | 2146 | Nick Craven | Yorkshire Dales | 9 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 36 |
| 11 | RS Aero 7 | 1208 | Keith Mansfield | Covenham | 12 | 9 | 12 | 8 | 41 |
| 12 | RS Aero 7 | 1509 | Peter Crags | York RI | 11 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 43 |