RS Aero Sustainability Challenge 2022 at Spinnaker Sailing Club

 14 RS Aeros enjoyed a great breeze at Spinnaker Sailing Club in the heart of the New Forest for the annual RS Aero Sustainability Challenge. Racing was held in one fleet with all rig sizes represented and based on PY corrected times.

Sailing on small sheltered lakes is always great practice and especially appropriate when it is overly testing on the coast. The skills of speedy reactions, acceleration, keeping speed, linking gusts and shifts, and fast intuitive decisions are all so valuable and can then be put to use on more open waters too.

Spinnaker Sailing Club itself was also an ideal club to showcase venue sustainability. The lake is leased under strict environmental and wildlife protection terms and is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest and Ramsar Site. Spinnaker SC works with Natural England, the Wildlife Trust and Wessex Water and the angling club to manage the site to enable recreational water sports in a sensitive manner respecting the natural environment. They have fresh water available for re-usable drink bottle re-fills and their commitment to sustainability has included the recent installation of solar panels and the fitting of a battery storage capability.

Congratulations to everyone:

1st RS Aero 9 & 1st Grand Master - Gareth Griffiths, Island Barn RSC

1st RS Aero 7 & 1st Overall - Peter Barton, Lymington Town SC

1st RS Aero 6 & 1st Female - Iona Willows, Lymington Town SC

1st RS Aero 5 - Dave Hairs, Highcliffe SC

1st Youth - Ethan Sparkes, Chichester YC

1st Master - Chris Jones, Sutton Bingham SC

Overall Results:

Pos Sail Name Club Class PY R1 R2 R3 R4 Pts

1 3597 Peter Barton Lymington Town SC RS Aero 7 1065 1 1 1 1 3

2 2550 Chris Jones Sutton Bingham SC RS Aero 7 1065 2 2 4 3 7

3 2836 James Rusden Highcliffe SC RS Aero 7 1065 3 3 3 2 8

4 4185 John Derbyshire Emsworth SC RS Aero 7 1065 5 5 2 4 11

5 3330 Iona Willows Lymington Town SC RS Aero 6 1100 4 4 5 5 13

6 3175 Gareth Griffiths Island Barn RSC RS Aero 9 1014 6 6 7 6 18

7 3811 Andy Wilkins South Caernarvonshire YC RS Aero 7 1065 DNC 11 6 7 24

8 2619 Simon Topping Poole YC RS Aero 6 1100 8 7 10 9 24

9 2468 Dave Hairs Highcliffe SC RS Aero 5 1065 9 8 8 8 24

10 2883 Ethan Sparkes Chichester YC RS Aero 6 1100 7 9 9 10 25