RS Aero World
1. Perhaps the most exciting news is that the RS Aero Class has qualified for ‘world sailing (ISAF) class status’ following the recent World Sailing conference held in China. This is only 18 months after the launch of the class which is now being sailed in 41 nations, and the announcement comes in a week when the 793rd RS Aero was being shipped.
This status gives the class ISAF approval to run an official RS Aero World Championship. I understand discussions are underway as to whether to designate a 2016 event already being planned as the first RS Aero Worlds or wait until 2017. Watch this space!
A major contributing factor to the remarkable growth of the class has been the energetic efforts of our RS Aero International Class Manager - Peter Barton.
Peter Barton
RS Aero International Class Manager
Apparently having just won something
which looks vaguely rude.
Every class should be so lucky as to have a Peter Barton.
2. In the last few months, RS Aeros have been competing in regattas in all four corners of the United States.
Ash Beatty and Hank Saurage in RS Aeros
and a bunch of other random boats
at the Wurstfest Regatta
at Lake Canyon YC in Texas
Ian Ponting and Jim Muir
at the Goblin Regatta
in Santa Barbara, California
Andy Mack, Todd Willsie and Michael O'Brien
wearing their cool RS Aero Seattle Fleet hats
at the Puget Sound Sailing Championship
in Seattle, Washington
Gary Werden and Eric Aker
2nd and 3rd RS Aeros
and a bunch of other random boats
at the Archipelago Rally
in Westport, Massachusetts.
Modesty prevents me from
naming the skipper of the first RS Aero.
3. 2016 is shaping up to be an even more exciting year for RS Aeros in North America. It looks like there will be an RS Aero Midwinters in Florida in March. And there will be a major east coast RS Aero regatta in Newport, Rhode Island in July and a major west coast RS Aero regatta in the Columbia River Gorge in Oregon in August.
RS Aeros at the Gorge in 2015
4. An RS Aero has even been spotted racing at that bastion of Laser sailing, the Cedar Point YC Laser frostbite fleet. What is the world coming to?
Spot the RS Aero
5. I have always thought the RS Aero is a pretty cool-looking boat but it seems that RS Aero owners in some parts of the world are turning their RS Aeros into veritable works of art. Some Swedish RS Aero owners have been "coloring" their boats green or pink or orange or blue with vinyl wraps above the water line...
Swedes
But the prize for best decorated RS Aero must go to Chris, from South Australia, who has named his boat 'Yes!' as in, "Yes! This is the boat I have been waiting for all my life."
Yes!
I know exactly how he feels.
Confession and correction: Apologies to Hank Saurage for allowing auto-correct to spell his name as Hank Sausage in the first version of this post.
For the record, Hank is not a sausage.
This is a sausage.
This is a Hank.
2 comments:
We are indeed very lucky to have our tireless Peter Barton who has injected so much energy into the class.
Thanks, but you are too generous! The phenomenal success of the RS Aero after its first full season has been a gigantic team effort.
Design, build, logistics, marketing, dealerships, demos, sales, delivery, owners, training, sponsorship, volunteers, hosts, sailors, events, imagery, reports, documentation, structure, parts, after sales…The list is long and everyone at every stage, from suppliers to customers, has acted with tremendous enthusiasm and energy - a real team achievement!
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