Wednesday, November 26, 2014

RS Aero - Focus on Cup Holder



For those of my readers who thought I had finished writing about the RS Aero, fear not, I still have a lot more to say about the Aero and what I learned while sailing it at Minorca Sailing.

There are many positive attributes to the Aero -  its light weight, its acceleration, its hi-tech, sexy, modern feel and look… But I didn't appreciate one of its most important features on my first few days sailing the boat. I had noticed this cylindrical indentation in the cockpit floor at the back of the hiking strap. And I saw that there was a small hole from its center to the outside of underneath of the hull. But I couldn't figure out what it was. Could it be part of the method for draining water from the cockpit? But that didn't seem to be necessary as there are perfectly good drain flaps in the transom.

Eventually I asked some of the instructors at Minorca Sailing. This caused much scratching of heads. One young instructor suggested it might be an air expansion hole for the hull but that didn't seem to make any sense at all to me. And then the chief instructor worked it out…

"It's a cupholder!!!"

Of course it is. A cupholder.

I found some random bottle of water, and put it in the cupholder, and photographed it. (Actually the cupholder could have accommodated a somewhat larger bottle.) Perfect!



Wow! Just wow! These guys at RS Sailing have thought of everything. I've never ever owned a boat with a cupholder before.

This may just clinch the deal.


7 comments:

George A said...

Well, perhaps not everything, Tillerman. Now for example, in frost bite season they could've added a solar powered warming feature to the cup holder to keep your cuppa warm and there by avoiding the nuisance of having to pause for a brew-up in between races. During regular season the cup holder would of course switch to cooling mode to optimize the temp of your adult sailing beverage. Built in sensors would automatically determine the shape of the cup, can or bottle and adjust the temperature as required. Maybe that's part of the option package in the "Silver Ghost" edition of the Aero...

Tillerman said...

Brilliant George - I am sure RS Sailing read this blog and they will be forwarding your ideas to the Silver Ghost technical team.

R1 said...

Your Laser also has a perfect cupholder built into the hull. It's just tricky fitting the mast with the bottle installed.

JP said...

Wow! I shall have to tell Buff his review of the Aero missed the biggest story of the year. He claimed there wasn't a place for his tinnie - how wrong was that!

Tillerman said...

That's right JP. Just goes to show that you can't believe any boat reviews you read on the Internet - including this one.

Anonymous said...

A (branded) water bottle comes with the boat!

Tillerman said...

Really? Those clever chappies at RS Sailing think of everything?

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