I’ve been joining the Poole Yacht Club ILCA / Aero fleet on Saturdays so far this year as my local club does no racing over the Winter. The Saturday format is a micro regatta of five short back-to-back races which is great for practising starts.
I’m enjoying sailing in Poole Harbour again and it’s been fun to have different tides to play in.
A murky very cold early January day.That’s me in 3328
I also did the RYA VHF marine radio course, which is a globally recognised qualification. This is a great course; not only did we learn to deal with regular comms and emergency situations, but we also learned a lot about how communications across rescue services work.
How digital comms has been added to VHF radio communications is super interesting.
2024 Lookahead
The calendar has some open events in it already, but the main event for 2024 will be the RS Aero World Championships, which this year happens to be on the English South Coast, not too far away.
It’ll be five days of sailing, and my training campaign has already started. 🙂
This was a great start to the year and I finished just under halfway down the fleet which was an open event personal best. There’s a separate Starcross Steamer post.
Solo Sailing in Swanage, January
Making the best of breaks in the weather and getting out when I could.
Yeovil Handicap Pursuit Race February
A great fun race but tricky, inland sailing is quite different to sea sailing. A pursuit race is where the slower boats go first, and the faster boats later. Slow and fast boats are determined by their PY Handicap number (high = slow, low = fast). The faster boats then try to catch up and overtake any boat in front, after 150 minutes, the race is stopped and positions are taken.
Lee on Solent, two-day Aero open, February
This event had ups and downs. I totally messed up race one by getting my course wrong in the tides, but got it right thereafter. My starts were poor costing many places but the beats were good and I was pointing as well as the rest of the fleet.
I was doing ok until I suffered equipment failure when the sail tack got chewed up, my halyard snapped and the sail came down. I managed to temporarily fix it but lost my downhaul for day two, which considering it was windy, wasn’t great. Nevertheless, still a great fun event.
RYA Senior Instructor Course, April
This was a big challenge and felt like a great achievement to pass. Being an RYA Senior Instructor is the qualification you need to run sailing tuition/training in a watersports centre.
Junior Training, April – July
Now qualified as a Senior Instructor I was leading the Junior Training in Swanage this season. We’re very lucky to have such a terrific team of instructors, organisers, safety team, club support and shore team.
RS Aero 6 National Championships, August
A three-day event. Rather light conditions on two days for my weight with a 6 sail, (I’m a 7 sailor) but hugely enjoyable and much learned.
Collision with a Dart 18, August
This could have been a lot worse. It was a windy day, I was sailing a 9 in a pursuit race and was clipped by a Dart 18 at the leeward mark. The rudder stock was damaged too but the boat was fortunately, otherwise fine.
I completed the race using minimal rudder (steering with sail and body weight) and still managed to do pretty well 🙂
Boat care, September
I learned to splice ropes this year and gave my boat some TLC. I polished the hull, added new continuous control lines, bought a new sail and had to replace the kicker swivel.
I learned a big lesson here about the importance of having your boat in tip-top shape. With its polished hull, the boat felt faster and I did very well in club races afterwards. The new control lines meant controls were super easy, needed far less effort and were more responsive. A shiny, gleaming boat with new ropes and a new sail looks nice too.
I’m now using the old 7 sail for training and will use the new one for races.
Out of the Bay race, October
We had a family outing around Old Harry in a club race.
Club Racing, 2023
I don’t have any pictures here, but 2023 was my best year yet for racing in Swanage. I’m starting to finish more consistently near the front of the fleet and started winning some races in 2023.
I’m pretty fit so do well in strong winds, but the consistency started coming in light conditions too.
November and December sailing
The winter winds came back reducing the sailing windows, but I’m still getting out on my own whenever there is a break in the weather.
Lookahead to 2024
2023 was the year I felt comfortable in pretty much all wind conditions, and I started to get the hang of tides, and wind shifts. It was also the year I learned to tap the power supply properly under the boat, waves.
In 2024, I plan to do even more racing and will work to improve my starts. I think this alone will get me consistently into mid-fleet rankings or higher, at open events. Secondarily, I want to improve my sailing in tides and understand the wind better (e.g. shifts, weather types, effects of land features).
Last Sunday saw the first race and first open event of 2023, the Starcross Steamer, a handicap pursuit race on the Exe estuary in the UK.
Pursuit races are a great fun race format. All boat classes have a handicap, the race has a fixed length (e.g. 150 mins), slower boats start first, faster boats later with the idea being everyone is trying to catch up to and overtake everyone else. After the fixed race time, the race is stopped, and positions are taken by the safety boats.
It was an early start to the day, and we were rewarded with some lovely views.
The wind arrived later than predicted, and with a closing tide window, the race was shortened to 120 mins. We launched as the wind filled in around the course and the breeze built steadily throughout the afternoon.
The wind arriving
I switched up to the Aero 9 which turned out to be a great choice, I wasn’t over-powered, but it was fast and a decent physical challenge. My legs lasted longer than my forearms in the end, and it was my (ahem) brachioradialis muscles (upper forearm) that started aching the most.
Starcross YC is a lovely venue, it was a great sailing area and course, the wind was good, and it was mostly sunny. I came mid-fleet-ish which was a new P.B. for me at opens, and not so far off the Aero 9 ahead of me.
Looking back, 2022 was a great year on the water. My main sailing goal for the year was to compete in the RS Aero Championships, a five day event. The months of training were a success and I managed all five days.
In May I did a kayak fishing course and got to paddle around Old Harry Rocks. I didn’t catch anything but paddling around the rocks was awesome. We want to do more kayaking in 2023 and try to catch some fish too.
The first open of the year was the Lymington RS Aero open in May. It was a very light wind tricky conditions day.
From May to July, I’m a volunteer dinghy instructor on Saturdays at my local club in Swanage. After weird broken up 2020/2021 training seasons thanks to COVID restrictions, it was great to get back to normal.
August had the year’s sailing highlight with the five day RS Aero European Championships in Weymouth. My training worked and I was the fittest I’d been in years going into it, and I managed the week. Read a longer write up here.
In September, it was off to Salcombe for a two day event. Salcombe is beautiful and I’d always wanted to sail there. Hugging the shore and rocks to stay out of the stronger currents involved a ton of short tacks which was hard on the knees, and tactically it was hard work.
At times it felt like orienteering, sailing off into different parts of the estuary and finding marks. It was absolutely unforgettable, and topped off with a fab dinner in the evening at Salcombe Yacht Club.
My sailing improved a lot in 2022, which was reflected in my club results, I came third in the Spring and Summer handicap series and had some good cup results.
The biggest improvement of the year was upwind boat speed, thanks to the Weymouth Euros, I finally got the hang of keeping the boat flat and driving in strong winds (like F6), also getting the boat into the groove keeping it there. Fitness and strength plays a huge part in boat speed and I made big gains here, it’s sure fired me up for more.
Again, thanks to Weymouth, I learned a lot about sailing in shifty conditions and look forward to putting those learnings to use in 2023. Thanks Peter Barton and our friendly class for all the tips.
In 2023, I want to continue to impove upwind speed, and also downwind in strong winds. Also improve tactics and angles, and get ever fitter, more flexible and stronger.
The big event for 2023 will likely the Aero 6/9 nationals in Weymouth and the training campaign started today. 🙂
I took part in the RS Aero Europeans this Summer, a five-day event held at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA), the venue for sailing during the 2012 Olympics. This event was part of the epic RS Games.
I was training up to this one all year, and it was an amazing week with five days of fantastic racing. I learned so much, not just from the racing but from the chats off the water, and fellow sailors offering advice and tips.
There’s a good write-up in Yachts and Yachting and some footage on Youtube (RS Games days 12-16). Here are some of my pictures.
The 7s coming back on day four.
There’s something special about sailing in Weymouth and seeing those rings. The whole place had the most amazing atmosphere.
2012 Laser Radial Gold medalist Xu Lijia sailed an RS Aero 5 and gave a Q & A session one day on downwind sailing, you could hear a pin drop as she talked.
Days one to three, were pretty windy (F5-6). This was day two, racing started at 11am.
At last, the sailing season has started again with Swanage Sailing Club’s traditional Opener Cup.
It was a very light wind day, so I went with the 9 sail. I tried my best to get clean air and came in third which isn’t a bad start to the racing season.
2021 was still a COVID year and things didn’t get going till May. It was impressive how racing events were run within the safety guidelines, and how things like briefings were moved async and online over video and, comms was enhanced with channels like WhatsApp.
I’d like to say a big thank you to all the clubs who put on events, including my own in Swanage, and the RS Aero class for being so friendly and welcoming. It’s a great fun boat and a great class.
First Home Race of the Year April
This was a special one. We’d been ‘locked down’ in the months before and I think everyone just wanted to get out and start feeling that things were normal again.
Lymington RS Open May
My second ever open and with some pretty windy weather and big chop in the solent, it was a blast. Seeing the front of the boat submerge and nearly pitchpole at one point was memorable.
Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy Aero Two Day Open – May
It was really exciting to race at the sailing location of the 2012 Olympics. A two day event and the best bit was getting out of the harbour. We had great weather and I loved the summer feeling. Definitely a benchmark venue.
Lee on Solent Aero Open – June
A light wind day.
Swanage Regatta – August (home waters)
A home mixed handicap two day regatta with some fruity conditions, F5 gusting 7 on one day.
August Windsurfing
I had a mast problem (top piece jammed hard onto the base of brand new 5 stub) for some weeks in August, and so switched to windsurfing. We got the family doing a bit too. It was fantastic and I’m definitely going to be getting some faster kit and doing it more in 2022.
Junior Training April – July
I was the lead instructor for the Bronzes this year and thanks to a terrific team we got 22 kids started with sailing.
Ringwood Aero Open Sept
First sail on a lake and brilliant fun.
Paignton Single Hander Two Day Open November
Another two-day event, challenging light winds conditions. I do like Paignton’s waters.
Swanage Bay – Regular Sailing December
If the weather allows it, I get out at least once a week at all times of the year.
A real highlight of 2021 was watching the sailing at the Tokyo Olympics and enjoying seeing Team GB in action. I was on vacation at the time, got up early and soaked it all up.
Plans for 2022
I have a ton of things to improve with my sailing and fitness/strength and can’t wait for the weather to allow me out again to start training. Next year I want to do more racing, a few more events and improve my results and consistency at home and away.
The main event will probably be the RS Aero nationals or the RS Games. Multi-day events are really hard work and I’ll need to work up to them.
And… do as much sailing, SUPing, kayaking, swimming and windsurfing with the family as possible. Sounds like a plan. 🙂
Klaus Harris 