Tag: ilca

Hunting for wind before work

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

Wind conditions in Swanage Bay in the Summer can be weird. Our local geography gives us offshore sea breezes which cancel out the easterlies such as we’ve had recently. There’s also this thing where the surrounding areas up the hills where I live have plenty of wind, but the bay is calm. Frustrating, especially when I see that Poole Harbour has sailable wind.

I figure over the Summer when there is no wind in the Bay, I’ll either do SUPing or windsurf nearby in Bramblebush Bay.

Continuing the curious weather theme, here are some photos of an interesting day last week. That day we had a cold sea breeze hitting damp air in the bay or near land, causing it to condense.

I’m hunting for wind to sail in before or after work currently, and was on the water at 6.30am this morning (left picture below). There was enough wind for the RS Aero 9, with hiking conditions in the gusts.

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At Last, Sailing Before Work Again

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

Now that it’s light in the mornings, I can get out again before work. The wind and waves were perfect this morning, 14-17 kts, onshore from the east so I took a Laser out. (Nope, not calling it an ILCA, the sticker says Laser.)

I think solo launching and recovering in waves, is pretty much the only scenario where I prefer the Laser over an RS Aero. The Laser is tougher, and if I ding it I know it’s a cheaper, easier repair. Couple that with an old training sail and I have a good boat for onshore solo conditions.

I feel I’m still getting the hang of the Laser in moderate winds and up. Today, maxed at 17 knots felt like hard work at times, and it looks like you just have to brutalise the mast and sail to depower it. I need a more powerful downhaul (6-1 currently). In fact the Laser generally feels like a brute force boat.

The Aero 7 on the other hand feels super manageable at 17knts, like we’re entering the fun zone; all the controls are in the right place, they “just work” and I know nothing is going to break. No doubt there’s a skill and experience issue here. I’ve sailed an RS Aero for five plus years but I’m a very occasional Laser sailor.

Anyway, apart from all that, I had a great sail, and put into practice everything I’ve been learning in the 2025-2026 Winter, RS Aero training weekends, especially downwind, gybing and bearing away.

Great stuff. The boat was nicely under control, I was finding waves, doing s-turns and lots of by-the-lee sailing, and using the kicker well to control power and stability, and help bearing away.

Although, sailing a Laser just makes me miss the RS Aero even more.

ILCA Training Sept 2025

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

I joined an ILCA (Laser) training session last month in Poole. I’m an RS Aero sailor, but my daughter sails an ILCA and I fancied a go in that. I haven’t sailed an ILCA in years so felt like a real newbie at the beginning, but it started coming together during the day.

It was a great day, and I learned a lot. Thanks for the coaching James Foster. The RS Aero training season starts soon with the first weekend at the end of October. Can’t wait.

ILCA / Aero Racing Poole Yacht Club, Nov 2024

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

Swanage’s racing has ended for 2024, and I’ve started sailing at Poole Yacht Club again now in Poole Harbour. PYC has an excellent Aero/ILCA fleet and race over the winter. The Saturday morning format is five short back-to-back races on a square outer loop course.

We had light winds and murky weather yesterday. After the race, I had a sail around Poole Harbour which was fun.

From David Ramsey’s video
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