Tag: rs aero

Get Your RS Aero Ready for the New Season

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

With the new season just around the corner, I thought I’d share some pre-season preparation tips.

1. Replace the halyard or halyard top

If you’re an active RS Aero sailor, it’s probably a good idea to get a new halyard every season, or at a minimum replace the halyard top.

When the halyard top wears, it won’t hold so well in the mast top cleat. My halyard tail has broken a couple of times over the years, each time just below the knot or splice depending which halyard type I was using.

The halyward tail broke again recently – and since it was starting to slip anyway – I tried Sammy Isaacs-Johnson’s suggestion to use the Rooster RS Aero Halyard upgrade. This works a treat, holds tight, is easy to pull through the mast top bullseye and I was able to reuse the halyard tail.

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My Top RS Aero Sailing Learnings in 2025

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I did more training events than competition events in 2025 and it feels like things are starting to click. My race results are improving nicely too. If I had to choose the top learnings of 2025, it’d be these:

1. Keep the boat flat

Nothing new here, we all know to keep the boat flat, but doing it well and consistently really is key. Flat as in not heeling.

Doing this is relatively easy to improve as it comes down to technique and fitness, both of which can be worked on.

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Christmas Gift Ideas for Dinghy Sailors 2025

Published on by Klaus HarrisLeave a comment

At last I’ve gotten round to writing this Christmas gift idea list.

For context, I’m a dinghy sailor who regularly sails an RS Aero, ILCA, and 2000, plus the usual mix of boats when instructing. I sail solo a lot in coastal waters, so everything I rely on for safety is included in this list. I also use it for SUP’ing too.

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RS Aero Training Felpham UK, October 2025

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The RS Aero Youth and Adult training season 2025/26 started last week, the first one was at Felpham SC on the UK south coast.

We ended up shore based both days because of the conditions for launching, but nevertheless, thanks to our two coaches Sammy Isaacs-Johnson and George Cousins, a great training group and super facilities, it was a brilliant weekend.

Training weekends like this remind me of the master classes I used to do many years ago when I was a classical musician (guitar), where ‘ah ha’ moments would have major shifts on my playing. I had a couple of those ‘ah has’ this weekend.

Loose kicker, open leech
A little kicker, lifted leech, no mast bend
More kicker, mast starting to bend, flatter sail, (more so higher up) leech opening again
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RS Aero Worlds 2024

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Links

There seems to be a rhythm to my sailing year and there is always one big event that focuses my training for the year. In 2024 it was the RS Aero world championships in August at Hayling Island, a five-day event.

I’d trained hard and was in pretty good shape going into the event, and went with the 7m rig which is my natural rig size. The wind turned out to be light for most of the days, so I could probably have stepped up to the 9m rig.

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Starcross Steamer Jan 2023

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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.

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RS Aero Europeans 2022

Published on by Klaus Harris1 Comment

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.