Royal Cork Yacht Club (RCYC) has partnered with the Irish RS agent, the Irish National Sailing School (INSS) and RS Sailing to provide a special opportunity for those challenged by time or crew availability or find themselves otherwise unable to enter Cork Week in their own boat.

Volvo Cork Week will host a round of the RS21 UK & Ireland Cup in 2024 for the first time. This event is fully supported by the RS21 class, and race-prepared boats are available for charter.

Volvo Cork Week begins on Sunday, 14th, July, 2024, with racing beginning on Monday, 15th July.

The boats will be delivered to the RCYC and fully prepared for racing, launched and ready to race - so there is no need for time-consuming delivery trips. You just need to turn up with your crew, hoist the sails, and be prepared to have fun!

RS21 Charter schedule

The handover of charter boats will be on Saturday, July 13th, giving the crew two days to familiarise themselves with the boat before racing.

Representatives from INSS and RS Sailing will be on hand to offer advice on boat rigging, tuning, and handling on those training days and as required throughout the whole event. All charter boats will be handed back after sailing on Friday, July 19th.

The RS21 Class has, from the outset, enforced a strict One Design ethos, ensuring that all boats across the fleet are equal and compliant with class rules to ensure good racing. The charter boats and sails provided by the class have been lightly used and professionally maintained, offering good value for money and competition on a level playing field.

Charter bookings are live on the RS Club website here: RS21—Cork Week Charter Details. The cost is €2,500 per boat for a no-hassle, seven-day, ready-to-sail competitive package. Cork Week event entry is separate and includes five days of racing, crew entertainment, boat launch and recovery, marina berthage, and trailer storage.

Check out the latest articles on http://www.corkweek.ie for the newest information about accommodation, entertainment, and racing at Volvo Cork Week 2024.

The RS21 International Class Association has announced the opening of entries for the highly anticipated RS21 World Championship 2024.

The championship, which is set to take place at the prestigious Club Nautic L'Escala in Spain from 21st to 28th September, is expected to attract a record-breaking number of 80 boats, surpassing the 40 boats that participated in the inaugural event last year.

Earlier in the season, the class is making an inaugural visit to Cork Week Regatta in July, as Afloat reports here.

Another first for the fiftieth Scottish Series this year will include RS21 keelboats racing on Loch Fyne.

The RS21 Association has included the event as one of its 'Official Series', and that will give the class a chance to start in the expected 60-strong one-design fleet, which includes Etchells, Sigma 33s, Hunter 707s, and Hunter Sonatas.

The event is based at Tarbert on Loch Fyne by the Clyde Cruising Association from the 24th to the 27th of May.

The new RS21 is trialed in Belfast Lough with Colin Kevelighan (left) and Jeff Harrison

SmartMarks

The deployment of remote-controlled SmartMarks under Principal Race Officer Con Murphy of Dun Laoghaire will ensure that first-class courses are delivered with a minimal turnaround time between races.

For those trailing boats, there will be free launching, and accommodation options are available through the Clyde Cruising Club.

For those RS21 crews also taking part in the July Volvo Cork Week part of the RS21 UK & Ireland Series, the Tarbert event will keep the momentum going in the seven-event class series, which ends with the World Championships in Girona in September. On the other hand, Scottish Series Chairman Roddy Angus says one issue is that the RS21s have a class event the weekend before at Hayling Island on the south coast of England, so hard work to get to Scotland the following weekend”. But being part of an event with a big reputation may serve as a draw.

At the time of writing, the combined RS21 and Sportsboats start together in the One Design fleet, but with hopefully 6 to 8 RS21s, there is the option of a separate start. Roddy Angus commented, “I’m really keen to boost sports boat interest as the numbers are low, and it used to be a big area”.

Brilliant events, informative shows and some new records broken by RS Sailing and RS sailors.

It was a brilliant summer of events for RS Sailing. Highlights include the RS Feva World Championships which saw 422 sailors coming with their families to enjoy an amazing week at LNI Follonica in Italy. This was the biggest RS Feva event to date and was the best-attended World Sailing Youth Class World Championships in 2023. “It’s amazing to see that the RS Feva is the fastest growing two-person youth class internationally when you look at World Sailing’s figures.”

There was a thrilling finale at the RS Feva World Championships 2023

Back home in Ireland, Kenny Rumball, RS Dealer, is equally thrilled with the RS Feva class, “ For the first year in quite a while, we have seen a growth in the RS Fevas! The first event of the year in the Royal Irish Yacht Club saw over 30 boats back competing and we were more than delighted to sponsor the event!”

RS Sailing also supported World Sailing at the Para Sailing World Championships 2023 at WV Braassemermeer, Netherlands. The RS Venture Connect was one of the three boats selected again by Para World Sailing to be part of the World Sailing World Championships together with the Olympic Classes.

The RS21 World Championship 2023 also broke records this year; 55 boats from 11 countries competed in Porto Rotondo in Sardinia, Italy. “This is such a big achievement for a relatively new class. It’s also a class that is really putting a good stamp on the sustainability side.” The RS21 Italian Class is the first sailing class in the world to achieve ISO20121 certification. Created by the International Organization for Standardization, this certification is only awarded when an event organiser adheres to a detailed set of requirements that meet the international standard for sustainable event management. Not only was this a big success at the World Championships, but the class was also invited to present a ‘Sustainability Masterclass’ as part of the World Sailing Sustainability Sessions.

Record-breaking attendance at the RS21 World Championship 2023 in Sardinia

The RS21s also saw great success in Ireland with the class choosing Dun Laoghaire Regatta to showcase themselves as the future of sportsboat sailing. Teams from all over Europe came to compete in Ireland in the thrilling one-design keelboat showcasing their speed and futuristic design.

The RS21s will be at Cork Week 2024 with charter boats now available for charter! Don’t hesitate to contact Kenny [email protected] for more info.!

“We’ve also been honoured to work with some great partners this year.” In October, RS Venture Connects were raced in SailGP’s We Foundation One Sport Race and we confirmed our preferred vendor partner agreement with Crystal Lagoons. In September, we announced our partnership with Jeddah Yacht Club & Marina; providing an extensive range of boats to their state-of-the-art JYC Academy which has already seen 1000+ children benefit from the programmes this year.

It’s been a particular good year for RS Sailing on the international stage. “Globally, we’re expanding further and wider in all corners of the world. 2023 has seen growth in many classes; from RS21 fleet building in Canada to Japan’s first-ever RS Aero National Championship in the All Japan RS Open 2023 event.”

A busy scene at Blessington Sailing Club as the inaugural RS Fest incorporating RS200 and RS400 dinghies championships gets underway in June 2023

In Ireland, we celebrated the inaugural RS Fest in Blessington Sailing Club. For the first time ever all the RS classes in the country came together for a weekend of thrilling racing combining the RS Feva, RS Aero, RS 200 and RS 400 classes.

Kenny Rumball commented, “We want all sailors of the RS classes to really feel part of the family. It was fantastic to work with Canice Keane and his team from Blessington Sailing Club for the inaugural RS Fest this year! We already have plans well established for similar in 2024. Stay tuned for a press release on this in the coming month!”

Finally, we rounded off the year with the RS Toura winning ‘Best Dinghy’ in Sailing World’s Boat of the Year Awards. “This prestigious title means a great deal to us – especially all of those behind-the-scenes in production and development. Recognition like this serves to affirm our position as the world’s leading small boat manufacturer.”

2023 was special in Ireland as the class associations website got a revamp to make it easier for sailors, and prospective members of the RS family to find out all the information on RS classes in Ireland. If you haven’t visited it yet, head on over to RSIreland.com where you can find all the information on the RS classes in Ireland.

2024 marks RS Sailing’s 30th birthday and we are celebrating it in the best way that we know how; a huge party and weekend regatta commemorating the sport that we love. We hope to see you all there at the 30th Anniversary at Hayling Island Sailing Club, 17th-19th May. In the meantime, check-out RS Sailing Club for all the events near you and internationally.

“Thanks again for being part of the RS Sailing family in 2023. I’m really looking forward to a good 2024. Our amazing team will – for another year – work hard to gain more participation in our sport, set high standards at events and build boats that are there to last.”

November is here, and although some would call it winter sailing, conjuring images of hats, gloves, rain and all-round miserable sailing conditions, the reality is that the weather this time of the year is perfect for sailing! And not only sailing but RS Sailing, the world's biggest sailboat manufacturer, has something for everybody!

RS21 at the Turkey Shoot

In Dublin, there is the very successful and popular Turkey Shoot series in the run-up to Christmas. Kenny Rumball has swapped his trusty 1720 for the sporty RS21. The 21-footer from RS has already been seen in the bay competing throughout the summer series and in Dun Laoghaire week with some of the other boats that travelled far and wide to race. Kenny and his crew of instructors from the Irish National Sailing & Powerboat School were on form on Sunday. With a nice steady but at times windy Westerly breeze, the team sailed well to finish just behind the 1720s and one or two of the faster J109s. Sharing the same start as the 1720, J80 and SB3 classes, the crew of four were third on the water from that start!

The sporty RS21 dockside after the DBSC Turkey Shoot series on Dublin Bay

Before and after racing, the futuristic RS21 motored on and off its berth silently using its EPropulsion electric pod drive that retracts into the hull to make sailing as seamless and hassle-free as possible while also being caring to the environment. MarineServices.ie also had the all-new EVO series of Propulsion outboard on display in the Royal Irish Yacht Club after racing. If you are interested in trialling an electric outboard or the RS21, don’t hesitate to contact [email protected]

DMYC Frostbites

The DMYC frostbite series cracked off the same Sunday afternoon in a slightly dying westerly wind. A total of 11 RS Aeros are racing, with also 3 RS200s, one more to join by the end of the series! The popular modern Aero was being sailed by crews with a mixture of the 6 and 7 rig, with sailors having to choose their weapon of choice of the series from the start.

RS Aero sailor Noel Butler (left) collects his winner's mug from DMYC Frostbite organiser Neil Colin 

Close racing as always from the Aeros, with Noel Butler coming out on top in the PY division in his Aero, with Sarah Dwyer on equal points to Noel in the overalls after two races sailed on the first weekend. A nice gender mixture demonstrating an equal playing field for all sailors in the modern single-hander.

Don’t forget, if you want to try your hand at the RS Aero, don’t hesitate to drop [email protected]

RS400 winter series at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club

Meanwhile, in the North of Ireland, the RS400 winter series kicked off at the Royal North of Ireland Yacht Club. A whopping 17 RS400s were on the water, with some returning names to the fold, no doubt buoyed by the UK Championships coming to RNIYC in 2025!

Strong tidal currents resulted in the right of the downwind being advantageous for most of the day, with Ross and Andrew consistently making a nuisance of themselves by sailing high, though they may argue that perhaps everyone else could have sailed faster. A gusty end to the final race did little to unsettle Ross and Andrew, who won the day with a convincing 9-point finish. 

The RS21 one design will make its Cork Week debut in the 2024 regatta taking place from 15-19 July.

Organisers say the inclusion of the relatively new keelboat class, which was introduced in 2019, “is a testament to the event’s commitment to providing diverse and challenging racing opportunities for all participants”.

The RS21 has rapidly gained popularity thanks to its emphasis on close, tactical racing and its accessibility for sailors of varying skill levels.

This year was a breakthrough season for the class, with 55 boats at the World Championships in Sardinia, a first visit to the Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta and rapidly growing fleets around the world.

Cork Week organisers are excited at the keelboat’s potential to attract a new generation of sailors to the regatta, as well as provide seasoned competitors with a dynamic new racing experience.

RS Ireland and Volvo Cork Week will be providing RS21 charter boats for the event, offering international teams a hassle-free solution to their logistical challenges and an accessible avenue for participants from closer to home. For charter and RS21 information, contact Kenneth Rumball of RS Ireland at [email protected].

Entries for Cork Week 2024 opened earlier this month, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.

When you bring together Ireland’s biggest sailing event, RS21s and a weather forecast that promised a downwind ride that would take the fleet to the edge, you could get something pretty special, and that is exactly what we got for Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023.

Hosted at The National Yacht Club as part of Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta, the RS21s joined the fleet of nearly 400 boats to enjoy four days of flat-out sailing in top-end conditions!

Kenneth Rumball's RS Ireland was second overall in the RS21 class at the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

After four epic days of racing, three big nights out and two Bee Gees cover bands, the event came down to one final race to decide it all. Three boats were in contention for the overall win in the last race. ‘Sailingfast’ (GBR290 Duncan Heppelwhite) from Scotland, a point behind Emsworth’s ‘Responsible Sailing’ (GBR303 Paul Fisk), with the ‘RS Ireland’ team (IRL233 Nick Redding) a further point back. Ultimately, it was winner takes all!

Duncan Hepplewhite, Henry Start and Calum Reid on 'Sailingfast' finished third overall in the RS21 class at the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

Despite tactical moves at the high end of the risk spectrum from ‘Sailingfast’ and ‘RS Ireland’ in a southerly breeze that built from 10 to 18 knots, it wasn’t to be. ‘Responsible Sailing’ played the shifts, ignored those tempting dark patches of water and took the win in convincing fashion, able to sail the final beat in a conservative manner while the rest of us rolled the dice.

Calum Bell's GBE 298 competing at the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

Emmett Ryan's Swiss entry from Yacht Club Cern competing at the 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta Photo: Bob Bateman

This final showdown came after a week of the highest calibre racing, socials and entertainment that will live long in the memory.

"Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta pulled out all the stops for the RS21s"

Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta pulled out all the stops for the RS21s (and other fleets), to create an event feeling more like a festival interrupted by a sailing race than the other way around. They know how to enjoy their racing in Dublin!

Congratulations to the ‘Responsible Sailing’ team of Paul Fisk, Pippa Jubb, Caroline Fisk and Richard Tucker on taking their first win of the season and many thanks to salmon instruments who tracked the whole event for us allowing the opportunity for debriefs and coaching between races – not to mention recording a top speed of a whopping 17 knots.

You can relive the race at this link here

As the RS21 race circuit continues to build momentum, we look forward to the UK Nationals – there were signs of great thing to come from the young and talented A-Plan Insurance Team supported by Haven Knox Johnson, from NED305 (Michiel Geerling) with multiple race wins, and new international entrants SUI 291 representing Yacht Club CERN (Geneva) with a crew from as far afield as Switzerland, Newport Rhode Island, Wicklow SC, and the Royal Cork. Despite being new to the class, they showed how dangerous anyone can be in such a tight fleet.

New to the boat, Emmet Ryan summed up his experience, “Thanks again for a fantastic event! We thoroughly enjoyed the RS21 with all its user-friendly features, which made it very easy to step into and compete in challenging conditions. We were also extremely impressed with the boat speed and ease of handling, both up and downwind. The crew are already looking at options for getting into the 21 again soon!”

Great crowds at the National Yacht Club for the Kenneth 2023 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

Next for the RS21s

Next up for the RS21s is the National Championship in Lymington from the 3 – 6 August, and will include a launch party for the 2024 calendar, which is already shaping up to offer a healthy mix of standalone events along with those integrated into a bigger regatta. So far, we have 25 Nationals entries, with Italian and Irish teams also making the journey. The World Championship follows in Porto Rotondo, Sardinia from 27 – 30 September, with fleets from across Europe coming together in a world-class sailing venue. Back in the UK, the final circuit event of the season sees the RS21 fleet join Hamble River Sailing Club's One Design Championship in October, where the fleet also aims to take part in the winter series running into December.

A highlight of 2024 will be Cork Week, with RS Sailing committed to building a thriving RS21 fleet in Ireland over the next 18 months. Boats are already racing in Dublin and with Kenneth Rumball’s RS Sailing Ireland in support, there is a great future for RS21 International One Design racing in Ireland.

Final thanks go to Volvo Dún Laoghaire Regatta, David Wilkins and the Race Management team for great racing, to those people from the RS Ireland for their support with logistics and always being there to lend a hand, and to the Yacht Clubs of Dún Laoghaire for hosting us all!

Caroline Fisk, Pippa Jubb, Richard Tucker and Paul Fisk, the RS21 winners at Dun Laoghaire Regatta 2023 – Responsible Sailing Photo: Michael Chester

Event results overall are below.

The 2023 RS21 Cup season will see events in Scotland, Ireland and England as teams compete in a three-regatta venue, including Dun Laoghaire Harbour in July.

To ensure sailors, new and old, get the chance to get up to speed as quickly as possible, the first regatta will see RS21 racing paired with coaching to provide direct feedback on the water.

The first event will see teams travelling to the West Coast of Scotland for the Scottish Series in Tarbert Loch Fyne, held over the second May bank holiday weekend.

July will see a trip across the Irish Sea to compete in the four-day Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta on Dublin Bay.

Local RS Sailing dealer, Kenny Rumball, will be on hand to ensure that teams get the most enjoyment possible from the event. Charter boats will be available for this event allowing Irish teams a taste of the RS21. These boats will have been previously used in the inaugural Irish Sailing League and so will be race ready for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta. For more information on Charter boat availability and pricing, contact Kenny [email protected]

Charter boats will be available for the four-day Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta on Dublin Bay allowing Irish teams a taste of the RS21

Rumball also has a boat available for teams if they wish to travel to the Scottish Series, Cowes Week and Dartmouth.

August will see the UK Nationals hosted on the Solent for the first time since 2019. Timed to coincide with Cowes Week, teams have the option for eight days of racing over a week, with a day off in between to recover. With around 20 boats expected on the start line and interest from foreign teams, this will be a not to miss event.

2023 UK RS21 Cup season includes a visit to Dublin Bay in July

The final event of the season will be a trip to Dartmouth. Second, only to Cowes week in size in the UK, this event is perfect for the whole family, with Dartmouth Royal Regatta being a whole town affair.

With three events in the 'British Isles' RS21 Cup, teams will have to count their best three results, including the National Championship, to stand a chance of lifting the trophy.

UK & Ireland class president, Nigel Coles, said “We’ve only been racing the RS21 for a year, having raced Aeros for a long time before that, but we love the simplicity of the boats, which has allowed us to get up to speed with the top teams in Europe really quickly. We have such a great group of sailors in this class already, so when planning the season for this year, it was important to us to have events that gave us time ashore to catch up with friends, new and old. RS21 racing is so much more than time on the water, and with these events, we are looking forward to an amazing season”

Last Sunday, the inaugural RS21 World Championships in Biograd Na Moru came to a close after some incredibly close one-design racing in an incredibly even-matched class.

The MarineServices.ie team, despite having only jumped into the boat to sail as a crew for the event coupled with a helm who was suffering from a bug or food poisoning, were happy with the overall result but are already planning ‘unfinished business’ for the World Championships next year in Sardinha, Italy!

The main reason for the team to make the epic 4,000km road trip was to learn the boat, experience RS21 events and to gain valuable international connections with fellow RS21 sailors!

The Irish RS21 on the car ferry at the start of the 4,000km road trip

So what did we learn?

The boats are incredibly easy to transport, although we chose to drive our boat there, the bulk of the fleet came by truck. The RS21 was designed to stack within itself, within minutes, the boat can be lifted off the keel, the boats stacked 3 high and then the keels mounted on a pallet and put into the truck.

The RS21 is designed to stack within itself for transportation by truck

This fantastic design means transport costs and logistics can be dramatically reduced, saving money for international travellers and also making the class more sustainable for the environment. Sailors with some experience in rigging the boats have reported they can rig the boat in 30 minutes; this includes dressing and stepping the mast! Speaking of the mast, it is a one-design carbon fibre section with one set of spreaders. This makes it incredibly light and as a result easy for just two persons to step the mast on the boat using a pin on the mast step as a turning point and the mast pops up in seconds! Back to our own boat which we transported on the road trailer, the boat only weighs 650kgs so towing it behind a car is literally a doddle, it is no more difficult to tow that a double-stacked dinghy trailer.

The boats are full of innovative features, Every morning, without fail, we were all mesmerised by the simplicity of the drop-down electric engine where with no fuss and a silent whisp, we drove off the pontoon, its uncanny! But it is not just the electric engine, the drop-down keel actually locks into place and is solid; over all the days of racing, we never heard of felt the keel move or wobble like it does in other boats with a drop-down keel. The mainsheet has double ratchets allowing a seamless crossover between the main trimmer and helm for manoeuvres, the list goes on, this boat has really been designed with everything in mind!

The social scene is as important as the sailing, rarely had any of us sailed in an event that was as well organised onshore. RS Sailing is determined to make sailing fun again! Before we even left Ireland, there were detailed google maps and easily digestible information as to where to be and at what time. Information was always seamlessly flowing through a dedicated Telegram group for the event. Never once were we left wondering where to be and at what time. The RS Sailors Hub was a dedicated hub setup for the duration of the event for sailors to hang out and have a coffee before racing, where after racing, free beer and a free meal were enjoyed while the dedicated on-the-water event coach would enthusiastically debrief all sailors on the races of the day. This hub was also where all briefings were and served as a great meeting point. Almost every evening, there was either a party, sailors' dinner or discussion forum. The effort RS put into the event was fantastic! Something for all classes to model themselves on in the future!

As for the boats themselves and what are they like to sail? I’ve got to go rig our boat again to get sailing in it this weekend, so I won’t have enough time to explain how much fun and rewarding they are to sail, but I can offer you one better! Come sailing on out boat, number 291! The boat is entered for the Turkey Shoot and also will be entered for the Spring Series.

The Marine Services RS21 back on the RIYC pontoon and ready for the second race of the Turkey Shoot on Sunday

If you are seriously interested in the RS 21, come along and sail with us for a morning. Just drop a note to [email protected] and we will organise a morning that suits. Just remember to pack waterproofs; the boats are fast and wet!

The Irish RS21 keelboat crew returned from the inaugural World Championships in Croatia last week, and the new design will now feature on Irish waters when it competes at this weekend's Dun Laoghaire's DBSC Turkey Shoot Series.

The sole Irish boat in Biograd Na Moru, sailed by Kenny Rumball, Jonathan Sargent, Andrew Smith, and Sean Donnelly, finished 29th overall in the 41-boat fleet. Scroll down for results.

Rumball will now try his luck in the second race of the country's largest winter series for cruiser racers, which is raced under a modified ECHO handicap.

Like many other designs in the 78-boat entry, the new RS21 will try to break the stranglehold of J designs that took the top five places in last Sunday's first race in a fleet of 63 boats on the water.

First-ever RS21 World Championship

The first-ever RS21 World Championship is officially completed. The week has been filled with sunshine, a great variety of light and strong wind conditions, close racing and lively debate on tactics ashore. As Afloat reported earlier, on some days, the competitors were challenged with tricky conditions, which meant that success came down to focus and fine-tuning to stay at the front of the fleet.

Tight racing under spinnaker at the RS21 inaugural World Championships in Croatia

The four days of racing gave the RS21 Class everything they could have hoped for in terms of showing off the key attributes of the RS21. Its one-design nature showcased an ability to perform in light and tricky conditions and handle a big breeze and waves whilst retaining the enjoyment and thrill factor. Culminating with three races on the final day added to the excitement with the added pressure that the discard would kick in and anything could happen to the results, every point counted. With the three final races close to the club, the breeze was coming off the land, making the shifts very hard to read, and a consistent performance was very hard to maintain. Most teams recorded big scores on the final day, but both Gianluca Grisoli and Hugh Watson and their crews did enough to earn their respective titles as Open and Corinthian World Champions.

The RS21 Open World Champions Gianluca Grisoli, Andrea Casale, Fabio Gridelli and Giorgio Tortarolo celebrate in Croatia Photo: Phil Jackson

The inaugural RS21 Open World Champions are ITA 225 with Gianluca Grisoli, Andrea Casale, Fabio Gridelli and Giorgio Tortarolo in first place, ITA244 with Giovanni Meloni, Niccolo Bianchi, Camilla Cordero and Pietro Negri in second place and third place ITA243 with Martin Reintjes, Francesco Rubagotti, Giulio Desiderato and Daniele Cassinari.

The inaugural RS21 Corinthian World Champions are GBR211 with Hugh Watson, Helen Watson, Emma McEwen and Susanna Peatsin, first place, POL213 with Wojtek Myśliwiec, Rafał Błażejczyk, Marcin Panaś, Adrian Kaczyński in second place, and third place team GER289 with Claudia Rossi, Matteo Morellina, Andrea Spagnolli and Francesco Rampazzo.

Check out the full results below