Ireland's six-person squad is featuring in the top ten across the divisions at the halfway stage of the RS Aero World Championships in France.
Greystones Harbour's Roy Van Maanen is lying eighth in the Aero 5 rig and Wicklow clubmate Sarah Dwyer 45th. Darragh Sheridan is eighth in the 6 rig with Noel Butler of the National Yacht Club 12th, and Howth's John Phelan 26th. Monkstown Bay Sailing Club's Rob Howe from Cork Harbour is lying 12th in the 7 rig.
An entry of over 170 RS Aeros from 17 nations have converged on the beautiful Quiberon peninsula in southern Brittany for the 7th RS Aero World Championship, combined with the 4th RS Aero Youth World Championship.
The RS Aero Opening Ceremony and Grand Flag Parade provided an opportunity to celebrate each nation's participation with sailors full of anticipation for the week ahead.
The race area of Quiberon Bay has provided excellent racing to start the week, with a good variety of breezes and sea states over the race areas. 6 good races have been achieved on schedule over the first two days.
The largest Class this year is the RS Aero 5 with 62 competitors and gender parity with 50% male/female. Riccardo Serra (ITA) leads the rankings from Raphael Olsthoorn (FRA) in 2nd and Jorgen Kuivonen (EST) in 3rd.
The ever-popular RS Aero 6 is also enjoying record numbers with their 50 boats. Reigning champion Sofiia Naumenko (UKR) leads with 3 wins in her score. Sam Blaker (GBR) is in 2nd with Francois le Castrec (FRA) in 3rd.
The RS Aero 7s have quite a mix of sailors taking the top spots in races. Jack Miller (GBR) leads from Peter Barton (GBR) in 2nd and Mark Ripley (GBR) in 3rd.
The RS Aeros 9 s are loving the mixed conditions with the L/XL fleet, enjoying exciting close racing. After two days it is Ben Flower (CAN) out in front by 1 point from Nick Craig in 2nd and Madhaven Thirumalai (USA) in 3rd.
The 170 competitors enjoyed a championship dinner together on Tuesday and an International Class Meeting, swapping ideas, sharing success stories and planning our future major champs, after racing on Wednesday. With 3 more days of racing, excitement is building as the week unfolds!
The RS Aero Class is once again continuing to support Ukrainian humanitarian relief at this Championship, to help relieve the suffering which continues in the Ukraine. Competitors may collect a mini Ukrainian sail sticker flag from the event Registration to place on their sail next to their own national flag, as a visual sign of support and solidarity.
