Rush Sailing Club delivered a great regatta, with the friendly atmosphere they are well known for. The RS Aero Nationals were combined with the club regatta, with Mermaids and GP14s in action, and the Mirror Nationals, creating a great atmosphere and an evening to remember after Saturday's racing.
The Mirror class was a major attraction, with Olympic legend Iain Percy in action with his son, battling against our own triple Olympian and recent GP14 World Champion Ger Owens, sailing with his daughter. The Saturday evening Q&A between Ger and Iain was unmissable.
The Aero fleet may have been a bit small, yet the quality was high, with defending champion and recent RS200 National Champion Thomas Chaix in action. His competition was going to be fierce, with recent Europeans medallist and Maggiore international event champion Sophie Crosbie, former national champion and top Master at the Europeans Darragh Sheridan, the inoxidable multi-class champion Noel Butler, class globetrotter Roy Van Maanen and former and local Laser ace Alan Ruigrok dipping his feet into the class for the first time.
Two talented youths, Lucas Flynn and Sebastian Wright, were also in the line-up, along with the usual suspects enjoying open Aero events. The forecast may have been a bit wet, but the mix of light winds on Saturday and windier, wavier conditions on Sunday delivered a regatta to suit all tastes.
As Noel described after Saturday's races, Rush delivered some tidal witchcraft voodoo of sorts, with crazy currents, counter-currents and random waves at the mouth of the river, where the reach mark ended up somehow.
Defending champion Thomas delivered the perfect day, mastering the light winds and tide to secure three race wins. In his wake, it was not plain sailing, and the fleet delivered great battles, with positions swapping regularly and small errors punished with place drops.
Noel was pretty sharp with a 2-2-5 scoreline, while local Alan took only one race to get used to the Aero, with a solid scoreline of 8-3-2. Neil Colin, sailing a 6, picked up a strong third in the first race, playing the left side of the course very well.
It was another 6, Sarah Dwyer, chasing the bigger rigs ahead in race two, snatching fourth before Howth Master Darragh Sheridan scored a third in the final race of the day.
PY, with three rigs competing, keeps everyone pushing to the finish line in each race, so it was a tired fleet heading in and battling head currents to make it to the slipway. A bit of walking along the shore may have been spotted.
Sunday delivered a different picture, with a solid 12-15 knots, even more at times, and big waves. The ferocious currents were still a major factor to consider when figuring out laylines.
The conditions definitely suited Sophie, who sailed the 5 rig a lot better and, with a scoreline of 2-3-1, dominated the day to catch up to fourth overall.
The battles at the front between the strongest 7 rigs were full-on, with Darragh Sheridan coming into form and winning the second race of the day, while Alan showed his local wisdom, mastering tidal laylines in race three and taking a big lead, only losing the race to Sophie once times were recalculated.
Down the fleet, everyone battled for position, not giving an inch, with the smaller rigs pushing the bigger rigs to hike just a bit harder despite agonising legs. The Aero fleet certainly offers great racing at all levels.
Thomas's scoreline of 1-4-4 on the day was enough to secure an uncatchable lead, thus retaining the lovely trophy for one more year.
Completing the podium were Noel Butler, making it a National YC 1-2, and Alan Ruigrok (Rush SC). Sophie Crosbie (RCYC) was top lady in fourth, closely followed by Darragh Sheridan (Howth YC).
Second best – Noel Butler took second overall at the RS Aero Nationals at Rush after a consistent six-race series that included three runner-up finishes
Local knowledge – Rush Sailing Club’s Alan Ruigrok took third overall on his RS Aero debut, using his local knowledge to master the tricky tidal conditions on home waters
Best Youth was Sebastian Wright (NYC/GSC) in eighth, and best of the 6 rigs was second lady Sarah Dwyer (RStGYC) in sixth overall.
The season is certainly not over, with a series of sprints scheduled in Swords on the weekend of 3-4 October and the start of the INSS Super Series in Dún Laoghaire, with the first race on October 10th.
