by the RS Aero North American Class Association
The local RS Aero fleet at Cedar Point YC has been growing quickly this past year culminating in a great fleet of twenty RS Aero 9s for the Atlantic Coast Championships at Cedar Point YC, which formed part of their Fontelieu Fall OD Regatta. Five RS Aero visitors travelled from other parts of the USA’s North East, although Covid kept many more away.
Light winds were forecast on Day 1 and so everyone agreed to sail RS Aero 9s creating the largest RS Aero 9 regatta to date in North America! Sailors enjoyed blue skies and winds out of the SE/S produced flat water but a shifty breeze for the seven races held on the triangle/sausage course. Ralph Kinder from Rhode Island scored two bullets early on, however, the breeze increasing up towards 15kn by Race 4 allowed straight-line speed to help Marc Jacobi and Madhavan Thirumalai pull away.
Five more races on Day 2 with the wind from the East 8-13 knots created bigger seas to make surfing possible for some fun reaches with plenty of place changes!
Sailors found the racing competitive with places hard fought throughout the fleet. Local CPYC sailors Marc Jacobi and Madhavan Thirumalai ended the weekend atop the leaderboard with Ralph Kinder of Bristol YC nipping at their heels. Eric Aker took fourth sailing a strong and consistent series and a strong performance by Francisco Barreto with great starts and first beats saw him take 5th. Anne Kochendorfer finished as first Lady in 12th, beating Sally Sharp.
We realised what a great venue Cedar Point is in the Fall with blue sky ‘champagne sailing’ in good breezes! Thanks to Cedar Point YC for hosting the event and their slick race committee work.