With the San Diego NOOD all wrapped up, RS Sailing were delighted to receive some great feedback from one of the skippers, Mark Werder.
“Hey All, Just wanted to send a huge thank you on behalf of myself and my crew from Folsom Lake and RYC along with a couple comments from the weekend. George and Jake (West Coast Sailing), Thank you for the opportunity to escape the cold and play with a brand new boat all weekend in sunny San Diego. I know it was a bit of a scramble to get things rolling and you came through in a big way!!”
“Jon (RS Sailing CEO – Commercial), The beers after Friday’s race were perfectly timed. Really enjoyed chatting with you about the direction RS is headed and the huge amount of work you’ve put into the weekend. Thanks for being encouraging even if we weren’t quite on pace with the pros.”
“Ed (Sail22 – RS Sailing partner), Thanks for being an approachable pro. I got a really bad taste for J70 racing with all the “Pros” at the J70 worlds in SF. You were the only other skipper that seemed cool with sharing what you know to help us weekend sailors go faster. One of the primary reasons I like the Santana 20s and Express 27s is the willingness to help each other be more competitive and you seemed to also embrace that philosophy.”
As if we weren’t happy enough about him recognising the hard work of our dedicated team, Mark then goes on to give his comments about the boat…
“After the ‘holy s*** we’re actually out here’ wore off, the ease and approachability of the RS21 really shined through. The 4 of us had never sailed together as a crew before the event and our foredeck was brand new to racing. Our first set at practice was easy, first jibe like we’d done it 100 times and the douse was effortless. All 4 of us kept finding little things all over the boat to appreciate.”
“It is overwhelmingly positive for the sport when you can end a regatta in last place and your newest sailor onboard is already researching personal gear and tactics for the next sailboat race he can find. So many times, I’ve tried to train new people in the sport just to watch them get frustrated and never move up. After focusing on some basic boat handling in practice we spent the weekend looking at ways to improve mark roundings and by Sunday I was starting to teach how to mode the boat in puffs and lulls. We did our best trying to stay in the fleet but there was only so much time to grow as a crew.”
“Personally, I was happy with the progress we were making, incredibly pleased with the boat and was just having a lot of fun sailing. If we hadn’t had an earlier flight Sunday, I’m certain we would have sailed after the racing as long as you’d have let us. We didn’t accomplish our goal of beating another boat in at least one race but we did manage to force 3 boats over early in race 4 and took home many other fun stories to share around the club.”
What a wonderful testimonial to prove the meticulous planning and engineering that went into the design of the RS21 benefits sailors of all abilities. It’s great to learn that even a new crew member can have success and be an effective crew member with just a few days on the water. What’s even more important is that, we have them hooked on our sport! That’s the impact an RS21 can have.
Thanks to Mark Werder for the feedback and to all the competitors for their participation in the event.