At RS, we love to hear about how much you are all enjoying your boats. We sat down with Merel and Maura from the Netherlands who recently bought an RS500 together. They have both sailed for most of their lives and now pass on their knowledge as instructors at Aquavitesse. They started sailing together a few years ago and decided they wanted to compete together, so bought a used RS500. Read on to find out why…
How did you find the RS500?
We’re both instructors at Aquavitesse, I (Merel) have sailed there since I was 8. We don’t know any other boats than RS. We thought it would be nice to sail together, so tried the RS500 and both really enjoyed it! We then wanted to do races and competitions so started looking for our own RS500 to buy together.
What stood out about the RS500 compared to other boats?
“I’m a single-handed sailor, I like the RS Aero a lot – but I thought it would be nice to sail with a friend and the RS500 was the perfect solution.” – Merel
What feature of the RS500 exceeded your expectations?
The trapeze! We had never tried it before, so it was our first time using it. From an instructor’s point of view, it was nice to be able to rig it and understand more about the functions of the boat and how they complement each other. We feel we have progressed and upskilled ourselves a little bit more.
Would you recommend buying an RS500 to others?
Yes, for double-handed sailing. We think the RS500 is perfect for every age, especially for those in the Dutch class associations. It’s a boat for everyone – very fun to sail!
Have you got any sailing planned for the future?
We just had our first sailing competition a few weekends ago! In August, we will join the RS500 Worlds in Italy. We are very excited to be taking part together! At the moment, we live on different sides of the Netherlands so it’s easier for us to practise on the weekends when we are both available.
We are also trying to personalise our boat… We’ve called it ‘Sea la Vie’ and currently have pink foot straps and a pink gennaker. We love it and can’t wait to see what we can do with it in the future!
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