Common Misunderstandings of Rule 42

This post is born from hearing sailors frequently misunderstand and misstate the World Sailing rule 42. Unfortunately, rule 42 is complex and has many parts and exceptions and comes with a full set of interpretations. Unlike the simple port/starboard rule 10, rule 42 is not one that you can fully understand without some study and reflection.

This is unfortunate that rule 42 is so difficult, because it absolutely essential as it describes and governs how we sail downwind and it enables the magic of downwind S-turning in boats like the Aero or Laser.

What Cost Me Time

After every race or regatta, I perform a little exercise I call "What Cost Me Time".

With this exercise, I look at every significant mistake I made and I estimate how much time, distance or places that mistake cost me.

I do this to focus my training on what is really impacting my score and to motivate me that if I just changed just one or two of these items, I could quickly would improve my results.

Note: this is not about regret or implying that I made more or less mistakes than other boats. Rather, it is personal to my journey and improvement.

Victorian Aero State Champs 2018

The RS Aero Victorian State Championships were held on 21-22 April 2018 at Black Rock Yacht Club with twenty one entries. Six races were sailed over the two days in light conditions.

The sailor ages ranged from 15 years old to 74 with four 9 rigs, four 5 rigs and thirteen 7 rigs.

Royal Brighton Yacht Club

This is my new sailing favorite place: Melbourne, Royal Brighton Yacht Club, and that is my Aero in front.

I've not launched from sandy beaches much before and I'm learning new tricks to keep the sand out of the boat. At least the Aero is really easy to pull over the sand.

Back in the Boat

It has been two years since I sailed an Aero or any other boat.

A nagging back injury and relocating 13,174 Km from Seattle to Melbourne has put a dint in my sailing.

But now, I have a new boat: Aero #2500 which is exactly 2 times my previous number #1250. I like round numbers!

I've settled into sailing at Royal Brighton Yacht Club in Melbourne and life is returning to normal.

RS Aero 2016 US Nationals

This year we return to the Gorge in Oregon for the RS Aero 2016 National Championships.

This will be a fantastic 5 days of Aero sailing comprised of a pre-regatta clinic, long distance race, Dynamic Dollies speed challenge, then two day championship regatta ... it promises to be an awesome event.

Sailing an Aero in Seattle

The Seattle Aero fleet is growing rapidly, drawing sailors young and old into this dynamic new class. We have regular races, and boats are sailing on Lake Washington, Lake Union and Puget Sound all year round, so you'll have plenty of company on the water.

You don’t have to be an expert racer to join the fun and excitement — the local fleet already has a healthy range of sailors from experienced racers to brand-new to dinghy sailors, and several local owners sail the boat just for fast, easy fun.

This post is a one-stop guide for most of the things you need to know to get started sailing Aero's in Seattle.

Gorge Blowout in an Aero

The Gorge Blowout — a white knuckle, 18 mile downwinder from Cascade Locks to Hood River, Oregon.

This was the first year an Aero has competed in the famed Gorge Blowout. The ultimate torture test for single handed dinghies. We were all interested to see how an Aero would compete with the Lasers. Andy Mack and Sean Grealish took up the challenge in their Aeros.

Read what Andy has to say ....

Aero Demo Day

** Come Sail an RS Aero **

** Demo Day in Seattle on Sept 12, 11-3 PM **

Here is your chance to sail the new RS Aero. Our first demo day was so successful we’re setting up another chance for you to sail this awesome boat.

There are already 15 Aeros in Seattle (in just 8 months!) including 11 boats racing. Another 10 boats are sailing in Portland, and the U.S. will soon hit 100 boats. Just ask the 20+ boats at the inaugural North American Championships this past July (won by Seattle’s own Dan Falk) how fun and fast this boat is — upwards of 16 knots through the water and close racing at all levels.

Vang Setup

It is important to configure the Aero Vang so you have correct line length to provide sufficient range. It is easy for the vang line and blocks to run out of range when the breeze picks up and you need to crank on the vang.

Conversely, it is easy to trim too much off the lines so that attaching the vang is difficult or impossible. Not an easy fix.

This post documents some measurements that seem to work well for vang setup for 5, 7 and 9 rigs.

SpeedPuck Mount

Here is my mount for the Velocitek SpeedPuck. I'm using the standard central Aero mount for a TackTick compass, so I needed an alternative for the SpeedPuck.

Ashore, I wanted to be able to quickly mount and dismount the SpeedPuck. Afloat, I needed to be able to see the SpeedPuck out of the corner of my eye when sailing upwind.

This post shows a low cost and effective mount you can make yourself using a strip of aluminum.

Aero North American Championship

The first Aero North Americans Championship lived up to its billing and delivered great racing, a range of conditions with good camaraderie. Wind conditions ranged from 10 to 22+ knots with most races sailed in 15-18 knots.

Twenty-one (21) Sailors came from all over the country including: Rhode Island, California, Florida, Oregon, Washington, Montana, Hawaii and the even the UK. All boats raced with all rig sizes (5, 7 and 9) competing in a unified scratch race.

New Speed Record - 16.2 Knots

Finally someone has broken 16 knots. Sean Grealish sailing at the Gorge has posted a time of 16.2 Knots.

Previously, Erwan Kerebel clocked 13.5 Knots, Rich Watsham achieved 14.5 Knots, Michiel Geerling did 14.6 Knots and Paul now holds the record with 15.0 Knots. Can anyone crack 16 Knots?

** Send Your Entries **

Please email me your best results with conditions, description and picture. Mail to mob@emobrien.com, or post to the Aero Forum and I'll copy here.

Here are the current best efforts (ordered).