This weekend Rutland sailing club hosted the ever popular RS Sprint championships. With fewer teams than normal perhaps due to the strong wind forecast 13 RS200's were greeted by a chilly 20knot westerly. Although a small fleet, the competition was tough with many teams already fearing not making the Gold fleet cut for the finals on Sunday. The 13 teams were divided into 4 flights for the 12 race round robin qualification format on Saturday.

Race one saw the red 'flight of death' paired with the teams in blue. Ally Martin & Simon Potts took the win from George Yeoman & Sophie Ormsby - this battle set the tone for the day. Matt Mee & Emma Norris pulled through from being last round the first mark to take 3rd.

In the other race Ben Saxton; 2012 National Champion fresh from his nacra17 exploits, sailing with fellow GBR windsurfer Izzy Hamilton took first place. Andy Shaw & Pippa Horne showed great upwind pace to finish 2nd followed by Tom Taylor and Robbie Poole with a solid 3rd.

Ally & Simon went on to win their second race with George & Sophie taking the win in the other race followed closely by Ben & Izzy. John and Sarah McKelvie recorded their best race of the Saturday with a 3rd place. In races 3 and 4 for Matt & Emma posted back to back wins with George & Sophie and Ben & Izzy taking a win a piece in their races. Ally & Simon were never far behind posting consistent 2nd and 3rd places.

With two races remaining the top 3 teams were split by one point. Ally & Simon swapped roles and posted 2 commanding 1st places to take the day on count back from George and Sophie who were not outside the top 2 all day. Matt and Emma finished the day in third overall after a tough battle with the Saxton brothers in the final race.

The teams returned to the shore cold and exhausted after a tough 4 hours on the water to see who had made the cut. Retirements in the final race proved costly; Tim Saxton and Jody Green rounded off the top 6 with Josh Metcalfe & Emma Best in 5th overall after a consistent day with Ben & Izzy qualifying in 4th.

Unfortunately Sunday was always unlikely to happen based on the weather forecast which proved to be true to form. The race committee reported a solid mean in the high 20's with gusts well into the 30's. Racing was was abandoned after consultation with the various fleet representatives which proved to be a popular decision given the breeze was set to increase further for the next few hours. The results from Saturday stood with Ally & Simon taking the overall victory and becoming the 2015 Sprint Champions.

Sailwave results for RS Sprint Championships 2015 at Rutland Sailing Club 2015