The Ovington 29er, 49er and Musto Performance Skiffs were treated to some close, exciting racing at the Rutland open meeting this weekend

David Wilkins and his team at Rutland managed to run the 29er, 49er and Musto Performance Skiff fleets on a very interesting course that kept the classes apart and gave proper windward/ leeward racing for the asymmetric boats.

In the Musto Skiff Richard Stenhouse continued his winning streak as did Jim Baldwin in his runner up spot.

For the 29ers it was a grant qualifier for the worlds in Sydney this Christmas, so there was a lot to play for. Alex Hopson and Nick Murphy proved their all-round skill and speed with a consistent eight-race series in both medium and light winds. The new pairing of Ed Clayson and Adam Clarke were all-ways a force to be reckoned with but two results out of the top five was enough to allow Hopson/Murphy to take the regatta. Ian Martin and Olivia Videl having just swapped round as helm and crew showed a dramatic improvement putting in a very good third place. Top girl team was Jenny Marks and Debi Gibson closely followed by Liz Peacock and Jo Skinner.

The 49er class was an incredible close race between the three teams of Simon Marks/Ali Sutor, Mark and Paul Dell, Mike Keser/Alexander Krause. In the end Marks/Sutor just won with a couple of blinding races on Sunday afternoon helped by a couple of fourths by the Dells.