Over the Jubilee weekend from the 2nd to the 5th of June, Rutland sailors saw an array of events taking place at Rutland Sailing Club, with two RS21's donated by the John Merricks Sailing Trust at the heart of it all.

John Merricks was born in Leicester in 1971 and was taught to sail by his father Dennis. John learned in a classic junior vessel, the Mirror dinghy, on Rutland Water at the age of 11. John became a leading Olympic sailor and in 1996 won an Olympic silver medal.

John passed away in a car accident that took place whilst he was competing in the 1997 Melges 24 European Championships in Italy.

Subsequently, the John Merricks Sailing Trust was set up by those closest to John to do some good in his name and further the memory of such a remarkable person.

The Trust has been in operation for twenty-five years and this weekend saw local sailors racing two new RS21's donated by the trust at Rutland Water.

The weekend started with light winds and ended with some blustery conditions, testing the skills of even the most experiences sailors in attendance.

The RS21 keelboats purchased from RS Sailing with funding supplied by the John Merricks Sailing Trust were in continuous use over the weekend (image courtesy of Giles Smith)

Thursday, Friday and Sunday mornings saw club members enjoying taster sessions, practicing keelboat skills training, and some more experienced sailors taking advantage of race coaching.

Sailors getting more experience using their spinnakers in blustery conditions (image courtesy of Giles Smith)

On Saturday, there was the chance to watch the racers battle the windy conditions with 8 teams sailing in 2 groups of 4 boats. The top 2 in each group went forward to the final.

This was won by the team of Andy McKee, closely followed by the successful RSC youth team of Jamie Tylecote, Solomon Wilby, Freya Penbery, Will Fearn and Oli McKee.

Rutland Sailing Clube RS youth team (image courtesy fo Giles Smith)

Spokesperson for the event Bill Stillman said: "In total around 200 club members took part in various events over the 4 days and the whole activity was a great success."

Check out the club website for more details.