21 hardy 800 teams arrived at Grafham for a cold winter champs, with some put off by the cold and light winds forecast.  In fact a decent breeze of 10-15 knots materialised to give good close racing on a variation the normal windward leeward course - with a trapezoid being run, leaving a tight bottom reach which caught a few teams out during the course of the first day.
 
Over the course of the weekend one team showed that they currently have the edge on the rest of the fleet, with Ben McGrane and Roz Allen being pushed hard by other teams in individual races but pulling through every time to convincingly take the event with straight firsts.
 
Behind them a group of boats were consistently close, with the overall results showing that the next 5 boats were separated by just 4 points.  A second place in the final race gave Ben Schooling and George Kingsnorth second overall, with Charlie Roome and Dave Steed taking third after a consistent weekend which put them ahead of the chasing back including Justin Deal/Ollie Page, Rob Watson/John Clifton, Neil Baker/James Hughes, The Visser brothers and James Date/Toby Wincer.
 
The silver fleet was won by fleet newcomers but RS regulars Nick Charles and Chris Martin, who showed they are finding the pace to challenge the rest of the fleet as they spend more time in the boat.  Locals Joel Walker and Sarah Crossman were second in the silver fleet, which included a strong performance in the first race of Day 2.
 
With several teams having been taking part in the big winter handicap races as well competition is hotting up, the fleet now moves to Chew Valley in March for the first circuit event of the year, by which time hopefully we'll be able to feel our fingers and toes!