Iain Percy was back in his gold medal-winning Finn last weekend, seizing on the chance to prove the old adage that form might be temporary, but class permanent.

Percy, the Winchester sailor who won gold at the Sydney Olympics more than a year ago, has not raced in the Finn class since then but he showed no signs of rustiness, immediately port tacking the start line underneath Atlanta Gold medallist Mateusz Kusznierewicz and moving into the lead up the first beat.

The race was part and parcel of a 'fun' weekend of Finn training and racing staged by the Warsash Sailing Club, which attracted some of the biggest names in the class, including Percy, Kusznierewicz and European Champion Emilios Papathanasiou.

The weekend was aimed at all groups of people, ranging from people who had never sailed a Finn before, to Finn veterans and RYA Team GBR sailors, attracting thirty sailors in total.

Saturday took the form of a race-training day, which started with coaching from Percy, Papathanasiou and Kusznierewicz on how to rig and tune the boats. Sailors then went out on the water in their own boats or Finns donated by members of the British Finn Association, to practise what they had learned in the morning.

Saturday night was a chance for the Finn sailors to get together and swap podium tales while Sunday offered the unique opportunity for Finn sailors to line up against the best in the world and try out their skills in four races.

Going into the last race, Percy's pretender Andrew Simpson was leading by four points but decided he would swap boats with Percy, in order to sail in the newer boat.

He capsized at the end of the first downwind leg and when the centre board stuck in the boat, preventing him from righting the boat, he lost out to Percy who went on to win the days racing with a total of 15 points.