AN OLYMPIC gold medal winner has enjoyed further success off the coast of North Berwick.

East Lothian Yacht Club (ELYC) hosted the 75th UK National Championships for the Merlin Rocket class of sailing dinghy, August 15-19.

Among those taking part was Stuart Bithell, who took gold in the men’s 49er class with Dylan Fletcher in Tokyo this summer. The duo edged out Germany and New Zealand to win Team GB’s first Olympic gold in the discipline.

In East Lothian, there were 45 boats in the championships and two races were sailed on each of four days from the schedule of five days. The fourth day was very windy and racing was cancelled.

In the Merlin Rockets championships, Bithell was sailing with his crew, Tom Pygall, and they were the overall winners of the championships with four firsts and a second and a fourth placing.

The Olympic star, who previously won silver in the 470 class in London 2012, brought his Olympic gold medal and met with club members to discuss his win at the Olympics.

Nick Roche, commodore at the county yacht club, thanked the Olympian for taking time to talk to about 20 cadets.

He said: “He was a very down to earth guy and did not want a big fuss made. He was completely relaxed and he has come back from the Olympics and is back working with his home club and it was like a very normal thing.

“We made a big deal out of it and it was good for our cadets but it was very normal.”

A spokesperson for The Merlin Rockets praised ELYC for “being a wonderful host club and for such a fantastic reception”.