SLAM wins th18ft Skiff European International Championships

Even so the decision was made to bring forward the start of racing on the final day to 11.00am to potentially sail a further four races before the 2.30pm deadline for the final start. This they were able to do comfortably, despite a number of course resets as the thermal breeze clocked right during the day. With only 12 points separating the top 5 boats in the competition and an extra discard kicking in on the 16th race the pressure was on for the fleet in extremely tricky conditions with a fickle 8-10 knot sea breeze and a large sea way left over from the previous day's strong wind.

Leading into the final day, Australian Grant Rollerson with his crew Anthony Young and Tom Partington on the brand new Slam relished the conditions. The only boat in the fleet to carry the new hi-modulus carbon mast from CST they started cleanly in each of the first three races and quickly pulled out a comfortable lead to dominate the day's racing and claim the overall event title with a race to spare.

Placed third overall at the beginning of the day and second in the European classification, Ian Turnbull, Paul Constable and Alec Mckinlay on Ronstan UK steadily went about working their way back up to the European title. A fifth, third and fourth in the first three races brought them back to the top of the European ladder and second overall, but they left themselves with everything to do in the final race, after a dreadful start saw them round the windward mark in 13th. They steadily worked themselves back through the fleet until in sailing through the lee of Wild Oats Chardonnay on the final beat they climbed back up to third place to take second overall by a single point and as well as the European Championship title for 2008.
Australian skiff legend and previous JJ Giltinan Champion John Winning with his crew David Gibson and Andrew Hay on Yandoo Ssangyong were always near the front of the fleet and had a very consistent day counting a fourth and two second places, but a seventh in the first race of the day left them having to settle for third overall.

The European fleet now moves on to Weymouth in the UK for the next round of the European Grand Prix circuit and UK National Championship, commencing August 10th.