Carpentier holds off Deegan to win European title

The Tricolour of France was flying proudly over Cowes last night as Jean-Michel Carpentier won the Swan European Championship. He defeated both the reigning Class Two champion, Graham Deegan, by two points, and the overall champion, Stephen James, by six on a final day which was again curtailed.

Of the seven scheduled races in the series, only five were completed and, of those five, two had to be shortened.

Carpentier's Xaossa only just pipped Deegan, who was pushed by a second French entry, Alain Foulquier's Saga.

James, meanwhile, still had reason to smile despite relinquishing his overall title. The Sydney Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson made a successfully switch from the tiny, single-handed Europe dinghy to helming his 48ft classic.

"I enjoyed the event and learned a lot," said Robertson. "It was a great initiation to sail on such a good boat. From a helmsman's point of view you just focus on your job of making the boat go fast. You don't really have time to know which boats are winning."

Paul Winkelmann, of Hong Kong, in the much newer 60ft Island Fling, held off Keith Miller in another 60-footer, Crackerjack, to take second place in Class One.

Grant Dalton hopes today to launch the first of two boats being built by Nautor Challenge at the yard in La Ciotat, near Marseilles. The boats are destined for the Volvo Ocean Race which starts off Southampton in September this year. Dalton will skipper one of them in what will be his seventh race round the world. The second boat will be in the hands of an all-woman crew, whose skipper is due to be announced this weekend.