The final day of the Tornado European championship in Gran Canaria took place on Saturday. The event attracted a 51-boat fleet including RYA Team GBR sailors Leigh McMillan and Mark Bulkeley who gained selection to Team GB Athens 2004, when they won the silver medal at the world championships last year. However, at this event they put in a strong performance but were plagued by gear failure which saw them finish up eighth overall.

Bulkeley commented: “It has been a hard week for many reasons, we made too many mistakes and suffered some gear failure which should have been avoided. However, it has taught us some valuable lessons for the season ahead and in some ways it is best that all these lessons happen in one event. We now have a week back in England before heading out to Barcelona where we can start to put into practice the lessons learnt from here.”

The European championship title went to the 1996 Olympic silver medallist Mitch Booth and crew Herbert Dercksen from the Netherlands, who put in a consistent series to win by five points from Olivier Backes and Laurent Voiron of France.

Overall results

(after ten races, one discard)

1, Mitch Booth/Herbert Dercksen, NED (9,2,3,(OCS),3,2,2,4,7,1) 33 pts

2, Olivier Backes/Laurent Voiron, FRA (1,1,8,6,(11),5,6,1,1,9) 38 pts

3, Yann Guichard/Christophe Espagnon, FRA (12,3,(18),5,7,7,1,2,2,4) 43 pts

GBR

8, Leigh McMillan/Mark Bulkeley (4,5,7,13,8,17,(DNC),19,10,2) 83 pts

39, Leo Farrow/Rob Wilson (38,40,37,35,36,(DNC),36,37,30,30) 311 pts

41, Jonnie Hutchcroft/Marcus Lynch ((OCS),41,39,40,37,37,35,34,29,29) 314 pts

45, John Ready/Simon Willis (39,44,(DNC),DNC,42,40,41,41,DNC,DNC) 378 pts