Original Chia claims 18ft skiff European Grand Prix Trophy

But Eurolink is first at the Italian 18ft Skiff Grand Prix on Lake Iseo

Germany's Friedrich Renner and his Eurolink team took the Italian 18ft Skiff Grand Prix on Lake Iseo, Lovere, Italy while Denmark's Flemming Clausen and his Original Chia team won their second consecutive European Grand Prix Trophy series.

Going into the final round of the European Grand Prix, there were still three teams in winning contention for the overall 2010 European Grand Prix.

They were Original Chia (formerly named GP Covers), skippered by Flemming Clausen from Denmark on 31 points, Pica (James Mears-UK) on 25 and Liberty Sailing (Miklos Ujhelyi-Gaspar-Hungary) on 24.

On Day One, while the big three were expected to dominate the regatta, it was the German Eurolink team, skippered by Friedrich Renner from Munich, which starred with three wins from four races.

The Germans had made a change to their previous setup which gave them increased speed upwind, while losing only a little downwind in the tricky, shifting 5-15 knot winds.

On Day Two, Eurolink capsized in race two but placings of third, seventh and second over the day enabled the German team to retain a narrow points lead over Liberty Sailing, Pica and Original Chia.

Eurolink went into the final day with a narrow points lead over the fleet, with sunny skies and gusting, shifting 10-12 knot winds prevailed for Race One.

Liberty Sailing won the race after her team elected to go alone on the right hand side of the course on the first windward leg while Pica, Original Chia and Norbert Peter's Magic Marine (Germany) all went to the left.

Eurolink finished a disappointing fifth but fought back to take the next race and win the Italian Grand Prix from Liberty Sailing and Original Chia.

Original Chia's third placing was enough, however, to secure her overall victory in the 2010 European Grand Prix from Liberty Sailing, with Pica in third place.

Two new teams from Italy (Firat) and Netherlands (Pandion) competed in the Grand Prix for the first time and performed well. They will gain a lot of experience from the competition and will add to the strength of the European fleet in 2011.