PARKSTONE Yacht Club's Tom Stewart and Chris Downham went close, but not close enough, to taking overall honours in the Silver Tiller series.

The duo were competing in the last Merlin Rocket Silver Tiller Meeting of the year, hosted by the Parkstone club, at the weekend.

A total of 39 boats made the trip from all over the country, including every one of the top 10 sailors in the series.

The meeting's first two races had clean starts but in the third, and unusually for the Merlins, the black flag was required to get the fleet off at the third attempt.

Judith Massey and Phil Dalby romped off to get a massive lead only to be hunted down and taken by Tom Stewart and Chris Downham.

Only two boats managed a top-five result in all three races with Stewart and Downham taking the Parkstone Open title convincingly with two firsts and a second.

In the Silver Tiller Series rankings, Glen Truswell and Paul Davies took the honours with Stewart and Downham having to settle for third place behind Richard Whitworth and Eleanor Bremner.

On Sunday there was a one-off race which was won by Stewart and Downham from Whitworth and Bremner.

Results, Parkstone Open: 1 Tom Stewart and Chris Downham, 2 Will Warren and Tom Bowen-Perkins, 3 Dan Alsop and Jennie King.

Silver Tiller Series, Overall: 1 Glen Truswell and Paul Davies, 2 Richard Whitworth and Elena Bremner, 3 Tom Stewart and Chris Downham.

Following the individual team racing championships at Spinnaker Sailing Club, Oliver Porter and Robbie Urwin from Royal Lymington will represent the UK at the European Team Racing Championships to be held in Berlin in a few days time.

They will join brothers James and David Grant from Restronguet, Cornwall, and Calum Murdock from Bowmoor to form a young team of five - all aged 12 or under - who will take turns in the four-boat event.

They will meet stiff competition from sailors from all over Europe.

The team was selected following a random pairs team racing event at Spinnaker that, as well as Porter and Urwin, saw Lymington sailors Paul and Mark Minors and Henry Lloyd Williams also finish in the top 10.

Lymington members also took third, fourth, fifth and sixth positions in the Optimist Class at the RYA South Zone Championships held at Weymouth

The event was a useful last practice before the End-of-Season Championships and was also comprised part of the selection trials for the RYA Zone Squads for the coming winter.

Porter won the only race that was sailed on Saturday while on Sunday Gareth Moore from Lymington sailed intelligently throughout three races sailed to take a first, a fifth and a sixth placing. He finished third overall in behind Johnathan House of Poole YC and James Hames from Hayling Island.

Fourth overall was Porter with Henry Lloyd Williams taking fifth and Urwin sixth.

A total of 43 boats took part in the third race of the Lymington Town Sailing Club Solent Circuit series on Sunday.

There was a close finish in Class One with Peter Scholfield's HOD35 Zarafa beating Doug and Clare Hassells' Eclipse VII (Humphreys 12M) by 38 seconds on corrected time.

In Class Two, Don Woods' six-metre boat had a 20-seconds victory over Phillipedes, the Swan 41 of Richard Balding and Richard Chadburn.

Oliver Dunne's Scampie Minim III took victory in Class Three despite having to do a penalty turn for hitting the finish mark.

The sports boat fleet had some close racing but not close enough to stop Rick Otten winning both of the day's races convincingly.

Results, Class 1 IRC: 1 Zarafa (Hod 35) P Scholfield, 2 Eclipse VII (Humphreys 12M) Doug and Clare Hassell, 3 Fidelitas (Elan 37) Jo and Mark Broadway.

Class 2 IRC: 1 Scoundrel I (Int 6 Meter) Don J L Wood, 2 Philippides (Swan 41) Richard Balding and Richard Chadburn), 3 Zapopan (Sigma 41) John Stanton and Ray Crouch.

IRC Class 3: 1 Minim 3 (Scampi) Oliver Dunne, 2 C Lion (Comfort 34) Jon Boyd, 3 Juggler (Shamrock) Barry Dutton.

Club Handicap: 1 Whisper (Contessa 28 ) Richard Jenner, 2 Contraction (Hunter F1) Fergus Roper, 3 Ocean Factor (Oceanis 320) Graham Broomfield.

Folkboats: 1 Cloud Cuckoo (Ray Mitchell), 2 Gap Year (Steve Proffitt), 3 Good Shepherd (Keith Whitelaw).

Non-spinnakers: 1 Wings of Pegasus (Sweden 390) Roger/Jenny Garlick, 2 Hitch-Hiker (Westerly Storm 33) Peter Bedwell, 3 Channel Pilot (Moody 346) Steve Turner.

Sports boats, Race One: (all Laser SB3) 1 Wrecked (Rick Otten), 2 Red Kite (Roger Harford), 3 Bulla (Mr Blair).

Race Two: 1 Wrecked, 2 Explosion (Jesper Toft), 3 Red Kite.