DORSET’S 49er sailors Chris Draper and Peter Greenhalgh clinched the title at the European Championships.

Their gold marks the first major title for Draper, of Crossways, near Dorch-ester and sailing partner Greenhalgh since they teamed up in 2009 on their return to the class.

The pair made steady progress throughout the regatta in Poland and went into the medal race with a six-point lead.

Draper, the 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, and Greenhalgh finished third in the final double points scoring race, which was enough to scoop their first regatta win together, and Draper’s first European title since 2005.

“We’re really, really pleased,” Draper said. “We’re still a new team and we’re learning from that.

“They all say that Olympic campaigning is a marathon, not a sprint, so winning events is a bit more than we were perhaps looking for at this stage, we were just aiming for a podium spot here really.

“But it’s good to be ahead of our goals and to be able to say we’re European Champions. It’s got a nice ring to it.”

He added: “It’s now really important that we take the lessons we have learnt from this event forwards and make sure we don’t lose sight of what has made such a good series for us.”

Elsewhere in European Champion-ship action, Weymouth’s Bryony Shaw finished seventh at the RS:X European Windsurfing Championships in Sopot, Poland.

The Olympic bronze medallist said she was ‘gutted not to have been in the medals’ but described it as a ‘good learning week’ ahead of next month’s Skandia Sail for Gold Regatta, held at the 2012 venue in Weymouth and Portland which is what she has been building up to this summer.

Weymouth’s RS:X World Champion Nick Dempsey did not make the trip to Poland.