PORTLAND sailor Megan Pascoe ended the penultimate meeting of the 2.4mR season with second place in the German Championships at Potsdam near Berlin.

A costly error, occurring when Pascoe collided with a competitor amidst changeable wind directions, forced the Dorset star to take a penalty turn and ultimately leave her with too much ground to reclaim.

Going into the final race, Pascoe needed to finish within a point of rival and home athlete Heiko Kröger to secure victory, but could only finish ninth, five places behind the eventual winner.

Kröger’s countryman Eberhard Bieberitz finished third and was one of eight German sailors in the top 10. A total of 48 boats competed.

Speaking to Echosport after her podium finish, a self-critical Pascoe believed she had thrown victory away.

She said: “It was quite tricky racing, the wind was really light and (we were) surrounded by trees. It never seemed to come in from the same direction.

“I kind of threw it away in the end. I ended up hitting somebody so I had to do a penalty turn. That put me on the backfoot.

“I needed to finish within a point of (Kröger) which I couldn’t quite manage.”

Pascoe, who suffers from a form of cerebral palsy affecting one side of her body, is next competing at the Antwerp City Cup in Belgium from October 25-28.

She said: “It will be a great way to end the season and round off a reasonable year. It’s another event where we spend an evening in the city, which is a rare thing in sailing.

“It would be very nice to win. It’s a nice event and they do prizes in beer, which is always a good thing! You can’t really go wrong.”