Sailing: Walker's Indulgence slides to sixth overall

THE slippery slope of a seventh place and a last-placed ninth in the two races of the 50ft World Championship in La Rochelle yesterday took Britain's Graham Walker and the crew of Indulgence from second overall to equal sixth.

Keeping a grip on matters was Italy's helmsman, the American Paul Cayard, who added another first and a second to the two wins scored on the first day. The boat which beat him into second in the fourth race was also Italian, Mandrake, with Franceso de Angelis at the helm.

It was not only the British who were out of sorts. Marc Pajot came to La Rochelle in Carat VII as the man to beat and was disqualified from the first race, finished eighth in the second and had two fifths yesterday. His rival, Pierre Mas, on Corum, part of the French trio to defend the Admiral's Cup in eight weeks, had to pick up a crewman overboard in yesterday's first race, but still managed to beat Dave Cummins in Heaven is Irish.

Further north in Cherbourg, Grant Dalton in New Zealand Endeavour took his new Whitbread maxi to line honours in the second leg of the UAP Round Europe Race from Gijon, north-west Spain. He was 14min 37sec ahead of Daniel Malle's La Poste, which pipped Pierre Fehlmann's Merit Cup for second by 1min 26sec.

In the Whitbread 60s, Roger Nilson in Intrum Justitia recovered from going aground on rocks just after the start to win the second leg.

50-FOOT WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP (La Rochelle) Race 3: 1 P Cayard, Italy (Capricorno); 2 P Gilmour, Australia (Ragamuffin); 3 J Kolius, Japan (Champosa); 4 F de Angelis, Italy (Mandrake); 5 M Pajot, France (Carat VII); 6 P Lester, Germany (Container); 7 E Warden Owen, GB (Indulgence); 8 P Mas, France (Corum); 9 D Cummins, Ireland (Heaven is Irish). Race 4: 1 de Angelis; 2 Cayard; 3 Cummins; 4 Kolius; 5 Pajot; 6 Lester; 7 Mas; 8 Gilmour; 9 Warden Owen.