A POOLE student has made history by becoming the first woman ever to win a hotly-contested model yacht race for budding boat designers.

The annual race, which took place in Gosport, began more than 40 years ago as a bit of end of term fun for students of yacht design and production at Southampton Solent University.

It now forms part of a unit assessment for students on the Bachelor of Engineering honours degree courses in yacht and powercraft design and yacht production and surveying.

This year’s winning yacht was designed by first year student Alice Courage of Poole, who said: “I’m so happy to have won and especially proud to be the first woman to win the model yacht race. The wider hull shape was able to take advantage of the high winds and was able to sail to victory though the gusts, against a very competitive fleet.”

The students spent 100 hours designing and building the yachts to design rules. Eighty-five per cent of their marks are awarded for their computer-aided design and build quality of the models. The remaining 15 per cent is awarded on how well their yacht performs in racing upwind and downwind.

Past winners of the model yacht race have gone on to enjoy great success within the industry, for example Jason Ker, who designed the last South African entry for the America’s Cup. Other course graduates include Guillame Verdier, who designed the first and second placed yachts in this year’s Vendee Globe race and Helena Lucas, who won Britain’s first Paralympic sailing gold last summer.