THE designers of these mini craft could be on course for a big future in the yachting world.

Pierre-Antoine Tesson from France has won this year's Solent University model yacht race – an event which started out as a bit of fun 40 years ago but is now an important part of the yacht engineering course.

Continental students took the top three spots - Marin Lauber from Switzerland was runner-up and another Frenchman, Aladin Montel, was third.

Giles Barkley, programme group leader of the yacht engineering courses said: “Congratulations to Pierre-Antoine on a very well deserved win. All three boats were excellent, beautifully designed and built. The sun was out, conditions were good and we didn’t finish until the early evening."

This year 30 first-year students competed for title at Gosport Boating Lake, under the scrutiny of their lecturers.

Competitors spent 100 hours designing and building the 70cm-long vessels to conform to the contest rules, with 85 per cent of the unit mark awarded on their computer aided design, and the build quality of their models. The remaining 15 per cent of the marks are awarded on how their yacht performed on race day.

Previous winners have gone onto design Open 60 race yachts and for Ben Ainslie Racing’s Americas Cup campaign.

This year the university is celebrating 25 years of Yacht Engineering degrees.

Graduates include Jason Ker, who is currently working on Sir Ben Ainslie’s GB America’s Cup bid; Guillame Verdier, who designed the yachts that came both first and second at 2012 Vendee Globe; and leading UK designer, leading UK yacht designer, Ed Dubois.