TWO local sailors are on the crest of a wave after winning a place in the Great Britain team to compete in this year's ISAF Youth sailing World Championships.

Sixteen-year-old Stephen Powell has followed in the footsteps of his brother Mark, who won gold at the Youth Worlds two years ago.

Stephen, pictured left, competed in the Laser Standard class and after 14 races defeated 25 of Britain's top young sailors to book his place in the GB team.

"I am delighted that I have been selected," said Stephen.

"I have been training hard for this event and it was so close all week I wasn't sure who the selectors would choose.

"I now look forward to training hard and hopefully following in my brother's footsteps in bringing back a gold medal from the Youth Worlds."

Seventeen-year-old Bethan Carden, from Barton on Sea, joins Stephen in the team after finishing as top-placed girl in the 420 class, sailing with Alison Martin.

Bethan and Alison were victorious over 31 other young hopefuls and after 14 races finished in third place overall.

Carden said: "We are pretty happy with how we sailed - the competition was really tough.

"Alison's cousins have previously competed at the Youth Worlds and there is a bit of family rivalry so we are looking forward to going to the event and trying to better their sixth place."

Powell and Carden will now take part in an intensive training programme between now and July.

They will be hoping to emulate the achievements of previous Youth Worlds competitors, such as Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie and America's Cup sailor Russell Coutts.