THE best youth sailors in the south head off to Sydney later this month to consolidate Britain's growing reputation as a nation of world-class yachtsmen.

The Volvo RYA GB youth team compete in the Volvo Youth sailing ISAF World Championships which are widely recognised in international yachting as a benchmark for future success in the three pinnacles of world sailing; the Olympic Games, America's Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race.

Some 250 of the world's top youth sailors from nearly 40 nations will be competing for the title.

However the RYA team in Sydney is one of the strongest since the mid-1990s when several of the sailing members of Team GB from Sydney, including Great Britain's Olympic gold medallists in the Laser and Finn classes, Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy, won a collection of medals and twice scooped the Nautica Cup as top team.

This year's team, supported by Volvo and Sport England under the WorldClass Potential Programme, hope to make amends for the 1999 showing in Finland when Great Britain failed to win a single medal for the first time since 1992.

Mark Howard, 18, of Stokes Bay Sailing Club will contest the Laser title, while Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy representatives Paul Campbel-James and Matt Gill will race in the 420 championships.

RYA Youth Manager Steve Joel, who has overall responsibility for the RYAYouth Programme across the junior and youth classes with the aim of delivering our top youth sailors onto the Olympic Development Programme, will act as team manager in Sydney.

He said: "Our results over the last 12 months at European and World Championship level has proved that we have some very talented sailors with world class potential in the Volvo Youth Squad and, indeed, in the GB Youth World Championship team. But as Sydney Harbour demonstrated in September, these championships will be very challenging. No medal is guaranteed."