A prestigious line-up of Britain's finest sailing talents was announced today to compete in the next America's Cup.

Olympic medallist Ben Ainslie, from Lymington, was named as skipper for Team Origin, the country's challenge for the most prestigious prize in the yachting calendar.

Team principal Sir Keith Mills and director Mike Sanderson unveiled the roll call at the Southampton International Boat Show.

He named the sailing squad as well as the design and management team behind the effort for the 33rd America's Cup, to be contested in Valencia, Spain, in 2009.

Mills said the squad included the finest sailing talent from Britain and around the world.

He added: "This is a British challenge. At least 50 per cent of our team is British.

"The funding is British, the flag is British, the race boats will be built in Britain, GBR will appear on the mainsail of every one of our racing yachts."

Triple Olympic medallist Ainslie added: "This is a fantastic challenge and I am really honoured to be in the position of leading a sailing team which I believe has the ability to go out and win the America's Cup.

"We now all need to get on with the huge amount of work that lies ahead of us."

The British members of the Team Origin sailing squad are Ainslie as skipper, Winchester's Iain Percy as tactician, Rob Greenhalgh as strategist, Ian Moore as navigator, Andrew Simpson as aft grinder and Neal MacDonald as mainsheet trimmer.