Young sailors from Waldringfield Sailing Club have qualified to represent team GB at the Cadet World Championships.

Fourteen members of the club will be heading to Melbourne this winter to compete following a selector series consisting of 16 races in Weymouth, Pevensey and Grafham.

The Waldringfield cadet sailors who will taking the trip are: Toby Bush and Kemmel Thorogood, Edward Fletcher and Alex Enkel, Hamish Collingridge and Rhona Enkel, Amelia Mayhew and Hettie Thorogood, Robert Stewart and Dylan McArdle. Sailing in the promotional fleet are Gwen Thorogood and Oscar Bush.

Amelia said: “When I first stepped into a cadet at the age of seven, I never imagined I would be going to Australia to compete in the world championship with my fantastic crew, Hettie.

"This really is the fulfilment of a dream I had when I started sailing."

Toby said: “I feel privileged to have spent so much time in cadets watching great sailors, who I look up to, compete and qualify to represent their country at international events.

"And now, for the first time, I will represent GBR in the World Championship in Melbourne."

The 2022 Cadet World Championship is taking place from December 26 2022 until January 2 2023 at the Royal Yacht Club of Victoria in Port Philip, Williamstown.

Hamish said: "I feel very honoured to be given the chance to represent my country. I am super excited to meet lots of new people and also see Australia, a place I have never been and may never go again. It is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

The conce-in-a-lifetimeadet is a two-person training dinghy tailored towards children and young people, and an international class.

Waldringfield sailing club has a successful past in the competition, producing the 2016 world champion, Jamie Harris.

Chair of the United Kingdom Cadet Class Association, Sarah Northey, said: “This is a remarkable achievement and a once-in-a-lifetime in a lifetime opportunity for these junior sailors to sail for their country.

“The World Championship only takes place in a southern hemisphere country once every four years. Because of Covid, this event is two years overdue.

"The whole team is very excited to be travelling to Australia to sail against the best Cadet sailors in the world.”