A brother and sister from Axbridge have qualified for the GBR Cadet Dinghy World Championships in Lake Garda in the summer.

JAMIE and Bettine Harris from Bristol Corinthian Yacht Club have qualified for the GBR Cadet Dinghy World Championship team to be held in Lake Garda this summer.

The final six races of the 18 race series for qualification took place at the Olympic venue, Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy.

In glorious sunshine and windy conditions, Jamie (from Kings of Wessex School) and Bettine (Fairlands School), finished the day with two firsts, a second and a fourth place, guaranteeing their place in the GBR team.

The final race the following day saw them pipped at the post for the event win, but their consistency showed though in their series results seeing them qualify as second boat overall, but the first junior team.

The result was a reward for a winter of hard training all around the country, and for the way they sailed the series in varied conditions, from light wind lake sailing at Rutland Water, force six gales and tides in Brightlingsea on the east coast and the champagne sailing conditions of Weymouth.

Both Jamie and Bettine, who live in Axbridge, moved on from their single-handed Optimist dinghies last year to take on the challenge of sailing together in the Cadet, a dinghy designed to be sailed by children only, and the only two-person dinghy with a true global pedigree.

The Cadet dinghy was the boat sailed by numerous Olympic medallists when they started their sailing stories, and there will be teams from as far afield as Australia, Paraguay and Argentina represented in Lake Garda this year.