LYMINGTON sailors Mimi El-Khazindar and Ben Bat-ten were crowned champions as the RYA Youth National Championships 2013 came to a close after five days of racing at Largs Sailing Club in Scotland.

As well as picking up the 2013 title and Batton defending his 2012 crown in the high performance 29er skiff, the teenage sailors from Royal Lymington Yacht Club were announced as two of the 12 sailors who will represent Great Britain at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships 2013.

The names of the sailors who will travel to Limassol, Cyprus from the 11-20 July 2013 to defend the ISAF Youth Worlds Nations Trophy which RYA Volvo Team GBR won last year in Dublin Bay, were revealed by double Olympic gold medallist Sarah Ayton OBE at the prize-giving of the RYA Youth National Championships.

The 29er class saw a masterpiece in sailing in the shifty conditions from the events international competitors as New Zealand’s Marcus Somerville and Jack Simpson finished with an impressive scoreline.

El-Khazindar and 2012 RYA Youth National champion Batten finished second overall and top GBR boat ahead of the 50 other boats from around the county.

Batten, who won the event last year with a different sailing partner, will be one of four sailors returning to the event to represent RYA Volvo Team GBR.

“It feels good to be selected again”, said the 17-year-old. “It’s been a big goal for us for the last six months. I went to the ISAF Youth Worlds last year and didn’t do as well as I wanted so it’s great to get another opportunity to have another go at those goals.”

With Batten determined to better his result of seventh at last year’s event in Dublin , the 29er sailor admits that there is some work to be done between now and the event in Cyprus.

“We will be doing a lot of international events, lots of training, exams and just getting ready for the event. In terms of the venue we haven’t heard too much yet, it can be either really windy or really light. In terms of the fleet, quite a lot of the good boats from last year have moved up to the Olympic classes but I’m sure there are some good boats coming through as it’s always a really tough event so we just need to prepare ourselves as well as we can,” explained Batten.

Previous winners of the RYA Youth National Championships and the who have gone onto to compete at the ISAF Youth Worlds include some of Britain’s most talented sailors, such as multiple Olympic gold medallists Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Sarah Ayton.