ROYAL Lymington Yacht Club pair Vita Heathcote and Milly Boyle guaranteed themselves at least a silver medal in the girls’ 420 at the Youth World Championships.

They claimed two second places for Great Britain on the penultimate day of racing at Corpus Christi on the Gulf of Mexico.

Heading into the final day, Heathcote and Boyle were 11 points behind leaders and reigning youth world champions Carmen and Emma Cowles of America.

In order to overhaul their rivals, Heathcote and Boyle would need to drive them to the back of the 22-boat fleet to bring their discards in to play. The Americans have a maximum-points UFD discard compared to the Brits’ sixth.

“Today was a good day for us,” said crew Boyle, 17. “We took two seconds, almost a first, but just didn’t quite make it, but we have secured second overall.

"We will have to see what happens tomorrow now, there is a slim chance we can take top.”

Royal Lymington's Matilda Nicholls will be hoping discards work in her favour in the girls' Laser Radial.

Two second-place finishes have left her within touching distance of the podium in sixth and with an outside chance of taking a medal if results were to go her way on the final day.

Parkstone Yacht Club duo Freya Black and Millie Aldridge also moved up the leaderboard to seventh in the girls' 29er.