POOLE’S James Henson may have only just won world youth bronze but he must quickly settle into a new partnership if he is to build on it – according to RYA youth racing manager Duncan Truswell.

The 18-year-old helm – alongside crew Oli Greber – battled back to claim an impressive bronze in the SL16 class at the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships in Cyprus towards the end of July.

However, too old to return for a shot at upgrading at next year’s regatta in Portugal, Henson and Greber are faced with ending their partnership as they follow the rules of the Olympic catamaran.

The Nacra 17 catamaran introduced the for Rio 2016 Games is to be mixed gender and Truswell, who led the 12-strong British team in Limassol, insists getting Henson up and running in that class is the next step.

“Effectively James and Oli’s international programme is finished. It is their last year sailing together and the Olympic catamaran is mixed,” said Truswell.

“Their regatta is still yet to properly sink in so we will have a conversation over what to do next and how we can take their sailing forward.

“And we will see if we can find James and Oli both girls to sail with and move them into the Olympic programme.

“They would have learnt so much from the regatta and the outcome was great but still it is just a stepping stone to the Olympic programme where hopefully they will progress.”

While not disastrous, Henson and Greber had to battle back from a less than impressive opening in Cyprus to finish with bronze – they won once and were third three times in their last seven races.

And Truswell is adamant, that had Henson, a Poole Grammar School pupil, and Greber produced that form during the first six of 13 outings on the water in Limassol, they could have done better than bronze.

“We knew they had the potential and after a tricky start to the week they showed great resilience and character to deliver a great final set of results to ensure the final spot on the podium,” he added.

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