Seaford sailor Paul Campbell-James will bid to follow in brother Mark's footsteps and win the World Youth Match Racing title.

Paul, 18, has qualified for next February's event in New Zealand by claiming the British crown at the Queen Mary's Reservoir, in Ashford, Middlesex.

Mark, 20, secured the domestic title in 1999 before beating the world last year.

Paul said: "I believe I can take over as world champion from Mark. I've competed against most of the guys who will be racing against me in the worlds at an event in America and did well enough to make me confident of victory in New Zealand.

"There's no filial rivalry between Mark and I. He is very supportive."

Paul's British triumph completes a hat-trick for the brothers as Mark holds the British university and global titles.

Paul, a former RYA Young Sailor of the Year, said: "We love our sailing and things seem to be going well at the moment."

Paul has also qualified for this month's British senior event, in which Mark competes, after his efforts at the Queen Mary's Reservoir which secured the United Airlines RYA youth prize.

He also gained entry by finishing second behind Ian Williams in the senior qualifiers at Weymouth.

He said: "We wanted to test ourselves against more experienced crews and it certainly upped the performance."

Campbell-James, sailing with Alex Cherry and Nick Hutton, was favourite to win the British. They had a scare in the semi-finals when a wind shift left them trailing, but the umpires abandoned the race and they made no mistake in the re-run.

The title was sealed by beating Julia Cornah's crew.

Campbell-James said: "We are delighted to have won but we got a little lucky in the semi-final. We're looking forward to the seniors."

Olympian Andy Beadsworth added: "The level of the youth match racing ability is very high and getting better each year. The United Airlines RYA Youth Match Racing Championships is the grassroots of match racing and I hope sailing continues to develop in this country."

The brothers yesterday flew out to compete for the Royal Thames Club against against New York in the United States this week.

The top four at the United Airlines RYA British Seniors Finals at Weymouth on September 14 to 15 will take part in the UA RYA Open against skippers bidding for an Americas Cup place.