This summer's World Topper Championship is going to be chaotic.

It is expected 300 boats will compete for the prestigious crown next month and four Sussex sailors are relishing the challenge.

Lancing Sailing Club's Ollie Page, along with Crawley Mariners pair Alex Cruttenden and Fiona Stevens plus Bough Beech sailor Matt Quelch-Varley, are travelling to Cushendall in Northern Ireland, the venue for this year's bi-annual event.

Expectations are high for Ollie, 16, and Matt, 17, to finish in the top ten, while Alex, 14, and Fiona, 12, will be getting their first taste of major international fleet racing.

Ollie, who lives in Worthing, will go into the eight-day competition, which starts on Saturday, August 19, fresh from his victory at the Volvo RYA South Eastern Regional Youth Regatta.

The happy-go-lucky teenager will first compete at the National Topper Championship in Scotland, which starts in a fortnight. He believes the 300-strong fleet in Ireland, double its usual size, will not cause him too many problems.

He said: "It is going to be amusing to see all those boats on the water, but it doesn't bother me because I will just have to get away from them at the start. Once you are away, it will be alright.

"If you start poorly, you tend to get trapped and pushed down the fleet, but I'm sure that won't happen to me. My sailing is suited to sea conditions and I'm good at beating them off at the start."

However, if seas prove to be rough, the race will become more of a lottery and even the top sailors could suffer through a large fleet competing.

Competitors will especially need to be vigilant when turning at the marks. Many boats have collided in choppy seas in previous events and in 1998 at Carnac, France, sailors found the windy conditions extremely difficult.

Matt, of Lingfield, competed in that event, his first major championship, and finished 114th. His credentials have improved since then and a top-ten finish is realistic.

He said: "My knowledge of the sea is better and generally my racing has improved. In France, I wasn't reading the tides and the boat kept getting pushed away all the time. I did enjoy it, but couldn't handle fleet racing.

"I'm two years more experienced now and I am preparing for the competition more thoroughly.

"To get used to the conditions and learn about the tides, I will be going out a few days before to practise."

Matt, like Ollie, is undaunted by the big fleet. He believes his skills can also get him away from the bulk of sailors at the start.

"They're expecting 150 competitors from Ireland to compete and many of those haven't got much experience," said Matt, who finished third in the Volvo UK Youth Championships. "It is because the event is local they are competing."

He, along with Fiona and Alex, will be warming up for the competition by competing at the National Schools Championships in Plymouth next week. Matt, who aims to make the Olympics in 2008, is one of the favourites to win that event outright.

Alex, of East Grinstead, sailed in the Inland Topper Championship at Graffham Water last year, but this will be his first taste of big sea fleet racing.

"I'm nervous," admitted Alex, who took up sailing less than three years ago. "But I am determined to end in the top half. It is going to be very tough, but I enjoy the competitiveness of the sport. Many people outside sailing don't understand how competitive it is."

Alex finished 67th at the National Schools event in Deal last summer and is hoping to finish in the top 30 at Plymouth.

Felbridge sailor Fiona was virtually born on the water and first went out in a boat at the age of nine months. She will find the competition a big eye-opener, but her mother Monique believes it will be a good learning curve.

She said: "Fiona is obsessed with sailing and likes to win. It is going to be very tough for her in Ireland, but the only way you learn is to be thrown in at the deep end.

"I don't know how she will cope with it, especially in a such a huge fleet, but it will be a wonderful experience."

All three of Fiona's brothers and her father sail. Christopher, 18, and Andrew, 16, participated in the last championships.

Ollie, who will be moving into a Laser in September, loves wind and rough seas. That is what he enjoys most.

"When the waves are crashing all over the place, the adrenalin rush is amazing," he said. "It is fun and, what's more, it is exciting."