Talented young sailors, brother and sister James and Frances Peters, from Hayling Island scooped the Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year award, to jointly share the prestigious title.

Possibly Great Britain's sailing stars of the future, the Peters siblings follow in the footsteps of previous Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year winners, Olympic Gold Medallist Ben Ainslie and transatlantic solo yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur.

The award was announced today at the London Boat Show, and was presented by Alex Thomson, the record breaking round the world racing yachtsman and Hugo Boss skipper.   

Winning the Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year title is in recognition of James and Frances Peters' fantastic 2008 season.  They were crowned joint RYA regional winners for the South; and they both achieved gold medals at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Worlds Championship in Denmark, sailing separate 29ers in the men's and women's classes with their crews Ed Fitzgerald and Claire Lasko.  Plus, they were instrumental in helping Britain win the Volvo Trophy for best nation with a medal haul of two golds and one bronze at the event. James and his crew also won the European Championship.

James and Frances Peters beat off stiff competition from fellow finalists in the young sailor category:

·      Martin Evans, the Under 17 European Champion in the Laser Radial
Youth Worlds.
·      Elliot Hanson, the season's World Champion, National Champion, Inland
Champion and Winner of the Nationwide Travellers series in the Topper Class.
·      Alex Hovden, who overcame adversity to make it into the Challenger
transition squad for possible selection to the 2012 Paralympic Squad.

The public made nominations for the Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year, and the vote for the overall winner was by members of the Yachting Journalists' Association (YJA).

In addition to presenting James and Frances Peters with their Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year award, Alex Thomson also presented the RYA Regional Winners with their awards:

·      Yorkshire and Humberside: Dean Crangle

·      Northern Ireland: Oliver Loughead

·      North West: Elliot Hanson

·      East: Charlotte Sissons

·      South: Frances and James Peters (Joint Winners)

·      Wales: Bleddyn Mon and Tom Humphries (Joint Winners)

·      North East: Luke McGill

·      Scotland: Lorenzo Chiavarini

·      West Midlands: Adam Parry

·      East Midlands: Mathew Brown

·      South East: Jack Daly

·      South West: Will Pepworth

·      Thames Valley: Alex Hovden