POOLE’S James Henson admitted to going through almost every emotion on the final day of the ISAF Youth Sailing World Championships but the overriding one was elation as he clinched bronze.

Helm Henson and his crew Oli Greber took to the water in Limassol for the 13th and last time with one foot on the podium in the SL16 fleet and proceeded to firmly plant both on it but not without drama.

Henson feared the worst moments after a poor start to the final race, however the 18-year-old and Greber valiantly recovered during a nervy affair off the Cypriot coast to post a seventh-place finish.

That saw them finish two points ahead of Kim Vidal and Antonio Carlos Lopes Neto, the Brazilians settling for fourth, with Henson bursting with every feeling – but excitement the most.

“It’s such an incredible feeling to finish third at the ISAF Youth Worlds, the best feeling ever,” said Henson, who attends Poole Grammar School.

“We thought we had lost it off the start line, but we managed to bring it back and we are so relieved – so happy, I can’t quite believe it. It was one of the tensest races ever; we knew all we had to do was beat the Brazilians. We tried to get them at the start, but they managed to slip through and take the lead.

“But we just kept thinking hopefully we will get a chance to get back in the game and we did, on the final downwind we took a different route and it paid off.”

While Henson and Greber were toasting bronze – Britain’s second medal after windsurfer Kieran Martin’s gold – Ben Batten and Mimi El-Khazindar cemented a top-20 finish in the 29er.

They ranked 16th overall but were made to work hard during their final race, an equipment failure limiting them to 20th place, however Batten relished that one last challenge.

“The last race was about 12 knots, we had a good start, there was a good wind and it was going quite well but our trapeze wire broke,” said Batten.

“So we ended up having to hike the whole way downwind, making us quite slow. So overall it wasn’t a great race but it was still quite fun. For us, to have competed in Cyprus together was such an honour, racing with and against some of the best youth sailors in the world.

“The style of racing has felt more of a ‘drag race’, which is perhaps a bit more out of our comfort zone judging by the results we have got.

“But we can take away a lot, work on everything we have learnt and move ourselves forward.”

  •  Volvo Car UK is the title sponsor of RYA Volvo Team GBR, Britain’s sailing stars of the future and Official Car Partner to the British Sailing Team. For more information go to www.volvocars.co.uk/sailing.