SAILING sisters from St Lawrence Bay are heading to Belgium next month after being selected to compete in the Cadet World Championships.
Lucy Terkelsen, 15, and her younger sister Cally, nine, have been given the call after impressing in trials held over the past two months.
The final qualifier was held in Burnham-on-Crouch last weekend, having also been to Rutland and Poole in their bid for selection – and the pair finished 30 points ahead of their nearest rivals.
Their mum Gilly said: "They've worked very hard. All those months of training have paid off, so it's very pleasing.
"Lucy's been sailing since she was about nine. She started off with her other sister Laney and then swapped over to her little sister this year.
"They've done very well."
The girls come from a sailing family – their grandfather was one of the founding members of the Stone Sailing Club which the girls represent, while their dad Karl took part in the Cadet World Championships in Australia back in the 1970s.
And Mrs Terkelsen added: "It is a family thing and we're all tremendously proud.
"Sailing is often seen as an elitist sport but anyone can get sailing very, very easily.
"We've just had an open week at the Stone Sailing Club and had around 40 or 50 children on the water there, a lot of them for the first time.
"There are boats that anybody can pick up quite cheaply and get on the water.
"It does get quite expensive when you're travelling around the country at this time of year, but that's where our commitment goes." "
Lucy attends Ormiston Rivers Academy and Cally is a pupil at St Cedds Primary School in Bradwell-on-Sea.
And their mum revealed that Lucy in particular is hoping to make sailing more than just an extra curricular activity in the future.
"Sailing is Lucy's absolute passion," she added. "She lives and breathes it and obviously she'd like to go a long way – she'd like to be an Olympian and get a gold medal.
The World Championships take place in Nieupoort, West Flanders in Belgium from July 25 to August 3.
