Manx sailor Peter Cope has been selected for the Great Britain sailing squad for the European Championships in Portugal later this month.

Since January, RL360-sponsored Cope and his sailing partner Arwen Fflur of Wales have been competing and training hard in the 420 dinghy class.

Over this period the pair have competed in numerous competitions round England and three selector events, with the target of being selected to represent Great Britain in the under-17 category at the 420 European Championships in Vilamoura, Portugal later this month.

Five places are available for that event and three for the 420 World Championships on Lake Balaton, Hungary in August.

Peter and Arwen have performed extremely well and finished as the top-ranked u17 age group boat in Britain and seventh overall in the whole British 420 Open class.

As such, they are delighted to have been selected for the Team GB youth squad and to also qualify for both championships, which is brilliant news for the pair as they have put in so much hard work.

Peter, who lives in Castletown, and Arwen will head off to Brest, France this week to compete at the French National Championships from Friday until next Tuesday, treating the competition as their final warm-up before the European championships in Portugal from July 19-26.

Then they travel to Hungary for the world championships from August 5-13.

Fellow local sailor Teddy Dunn, of Port Erin, has also qualified for the worlds in the open category, with Imogen Wade of the UK on the helm.

Everyone involved in Manx sailing wishes them the best of luck.