A SAILOR from Thwaite St Mary is sustaining an incredible cruise to the top after a hugely successful season.Thomas Johnson, who only started helming two years ago, is now ranked as the second best 10-year-old in Britain following the national end-of-season sailing championships in Rutland, Cambridgeshire, last weekend.

A SAILOR from Thwaite St Mary is sustaining an incredible cruise to the top after a hugely successful season.

Thomas Johnson, who only started helming two years ago, is now ranked as the second best 10-year-old in Britain following the national end-of-season sailing championships in Rutland, Cambridgeshire, last weekend.

He won best-placed 10-year-old and came 25th out of 220 in a competition that included sailors up to the age of 15.

Thomas is currently ranked 66th in Britain in his age group, again with children up to the age of 15, and is so good that he was able to join the eastern zone squad at the age of nine, when technically you must be 10.

His next target is to be in the national squad by the time he is 13.

“Sailing's a great sport,” said Thomas, a pupil at Town Close School in Norwich. “I like being out there, just having fun and getting wet. I'm out there nearly every weekend.”

The up-and-coming star is a member of two Essex sailing clubs, Black Water and Corinthian Otters in Burnham, as well as local clubs WAOBYC at Oulton Broad and the Norfolk Broads Yacht Club in Wroxham.

Thomas's mother Nicolette said that his achievements have been unbelievable:“I'm stunned, I can't believe it. Over the summer his improvement gradient has been very steep. We've always sailed, and he loved it and showed a natural talent. But he's surpassed anything I could imagine. It's scary. We'll just do our best to support him.”