Double Olympic champion Ben Ainslie is backing Thame's Claire Lasko to carry on the legacy of British sailing's golden generation.

Ainslie, who is again expected to lead the gold medal charge at the Beijing Olympics this summer, shared the waves with the 18-year-old Lord Williams's School pupil at the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race.

Lasko is part of the Royal Yachting Association's elite youth squad and Ainslie believes there is no better place for the Oxford Sailing Club member to be learning the tricks of the trade.

He said: "The generation like Iain Percy, Nick Rogers, Sarah Ayton and myself all came through the RYA together, although in my day it was on a lot smaller scale.

"My message to Claire would be put the right amount of effort in and realise you are the only person who can go out there and win it - you can't rely on anyone else."

A record entry of 1,875 boats took part in the 55-mile Isle of Wight race but there was bad news for Ainslie when he, along with crewmate and F1 superstar Lewis Hamilton, were disqualified for breaking another boat's mast.

Lasko, together with ten other RYA future Olympic hopefuls, finished the Solent course in 7hrs 25min and 30 sec.

Her next event is the Volvo Youth World Championships in Denmark later this month.

"It was a bit scary around the island because I am not used to a boat of that size," said Lasko, who claimed 29er gold at the RYA Youth National Championships.

"That experience along with the Nationals has given me a lot of confidence and I would love to get another gold at the Worlds. I think I am good enough.

"It will be a nice distraction from my A Level results - I studied maths, chemistry and biology and need to do really well to get into Oxford University."