Thousands of miles from home an Oxenholme teenager saw her dreams come true when she became a sailing world champion on the choppy waters off the coast of South Africa.

Braving sharks and windy conditions, 18-year-old Anna MacKenzie, and her crew member Holly Scott, beat off stiff competition from all corners of the globe to rewrite the history books with a number of firsts in the Mirror Worlds sailing competition.

As reported in the sports section of the Gazette the day after the triumph, the talented youngsters won with one race to spare and are still celebrating at home after enjoying their month out in South Africa.

With plenty of cards, champagne and a world champion' balloon floating in the living room of her Oxenholme home, Anna relived the moment the duo struck gold.

"We won with a race to spare but we didn't really know what was happening," said Kirkbie Kendal student Anna.

"The coaches worked it out when we were on the water and at the finish line everyone was saying well done. We saw the coach opening a bottle of champagne and we just thought: Oh my god' we couldn't believe it and didn't know what to do - we just started giggling."

After heading out between Christmas and New Year, the Royal Windermere Yacht Club duo spent time relaxing before getting down to serious competition. Once the dinghy Simply Gorgeous was out of the container the team took the pre-worlds regatta full on to get in some much-needed sailing time.

"We were really relaxed and chilled out for the whole event," said Anna.

"It didn't feel like the worlds. We thought we would do well and I was missing some exams while I was out there so it was a big decision to make."

The Mirror Worlds consist of 12 races over a triangular-shaped course approximately five miles long, each lasting for about an hour.

Far from just being in with a chance, the teenagers swept the board setting a number of firsts.

The crew were the first female Mirror World champions; the first team who has won both the Mirror Pre Worlds and the Mirror World Championships; the first Great Britain team to win since 1997; and the first time that current or former members of the RYA Junior Development Programme have won a Mirror World Championships.

Anna first got introduced to sailing at primary school through her older sister Katie's best friend who lived on Belle Isle, on Windermere. She has been sailing with her crew companion Holly, who lives in the Midlands, for two years.

Good time management meant Anna has been able to continue her A level studies and she hopes to study medicine at university. She even sat two exams on her return as a world champion.

"I don't know how much I can carry on with the Mirror events but I hope to go to university and get into team racing," said Anna, who also hopes to go into coaching, but is probably too old to be looking at the 2012 Olympics in Britain.

Family and friends gave Anna a hero's welcome home at the end of January.