MELBOURNE (Reuters) - British sailors gathering for next month`s world championships have been hit hard by the loss of Olympic teammate Glyn Charles, swept out to sea during this year`s deadly Sydney-Hobart classic. British sailing coach David Howlett, in Melbourne with the British team for the January 1-22 championships, said Charles was well known and had been particularly supportive of younger team members. Charles, 33, was expected to travel to Melbourne after the Sydney-Hobart to help coach the British team`s soling class in the championships. Charles was a highly-rated Star class racer, but there is no Star class in the Melbourne championships. The experienced yachtsman was swept overboard from the Sword of Orion after huge seas battered the boat during the Sydney-Hobart race. On Tuesday he was missing, presumed dead. Rescue operations were scaled back on Tuesday, with officials putting the toll at four confirmed dead, and two missing presumed drowned. The toll was the worst ever for the Sydney-Hobart yacht race, and the worse in an ocean race since 17 people died in a storm during the 1979 Fastnet event in Britain.