Artemis Offshore Academy update from John Thorn, Academy Performance Director on the Development Squad’s preparation for their first long distance Figaro race [9th February 2011]:
What a busy January and February so far! A huge amount has been achieved. Figaro 37 is now out of refit looking great, boasting a brand new dark blue livery, identical to the other four Artemis boats. All five Artemis Offshore Academy boats are going to be an impressive sight on the Figaro circuit this year.
Nigel King and Nick Cherry taking a minute out from training
This week is an exciting one with almost all the French sailors back in
training and our first Artemis Offshore Academy indicator event for the
Artemis Scholarship boat. This starts on Wednesday and will be a
24-hour overnight race along the coast. There is a discernible focus
and concentration amongst the squad sailors as they prepare for what is
their first long distance race against the French sailors as well as
each other. This is when all their hard work training will start to pay
off, also getting them motivated to identify areas where they still need
to train harder.
It was great to have Nigel King with us in January as he gave us his
insight to his previous Solitaire du Figaro campaigns. Becky Scott has
taken on the Artemis Mini (438) and has been practicing hard with Pip
Hare and the other mini sailors, as well as catching up with a long list
of jobs for the season ahead. It’s fascinating to listen in on their
briefings and reviews which constantly switch from French to Italian and
English, reflecting the equal balance of nationalities involved. Becky
is actively searching for a sponsor but we are hopeful that with some
existing funding and support from the Academy she will make it to the
start line of the Mini Transat. March will be Becky’s first opportunity
to begin her qualification process embarking on the long distance
Mediterranean circuit roughly between La Grande Motte, Barcelona and
Corsica.
Ollie Young on the CEM training RIB
Nick Houchin has been making good progress on his sponsorship campaign
and in order to boost his budget he has decided to take March out to
complete some delivery work and Caribbean regattas. This will help him
enormously in putting a viable project together. It was a difficult
decision for Nick as it will effectively put him out of the running for
the Academy Scholarship but the decision was all about balancing risk
and opportunity. He will rejoin the Academy in April.
Nick Houchin and Phil Sharp in action during training
