Nine solo offshore sailing hopefuls, from across the British Isles,
have been selected as the first Development Squad of the Artemis
Offshore Academy. But what motivates them, who are their heroes and what
are their aspirations? Check out the interviews with the candidates in the Multimedia section, and find out more about each of the squad here…
Oliver Bond (aged 30, lives Southampton)
“I
have competed in the Mini class already and was looking for the next
stepping stone towards the Vendée Globe. The Academy is the perfect way
forward. The ultimate goal for single-handed sailing has to be the
Vendée Globe. It’s the pinnacle and you build up to it over a few events
and a few years! The Academy is going to make a massive difference. If I
had to pick a sailing hero, it would be Eric Tabarly because in France
he turned solo sailing into a national sport. I think the most
successful single-handed sailor at the moment has to be Michel
Desjoyaux. He has won the Vendée Globe, the Solitaire du Figaro, the
Route du Rhum…so he is clearly the man to follow and, like me, he
started with the Mini class.
“My parents and friends think I am a
little bit crazy but they are very supportive and have got used to it
now. The best place to sail has to be Alaska - it was just amazing with
incredible wildlife and glaciers.
“My aim is definitely to try and win the Vendée Globe and, hopefully, with the help of the Academy it will be possible.”
Sailing highlights:
2009 Mini Transat, 10th place
2009 Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables (Class 40), Leg 1, 5th place
2009 Transgascogne (Mini), 5th place
2008 Les Sables-Azores-Les Sables (Mini), 3rd place
2008 Mini Fastnet, 2nd place
2007 Open Sail (Mini), 2nd place
2007 Pornichet Select (Mini), 3rd place
2007 Douarnenez Time Trials (Mini), 1st place
2007 Transgascogne + Prologue (Mini), 7th & 2nd place
2006 Mini Fastnet + Round Britain & Ireland Race, 10th place
Nick Cherry (aged 25, born Birmingham lives Southampton)
“It
is pretty exciting to have been selected for the Artemis Offshore
Academy. When you look at all the people who took part in the Selection
Trials, there were loads of good sailors there. So it already feels like
a good achievement to have got this far. Now I have an awesome
opportunity to conquer the world of Figaro sailing. My ultimate goal in
sailing is to eventually win a round the world race. My sailing hero is
Ben Ainslie because he is just so good and wins everything he does.
That level of excellence is something I aspire to. I would like to
follow footsteps in people like Nick Moloney or Mike Sanderson who have
been at the highest level in lots of different types of sailing – they
have done the America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe.
“My
family and friends are pretty excited for me and they are very
supportive. My girlfriend is probably a little bit less enthusiastic as
we have just bought a dinghy together and I will have less time to sail
that over the winter with her!
“I grew up sailing on a small
reservoir in Birmingham. We sailed Optimist dinghies against some
friends and took it from there. I had to travel a lot to do bigger boat
sailing so I moved on – it’s a natural progression. But lots of the best
sailors have grown up sailing on small reservoirs, so there is no
reason why people who learn on little lakes can’t make it all the way!”
Sailing highlights:
2010 Spring Match Race (Grade 3), Italy, 1st place (skipper)
2010 Danish Big Boat Challenge, 3rd place (tactician)
2009 Fastnet Race, 11th overall (helmsman/trimmer)
2009 Tuning partner to Olympian Sarah Ayton, Yngling Class, Beijing
2008 Yava Trophy Match Race (Grade 1), 3rd place (skipper)
2007 UK Match Race Nationals, 1st place (skipper)
2006 Sevenstar Round Britain & Ireland Race (IRC Class 1), 2nd place
2005 Student Yachting Nationals, 1st place (skipper)
2003 420 World Championships, 12th place
Sam Goodchild (20, Southampton)
“I
have always been passionate about the short-handed offshore circuit and
the Vendée Globe is the final aim. I am quite competitive so,
naturally, would want to do well in the Vendée Globe, winning if
possible! So starting from the base level up in the Figaro class and
trying to work with the French as opposed to work against the French is a
good start! I would most like to follow in the footsteps of Sam Davies.
She has done it quite well, taking her English knowledge over to the
French and put the two together.
“To begin with when I started
sailing my parents weren’t too keen that I wasn’t going to university
like everyone does. But I think now they realise that there is somewhere
to go with it, and the fact that I have been selected for the Academy
means they are very excited for me. I was bought up living on a boat
with my family in the Caribbean from when I was just a few weeks old. I
lived out there for most of my life and only moved back to the UK five
years ago.
“I think the Olympians have been so successful as
they have started from the ground up. If you look at all the youth
squads for kids they all started from a very young age and that’s how
they got such could results. I think that’s why this Academy is going to
help, starting from ground level as opposed to what a lot of the
British skippers have done up till now which is to go straight into the
IMOCA 60 class or maybe a few steps before that. But if you look at the
successful French skippers they start with the Figaro class and even
come back again, even if they are right at the top, to carry on training
which is probably the key to their success.
Sailing highlights:
2010 Double-handed Round Britain & Ireland Race (Class 40), 16th place
2009 Fastnet Race, 8th place (crew)
2009 RYA National Match Racing Championships, 4th place (helm)
2009 Morbihan Mondial (Class 40), 1st place (helm/crew)
2009 Selected for Espoir Region Bretagne Challenge
2009 Danish U23 National Match Racing Championships, 3rd place (helm)
2008 RYA Youth National Match Racing Championships, 1st place (helm)
2008 National Schools Match Racing Championships, 1st place (helm)
Simon Hiscocks (37, born Surrey lives Portland)
“I
am very, very happy to be selected for the Academy. I was really
nervous after the Selection Trials about what the answer would so I am
extremely happy. The Academy opens up a whole new world of
opportunities, not least of which is potentially being able to do the
Vendée Globe. If day I could find myself on the start line with a boat
and a set up to be a potential winner that would be a fantastic
achievement. The Artemis Offshore Academy brings to the UK an
opportunity for sailors to break into that world of short-handed sailing
and that has never existed before. I think that we now have the
beginnings of a realistic pathway for success.
“My family are a
little nervous about the amount of time that we might spend apart
especially over the next winter. But we are all very excited and see it
as an opportunity to go and learn an immense amount in a new discipline
for me.
“I learned to sail on a small lake called Hedgecourt Lake
at Crawley Mariners Sailing Club in a Mirror dinghy. From there I
progressed into Laser dinghies and crewed on the Fireball and 505
classes until I got the opportunity to go 49er sailing. From there I
went to Olympics and here I am now, ready to take my first tentative
steps into the offshore world.
The British success in the
Olympics is a direct result of a very long programme that the RYA has
run from the very grass roots. Young people learning to sail an
Optimist dinghy right up to Olympic classes where myself, Ben Ainslie,
Ian Percy and the like have won medals. The whole structure has a
massive structure behind it from coaching, physiotherapy, physiology,
fitness, diet, nutrition and psychology - you name it, they are on it!
That skill set and those people, from sailors, coaches and mentors are
going to come out of that field and into the Artemis Offshore Academy
with the same training mentality and team effort so that, hopefully, we
can transfer that success into this discipline.”
Sailing highlights:
2010 Extreme Sailing Series, Séte, 2nd place (bowman)
2010 ISAF World Cup, Palma, 22nd place (helm)
2008 ISAF World Cup, Hyères, 4th place (crew)
2006 49er World Championships, 1st place (crew)
2004 Olympics, Athens, 49er Class, 3rd place/Bronze Medal (crew)
2003 49er World Championships, 1st place (crew)
2000 Olympics, Sydney, 49er Class, 2nd place/Silver Medal (crew)
Nick Houchin (26, Tadley, Hampshire)
“The
big aim for me is to get the scholarship next year to do the Figaro
racing season. If I can do this, I would be delighted. I would give it
my all to show it was worth giving me the scholarship. There have been a
few big boat training squads before but nothing like this. This gives
us the opportunity to make the most of what talent we have, and drive it
forward and focus in the way that is going to help us and be
successful.
“Everyone who is successful is a hero to me! My
family is delighted, they know what it means to me to be in the squad.
My non-sailing friends think I am crazy – who would want to go sailing
on your own for endless days at sea… But when I explain to them they
understand what it means to me, so they are delighted as well.
“Flying
the flag for Britain is a massive thing to be proud of. I think if you
put your mind to anything and you are dedicated enough, with a bit of
luck and a bit of talent, anything is possible.”
Sailing highlights:
2010 Tour de France a la Voile, 5th place (crew/boat captain)
2009 Around the World Non-Stop, Musandam 75-ft Multihull, 76 days
2009 Farr 45 Nationals, 1st place (mainsheet)
2008 Match Racing European Championships, 3rd place (mainsheet)
2008 Commodores Cup Teama GBR, 1st place
2007 Match Racing National Championships, 1st place (mainsheet)
2006 Match Racing National Championships, 1st place
2005 Fastnet Race (Class 0), 1st place
2002 Laser Youth Nationals, 10th place
Nigel King (41, Lymington)
Sailing highlights:
2010 RC44 Malcesine Cup, Valencia Cup, Copenhagen Cup, Team Aqua, 1st place
2009 Solitaire du Figaro, leg 4, 6th place
2009 Solitaire du Figaro, overall, 23rd place
2006 Round Ireland Race, 2nd place
2005 Fastnet Race, 4th place
2001 Volvo Ocean Race, Team News Corporation, 5th place
Becky Scott (24, Scotland/Fleet)
“Initially,
I was quite shocked when I heard that I was selected for the Academy. A
lot of talented people applied so I am extremely excited and can’t wait
to start training. The Academy is a fantastic opportunity because
there are loads of amazing sailors from the UK but they have never
really been training together. I think that bringing it together
provides the kind of opportunity that the French have and it really
means that we will be able to compete on their level.
“One of my
sailing heroes is Tracy Edwards as she paved the way for women doing
offshore sailing with the Whitbread Round the World Race. The other one
that inspired me was Peter Blake because he was an absolutely fantastic
sailor who did lots of amazing races from America’s Cup to Whitbread. I
followed him as a child and his work with the environment also really
inspired me.
“My family is from a non-sailing background so they
were a little bit surprised by my sailing. They don’t always understand
it but they are always very supportive. Recently with all the races I
have done they have always followed me on the race tracking maps, and
now they’ve started to give me hints and tips when I get back ashore!
“I
grew up on the west coast of Scotland in a little village called
Innellan and I learned to sail at Toward Sailing Club. Generally, there
is a Force 5 blowing so we can only sail from March to October because
the weather is that bad! I have on Optimist dinghies until I was about
16 because I was too small to have a Topper dinghy! I sailed at
University and did a little bit of Laser sailing there, then started
with the RYA British Keelboat Academy.
But with the solo sailing
being really dominated by the French, I think the Artemis Offshore
Academy will bring everyone together, which will hopefully bring us to
the same success as the Brits in the Olympics. Hopefully, one day, it
will be one of us standing at the top of Vendée Globe podium.
Sailing highlights:
2010 Vice Admirals Cup, 4th place (tactician)
2010 RORC Cowes-Dinard-St Malo, 1st place (pit/trimmer)
2009 Fastnet Race, 11th place (pit/trimmer)
2009 Hamble Winter Series, 3rd place (tactician/navigator)
2009 J109 Nationals, 10th place (tactician)
2008 Ladies Match Racing Championship, 6th Place (trimmer)
2008 RORC Channel Race, 1st place (crew)
2008 Dublin Bay Match Racing Challenge, 3rd place (trimmer)
Phil Sharp (29, Jersey)
“The
Artemis Offshore Academy fits in with my long-term sailing objectives
incredibly well. It was a tough couple of days for the Selection Trials
so I am glad that paid off and I was selected. I am really look forward
to being immersed in the Figaro class – it is the most competitive one
design class pretty much in the world in my opinion. I have done the
Route du Rhum race and the next bold step now is to go all the way
around the world. I have got a big passion for adventure and
competition. I aim to be the first Brit to win the Vendée Globe.
“When
I was growing up I always looked up to Pete Goss, an incredibly
charismatic individual in British sailing. He has achieved some
incredible feats including an amazing result in the Vendée Globe in a
50-foot boat. He has got a great passion for adventure as well, and he
had a big impact on me getting into getting offshore sailing. The funny
thing is that he is doing the Route du Rhum this year which I did four
years ago, so I’d like to think that for once he is actually following
in my footsteps!
“My family’s from Jersey and there is big
sailing history. My grandfather had some great race results under his
belt so it’s great to have continued that tradition and put Jersey on
the map internationally.”
Sailing highlights:
2010 SHYC Offshore Race, 1st place (skipper)
2010 London Boat Show Skiff Grand Prix, 49er Class, 1st place (helm)
2009 Round Texel Race, F18 Class, 18th place (helm)
2007 Fastnet Race, Volvo 60 Venom, 5th place (helm)
2006 Route du Rhum, Class 40, 1st place (solo/skipper)
2006 Mini Fastnet, 3rd place (co-skipper)
2005 Mini Transat, 4th place (solo/skipper)
2005 Transgascogne (Mini), 3rd place
2005 Oldysee D’Ulyssee (Mini), 2nd place
Oliver Young (22, Saltash):
“I
got the phone call and was absolutely delighted. I ran downstairs and
told my folks, my brothers and they were as pleased as me. My mum and
dad have supported me the whole way with all my sailing. Dad especially
has really tried to push me towards this and he was ecstatic when he
heard the news. It was really cool to see actually, very heart warming.
My ultimate goal in sailing would be to compete in the best races in the
world and I want to win, and the Artemis Offshore Academy has now
opened these doors to me and if I go as hard as I can now with the
Academy these goals are fully open to me now.
“The person I look
up to most is probably Franck Cammas. He has got his own massive
campaign with the Volvo Ocean Race, he has set a new record in the
crewed Jules Verne non-stop round the world and has done solo sailing.
He is a bit of a guru for me - I would love to be at that level of
sailing, doing that well, some day.
“I grew up in Saltash, a town
next to Plymouth. My local sailing club is right at the bottom of my
garden so that’s where I learnt to sail. It was very accessible at the
time. I did all my racing there and as Saltash is right next to
Plymouth, I sailed in Plymouth out of the Royal Western Yacht Club who
have supported me all the way. It has been one of the best places I have
sailed ever and it still is to this day.”
Sailing highlights:
2010 Shetland Round Britain & Ireland Race, 16th place (skipper)
2009 Match Racing National Championships, 4th place (trimmer)
2009 Danish Match Racing National Championships, 3rd place
2009 Fastnet Race, 8th place (crew Artemis Ocean Racing)
2009 Artemis Challenge, 2nd place (trimmer Artemis Ocean Racing)
2008 Artemis Challenge, 4th place (crew Hugo Boss)
Associate Members – Artemis Offshore Academy
Conrad Humphreys (37, Plymouth)
“When
the Artemis Academy was announced earlier this year, I immediately
thought it was not only a great idea but also the missing link for UK
aspiring and seasoned solo sailors. No one would argue that when
compared to our French counter parts, we simply do not do enough
collaborative training or development in between the major events. The
Figaro championship is one of the best programmes for short-handed
development and there is no secret to the fact that every Vendée Globe
winner maintains close links with the class. I hope the Artemis Offshore
Academy will become a place to nurture new talent and provide Associate
sailors like myself with support to compete at the top level. I will be
looking for a sponsor to do the Solitaire du Figaro in 2011 and the
Transat in 2012 and I look forward to working with the rest of the squad
over the coming 12 months.”
Sailing highlights:
2009, 2008, 2007 Sydney-Hobart Race, 3rd in class 2009 (navigator)
2009, 2008, 2007 Archipelago Raid, 4th place 2008 (skipper)
2007 Extreme Sailing Series, 4th place Amsterdam (skipper)
2004/05 Vendée Globe, 7th place
2004 The Transat, 5th place
2003 Transat Jacques Vabre, Open 50 Class, 1st place (skipper)
2000/01 BT Global Challenge, 1st place (skipper
Pip Hare (36, Felixstowe):
Sailing highlights:
2010 Double-Handed Round Britain & Ireland Race (IRC Overall), 1st place (skipper)
2010 Women’s Keelboat Championships, Class 1 1st place, 2nd overall
2009 Hamble Winter Series, Class 2, 1st place, 2nd overall
2009 OSTAR, 15th place (solo/skipper)
2009 solo voyage from Uruguay to UK non-stop
2003 sailed 20,000 miles double-handed in 39-ft boat via Patagonia
2001 Laser 5000 four-year campaign including European and national regattas
