British Sailing Team

Passing the baton

As the British Sailing Team's preparations gather momentum for Paris 2024, Georgie Corlett-Pitt hears from team boss MARK ROBINSON on the fresh faces and new classes shaping this Olympiad

Great Britain’s stellar performance at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games saw them top the tables for the fifth time in six

Games with three golds, a silver and a bronze – a hugely impressive achievement considering the challenges brought by the pandemic.

But with several key members of the

British Sailing Team now hanging up their buoyancy aids (see right), and the biggest equipment shakeup for decades, how are things shaping up for the next Olympic cycle ahead of Paris 2024?

According to the RYA’s Olympic

Performance Manager, Mark

Robinson - who was recently awarded an MBE for leading the team’s success in Tokyo – the British

Sailing Team’s build-up is already well underway, thanks in part to the pandemic. He explains: “When the postponement for the 2020 Olympic Games came, we were in the fortunate position of having already selected our team for those Games. Also, given the introduction of new classes for 2024, we knew it was important to get started early, so we split into a Tokyo Games team and a ‘Project 24’ team, which has allowed us to focus the right resources in the right place in line with our short and long term goals.

“The last few months have been about bringing the team back together instead of working as two separate streams.”

It’s an approach that Mark hopes will give the team the edge at the next Games, now just two and a half years away, as well as beyond that at Los Angeles in 2028.

And even as some of the sailors step down from the team, they not only leave behind them an important legacy of inspiration, but will continue to act as mentors to those taking their place.

Of course, not everyone is moving on. Sailors from the Tokyo team who are continuing campaigns include gold medal winners Dylan Fletcher (49er helm) and Eilidh McIntyre (women’s 470 crew), silver

ABOVE LEFT

Mark Robinson MBE is the RYA Olympic Performance Manager

ABOVE RIGHT

The Tokyo team leaves a legacy of inspiration

BELOW

49erFX crew Saskia Tidey, one of several Olympians going again for Paris 2024

medallists John Gimson andAnna Burnet (Nacra 17), and bronze medallist Emma Wilson (RS:X); together with Tom Squires (RS:X) and Saskia Tidey (49erFX crew).

And there’s no shortage of talent joining them. In the 49er, James Peters and Fynn Sterritt look set to challenge Olympic champion Dylan Fletcher who has teamed up with a new crew Rhos Hawes; while in the women’s 49erFX Saskia Tidey is now onboard with a new helm, Freya Black, who has jumped over from the 470 squad. As the 470 men and women’s classes merge to form a mixed discipline, 2020 gold medallist Eilidh McIntyre has paired up with Martin Wrigley. The ILCA 7 (Laser) sees a strong squad that chased Elliot Hanson hard for the Tokyo spot, currently fronted by Michael Beckett, Sam Whaley and Dan Whiteley. There’s plenty of promise in the ILCA 6 (Radial) from Hannah Snellgrove, pushed by Matilda Nicholls and Daisy Collingridge who are stepping up their game since moving up from youth level. And in the all-new IQFoil (foiling windsurfer) women’s fleet, Islay Wilson is set to rival Tokyo medallist Emma Wilson, while Matt Barton and Finn Hawkins are currently top performers in the men’s fleet.

From gold medals to…?

Olympic stars reveal what’s next as they bow out after Tokyo

2020 Olympic gold medallists Hannah Mills, Giles Scott and Stuart Bithell are among those calling time on their Olympic careers.

A successful defence of Olympic 470 gold at Tokyo saw Hannah Mills become the most successful female Olympic sailor of all time, adding to a silver from 2012. Since then, Hannah has been awarded an OBE (her crew Eilidh McIntyre an MBE) and been voted World Sailor of the Year, accolades she describes as “surreal but amazing”. But as the 470 goes mixed for Paris 2024, she feels “it’s the perfect time to step away and explore other options”.

Instead, Hannah will continuing with the GBR team in SailGP and is looking towards the new Women’s America’s Cup: “There’s so much going on in the world of professional sailing, it’s a pretty amazing time to a female in sailing right now”.

Hannah will also be spending more time on her sustainability charity campaign, the Big Plastic Pledge, through which she aims to “inspire and empower other athletes to use their platform to speak up about different challenges”.

For double Olympic gold medallist Giles Scott it’s also time to move on after 14 years with the team; the Finn class made its final appearance at Tokyo. He admits he still hasn’t watched the replay of Tokyo’s gripping medal race, and says he probably never will!

“I took on an awful lot with the America’s Cup while trying to defend my Olympic title,” he reflects. “Somehow I managed to keep that gold medal. In honesty I’m not sure how, but I got there just about! I’ve enjoyed my time off, doing some Moth sailing and sailing some bigger boats. I’m getting back with INEOS and the America’s Cup... I’ve absolutely loved my Olympic sailing but I feel like it’s been a chapter in a bigger book.”

For Stu Bithell, after claiming Britain’s first ever 49er gold in Tokyo and adding to his 470 silver from 2012, he says that after “putting everything in to this campaign” it’s “nice to stop here at the top”. He received an MBE in recognition of his Olympic success (as did his helm, Dylan Fletcher), and is now keen to try other areas of the sport. “There’s plenty on with professional sailing, the America’s Cup, SailGP and lots of other professional circuits around the world. I’m aiming for the big circuits and we’ll see how we go.”

Also moving on is London 2012 silver medallist Luke Patience who is contemplating a campaign for The Ocean Race, although he is also considering starting a whiskey brand!

Three-time Olympian (Laser Radial/ILCA 6 ) Ali Young plans a transition to coaching; while twotime 49erFX helm Charlotte Dobson and Rio 2016 Nacra 17 helm Ben Saxton have plans to pursue careers in banking and sail-making respectively.

So you want to be an Olympic sailor?

British Sailing Team veterans have this advice for young sailors hoping to fly the flag for GBR at a future Games…

“I always say that you’ve got to enjoy what you do. My success has come from doing something that I love to do, and that was certainly the case when I was a kid. My message to young sailors would be to enjoy the sport, don’t get bogged down in results and if you love it you’ll become good at it” – Giles Scott, double

gold medallist (Finn, 2016 & 2020)

“I come from a background where you wouldn’t expect to be on the top of an Olympic podium. I grew up sailing on a tiny lake in the north of England, and my message is that you can do whatever you want if you put your heart and a bit of time into it. Nothing is impossible” – Stu Bithell,

gold (49er, 2020) & silver medallist (470, 2012)

“The vast majority of us Olympians were kids who watched the Olympics and were inspired by them. I was curious about what it would feel like to represent my country and I became obsessed with finding out. That’s all I’ve been for 25 years: curious. If you think it’s out of reach it isn’t. Hold onto that inspiration and just keep chipping away” – Luke Patience,

silver medallist & 5th (470, 2012 & 2020)

“Never lose the love for the sport. Do as much sailing across a variety of boats. And if you decide you want to go to the Olympics it’s totally possible. Anything is possible when you set a goal, put your mind to it and crack on” – Charlotte

Dobson, 8th & 6th (49erFX, 2016 & 2020)

ABOVE

John Gimson and Anna Burnet showed what's possible when they won Nacra 17 bronze on their Olympic debut

While it’s not unusual for sailors to only win Olympic medals on their second go at Games, that’s not always the case, as John Gimson and Anna Burnet proved when they took silver in the Nacra at their debut Games last summer, adding to an RS:X bonze for Emma Wilson – Tokyo being her first Olympics at the age of just 22.

Looking ahead, with such a blend of experience and influx of promising new talent, hopes are high that we will maintain our form as top sailing nation.

The sailors will have plenty of ongoing support from the shore team, nearly all of who are continuing, which Mark says gives a “good degree of stability”. The long-serving coaching team includes ex-team members Penny Clark and Stevie Morrison, and double Olympic silver medallist Joe Glanfield - now Head Coach - while three-time Olympic medallist windsurfer Nick Dempsey adds fresh input as a new recruit.

Benchmarking

The first chance for any aspiring Olympian to make baseline assessments for this cycle comes at the Princess Sofia Regatta in April. It’ll be the first major multi-class gathering since Tokyo, and athletes will try out new partnerships, test equipment, benchmark their performance and secure funding. British team sailors will be targeting top-of-the-table results, first at this event, and then also at their

individual world and European class championships through this year and into next. Then in August 2023 comes the first opportunity to qualify Olympic places with the Sailing World Championships at The Hague, Netherlands; the Brits will be hoping to follow their form in recent cycles by qualifying across all 10 disciplines.

Despite this uniquely compressed three-year Olympiad, Mark says there are no plans to significantly alter GBR’s approach to team selection. Instead, the focus is on boosting support to sailors and continuing to build the strength in depth of the British squad – a factor that Mark believes was crucial to success at Tokyo, in many instances enabling British sailors to train and push one another at a world class level, even when international travel wasn’t possible.

A squad approach is also proving beneficial as 2024’s radical new foiling classes - iQFoil and Formula Kite - become established. A recruitment initiative #KiteForGold, kick-started the search for talent among kiters in 2018 and has since resulted in rapid progress. As the windsurf classes switch to foils, athletes have similarly been undergoing intensive training as a squad to shortcut learning in this new discipline.

Elsewhere, a flurry of equipment updates intended to boost performance across the wind range are being introduced, including new centreboards and rudder elevators for the Nacra 17, and for both 49er classes there are new masts and sails. There’s also a revised ‘knock-out’ race format for the boards to contend with.

Mark is optimistic about the British team’s ability to embrace and excel in the face of these changes when he says, “every nation

ABOVE

Tom Squires getting to grips with the new iQFoil

BELOW LEFT

Matilda Nicholls, one of several promising ILCA 6 sailors stepping into the team

BELOW RIGHT

Windsurfer Emma Wilson is hoping for the chance to better her Tokyo bronze at the next Olympics is facing the same adjustments; it’s about how you take on those challenges that counts”.

He emphasises that the key will be “learning what it takes to win and understanding the nuances of the equipment”.

Time in the 2024 Olympic venue will of course be important, and although the UK’s proximity is an advantage, there are post-Brexit Schengen restrictions that the team now needs to navigate. Sailing takes place from Marseille Marina, which is currently undergoing a full re-development. It’s already a familiar venue for the Brits from competitions past, and the Project 24 team was busy training here last summer while the rest of the world was glued to the action in Japan.

The clock may be ticking but the British Sailing Team is already well ahead in its next quest for gold.