Candidates announced for the Artemis Offshore Academy Trials

The next round of Artemis Offshore Academy Selection Trials will be held between the 26th September and the 1st October, 2011 at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy. This is only the second annual Selection Trials following the launch of the Artemis Offshore Academy in May 2010 with many of the applicants from the first round already making huge gains in their own solo campaigns, including Phil Sharp and Sam Goodchild’s podium finishes in Figaro Class races in the 2011 season. The Academy, sponsored by the investment management company Artemis, was set up to nurture British offshore short handed sailing talent. The long-term aspiration of the Academy is to put a British sailor in a position to win the legendary solo Vendée Globe in the future.

The tough Selection Trials are a chance for aspiring sailors from any discipline to try solo and short-handed racing and see if they have what it takes to join the Development Squad. The successful applications chosen for the second Development Squad will train with the Artemis Offshore Academy in the south of France this winter leading into a summer of short-handed training and competitive Figaro events based in the UK and France.

The online applications have been filtered to produce a final 16 who will attend the 2011 Selection Trials. They come from diverse sailing backgrounds including a Guinness world record holder, several members of the Royal Yachting Association’s British Keelboat Academy, dinghy team racing, match racing, sports boats and oceanic racing.

Solo round the world record breaker Mike Perham (19), who in 2009 became the youngest person to complete a solo circumnavigation, is looking forward to the Selection Trials: “I am excited about the Selection Trials. We [the British] have never had a programme like it, and the French sailors have proved that to do well in the Vendée Globe you must go through a proper training programme and compete on the Figaro circuit,” said Perham. “I want to combine my solo offshore sailing experience with learning how to race in this environment. Hopefully, the two skills will merge together well.”

The Selection Trials are demanding and the applicants will face three days of intense testing “We have a diverse and challenging programme in place,” said Academy Director, John Thorn. “We need to be rigorous as solo sailing is a very diverse sport and the purpose of the Academy is to provide a foundation for British talent to excel on all levels, not simply the mechanics of sailing. An increasingly difficult sponsorship market puts more media demand than ever on a solo sailor. The Artemis Offshore Academy Development squad could take up to eight sailors, but we will only take those who demonstrate that they not only have potential to win in this discipline but that they have the right team ethos, and attitude towards their media and sponsor commitments. The tests we have designed for them will draw out the best and the worst of their characters, and challenge their skills, enabling us to make a true assessment of their current abilities, and potential to learn new skills”.

Previous 2010 Selection Trials candidate Henry Bomby (20) was not ready to join the Development Squad last year, but with the Academy’s support has been getting some short-handed offshore miles under his belt: “Last year I was not successful at the Selection Trials, so with the help of the Artemis Offshore Academy I have been getting more short-handed experience this summer,” explained Bomby. “I am delighted to have been invited back to the Selection Trials. I know how hard the Trials were last year so I am making sure I am well rested before the Trials start, I don’t expect any more sleep than last time, I expect we ‘ll be pushed quite hard.”

The majority of applicants understandably do not have much short-handed experience and the Selection Trials are a chance for them to try this type of sailing in order to more fully understand the physical and mental demands and knowledge required to compete in this arena. “The Artemis Offshore Academy has so much to offer,” said British Keelboat Academy sailor Lizzy Foreman (21). “I have always been attracted to short-handed offshore sailing but I never knew how to get into it, and now we have the Academy. I have watched the Development Squad this past year, the success they have had and the skills they have learnt by training and racing on the Figaros is impressive, and I really want to try this for myself.”

The Artemis Offshore Academy has invited 14 male and 2 female candidates to attend the Selection Trials next week with the 16 candidates being divided into two groups – each group attending a 3-day Selection Trials process. For the first group the Artemis Offshore Academy are keeping the format of the Selection Trials a closely guarded secret to ensure that the second group do not have an unfair advantage, but from next Thursday you can follow Group B to see what the candidates will be doing on the Selection Trials.

Group A - 26th – 28th September
- Ben Daly, 27, London
- Lizzy Foreman, 21, Worcester Park
- Thomas Taylor, 22, Smeeton
- Jake Jefferis, 30, Billinghurst
- Robert Gullan, 26, Southampton
- Katherine Whitley, 25, Guildford
- Matthew Fletcher 38, Colchester
- Andrew Sinclair, 18, Southampton

Group B - 29th September - 1st October
- Mathew Lingley, 26, Frating
- Henry Bomby, 20, Dartmouth
- Luke Yeates 26, Southampton
- Mike Perham, 19, Potters Bar
- Robin Elsey, 19, Truro
- Oliver Bond, 32, Hamble
- Aaron Cooper, 22, Southampton
- Chris Brooks, 25, Rochford