The new Ben?

We speak to aspiring Olympic Laser sailor Nick Thompson, Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year for the second time

Reassurance for Britain's future Olympic sailing medal prospects as well as being yet another endorsement of the RYA's magnificent youth to Olympic squad program is embodied by 18 year old Laser sailor Nick Thompson, who at London International Boat Show last week was crowned Raymarine Young Sailor of the Year for the second time.

Following his Gold medal in the Laser at the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF Worlds in Poland last year Thompson has graduated up to the RYA's Olympic Development Squad, where he is currently the youngest sailor. Other top results for Thompson in 2004 included a second place at the 2nd Europa Cup event in Holland, sixth overall and first youth at the Laser Nationals and first place in the BUSA Nationals and at the RYA National Youth Championship. At the Olympic Laser trials for Athens last year Thompson came fifth and was top youth sailor.

But his top result was the win in Poland. "There was a Polish guy who was pretty good," says Thompson. "He was beating Robert [Scheidt] and Paul [Goodison] at a lot of the major events in strong winds. And there was an Aussie guy who is pretty good, there was a German guy who was third and a Croatian guy who is a consistent winner. He’s won a lot of events in Radials."

So do we have another Ainslie in the making? Like Ainslie Thompson heralds from Lymington and his sailing career to date has followed the RYA template. He started sailing aged two and began racing in Optimists out of Salterns Sailing Club, although he has since graduated up to the Royal Lymington Yacht Club. In 1999 he won the Oppie Europeans for which he was subsequently awarded his first Young Sailor of the Year title.

Like Ainslie it helps having a father who is enthusiastic about his sailing. "My dad and the people around me have always looked upon sailing in a really good way. I started sailing at the age of two because my dad owned a yacht that he built himself. He is a good sailor and he goes out for a few races now and then. And the people around me in the club were really supportive," says Thompson. "If I don’t want to do it, it is my own choice. But if I do they are there to support me."

Where Ainslie was a shy 18 year old, who seemed much more comfortable on the water than on land, Thompson has a much more extrovert character.

From the Oppie Thompson moved into the Laser Radial in which he won the Youth European Championship title, before arriving in the Laser itself, sailing a Standard for the last two to three years.

His education has now taken him to Exeter University where he studies Sports Science. "There are a four or five Laser sailors up there. So it is ideal," he says. Since moving to Exeter most of his training now takes place in Weymouth under the watchful eye of Chris Gowers.

Apart from his parents Thompson acknowledges that the RYA have been crucial to his development: "The RYA have been the backbone of my sailing as well as my dad. The RYA have done all my fitness program. The RYA look at everything from the very basic things to the highly advanced things. Without the RYA I certainly wouldn’t be able to do what we do. And it’s the same with all the other Olympic guys. Ben, etc. Without the RYA the ball wouldn't have started rolling..."

The RYA have been following Thompson closely ever since his Oppie sailing days. "The RYA would go on trips away with you and help you and support you and things like that and provide coaching at events and advice. So right from the beginning they help you out."

Thompson has been fortunate that both his school in Brockenhurst and now his university have looked favourably on his sailing. "They have always given me the time off. Because I was getting results they didn’t mind so long as I caught up with the work." Having entered Exeter University on a sports scholarship no doubt helps.

For Thompson, Ben Ainslie, Olympic silver and gold medallist in the Laser, is of course the role model. "Especially for me with Ben living in Lymington, but for everyone Ben is an inspiration and someone to really set the marker for what can be done and what can be achieved. He really drives my sailing and gives me motivation to want to train harder and do better," says Thompson. Unfortunately Ainslie was just stepping out of the Laser at the time Thompson was stepping into it.

So is there anything in particularly he learned from the maestro? "With sailing no one can tell you how to do it. It is all from within. They can help you and guide you in areas, but the real talent comes from the sailor themselves. It is such an unpredictable sport and there are so many aspects to it. So I think without someone like Ben, and all the other Olympic sailors to look up to, you wouldn’t know where to start from."

This year Thompson says he wants to lay the foundations for his Olympic campaign and will be competing at the Laser Europeans in Cartegena, Spain in August and the Worlds in Fortaleza, Brazil in September. This latter event is supposed to be the swan song for Robert Scheidt, ideally with a World Championship win on his home waters.

While he will be campaigning to get to Beijing, he will be up against Paul Goodison, who Thompson trained against prior to Athens and who is intending to mount another Laser campaign, as well as a number of other talented British Laser hopefuls. "I think if I lay down an Olympic campaign for Beijing and train as if I was going to go for that even if I didn’t get the spot it would certainly put down a brilliant base for 2012. So that is the aim: Get an Olympic campaign and really train hard for that. Certainly Beijing wind-wise doesn’t look that interesting."

In the UK Olympic Laser squad there has been a few changes as the new Olympic cycle kicks off. While Goodison is continuing, Ed Wright has moved into the Finn, while Hugh Styles has returned to the Tornado this time with 470 sailor Graham Vials. "There’s still a lot of guys like Mark Howard - he’ll be doing it again because he is still quite young - and there are all the guys who are on the same level as me. There are quite a few of us so it will be tough competition. But that is good because it pushes all of us as a group to move up."

The Laser squad is very much like the UK Finn sailors in that they are competitive on the water, but otherwise believe in the 'team effort'. "We all get to train together. It is not like other classes where they say ‘I don’t want to train with you’ and they fight. We all share ideas to try to take British sailing up to the next level, not just as individuals." An MBE in the making...

A key difference for Thompson this year is that following his success in Poland he has moved up to the Olympic Development Squad and now receives funding. While his funding is at the most basic level, compared to the likes of Ainslie and Goodison who receive top level 'A' grade funding, Thompson hopes that his results will allow him to progress up to 'C' grade this year.

He also has to get his weight in order. At present he is 75kg while the optimum weight for the Laser is 80. "I am doing a lot of weight training to push my weight up and 10 months down the line that won’t be an issue. I did do it before the trials in Weymouth. Then I dropped a bit of weight for Poland in medium-light winds. So it can be done."

Aside from the Worlds and Europeans Thompson hopes to take part in as many Olympic regattas as his degree work will allow. "There are a few events I can’t do like Palma [Princess Sofia], but I am doing most of the major ones. At this level, as Goodie will tell you, if you do too much it can be a negative thing. In sailing it is really hard because you have to peak so many times."

No doubt we will be reading more in the future about Nick Thompson.