Radiating success

The Daily Sail catches up with top youth sailors Keir Clarke and Colette Blair

Keir Clarke (above) had quite a successful RYA Youth Championship in the Laser Radial. Winning the 107 boat fleet by a massive 44 point margin and winning eight out of the 12 races in the process.

Although he has won the Radial class quite convincingly, it will only be the top girl (Charlotte Dobson who finished fifth) who gets the ticket for the ISAF Youth Worlds. However it has clearly marked Keir out as a talented young sailor.

A relative newcomer to the British sailing scene, Keir (who has just turned 18), moved with his family from Ireland 18 months ago. Having started sailing in an Optimist, he spent a year in the Topper before moving over to the Laser Radial. This year in Toppers saw him top Irish Youth and he also finished tenth at the Topper Worlds.

Now based in Bridport, near Weymouth, he is in the final year of his A Levels with plenty of options in front of him as The Daily Sail found out:

The Daily Sail: How competitive is sailing here compared with Ireland?
Keir Clarke: About ten times as competitive here, it’s good.

Do you feel you can achieve more here than in Ireland?
Yeah, the coaching here is much better, there’s a lot more squads, so I got into the transitional squad and that got me here in the end.

How long have you been sailing the Laser Radial?
Since the 2000 Worlds in Spain, so just coming up to three years.

What are you hoping to get out of this event?
Just to be top Radial really, hopefully that will enable me to get some sponsorship.

This is your last year as a Youth, what’s next?
After A levels I will probably take a year out and I may go and sail a Hobie 16, that stays youth until 21.

Have you done any catamaran sailing?
No not at all! It will be good fun and be able to get some more coaching and hopefully get to go to some nice places.

What is the biggest challenge in sailing Laser Radial?
It’s the fitness. After the Laser Radial Worlds in Garda I will probably sail the remainder of the year in the full rig, so fitness will be even more important.

Do you have any major aspirations in the next couple of years?
Next few years really don’t know, but would like to give this Hobie thing ago and then possibly a Tornado, and try really hard in that.

Do you see yourself aiming for the Olympics?
Possibly, but not in the Laser, because there are just some amazing and really good people in the class.

Do you have any role models in sailing?
Robert Scheidt, seven times World Champion, and the other top Laser sailors like Paul Goodison, he parties as well, that’s pretty cool. And obviously Ben Ainslie, he’s real class.

Do you have any interest in Yachting?
Yeah, I used to do quite a bit in Ireland, but since moving to England all the focus has really gone into the Laser sailing.

How’s your week been going?
Been going really well but they are long days. It’s difficult to keep concentration going and to drink enough water. They have let us give day packs to the committee boat, which is helpful.

What has been your worse result in the series?
Well on Thursday I was leading all three races at the first top mark. The last race was just mental; I finished thirty-third from being first. I was sailing about 20m to the side of the rest of the fleet on the run and they just sailed past me because they were in less tide. I then when right on the next beat because I thought the tide would be pushing us up, which it was, but everyone else went left. Then there was a big windshift and the whole fleet sailed past…

What do you think of the organisation of this event?
It’s class, really good, although I don’t like this place to sail in. It’s just weird tide and dodgy winds, Weymouth is my favourite place because you can sail inside the harbour and also go into the bay for the big waves.

What next after A Levels?
I am considering university, maybe after a year or two out sailing, but my main consideration is for maybe going into the Navy. I would like to be an officer, say a Warfare Officer, but you have to be pretty disciplined so I’ll have to see!



The Girls Radial fleet had arguably more to play for with the top spot getting selection for the ISAF Youth Worlds. This was a much closer competition with Colette Blair and Charlotte Dobson fighting it out.

The Daily Sail got to speak with Colette (above), who has already been to the Youth Worlds last year (she came eleventh) when the girls sailed in Bytes. With selection going to Charlotte on the final race of the series, Colette who is aged 17 has another year to try for the Worlds again.

From north Kent, her dad got her into sailing with an Optimist aged 10. In 2000 she moved into the Radial and has benefited from the comprehensive training and support the RYA can provide to the top young sailors:

The Daily Sail: How did you get into the squad?
Colette Blair: I went down to the trials in Weymouth, I actually did really badly, but I think they were desperate for girls so I got in! It was really good, it helped to get me started.

What stage are you at in school?
AS levels at the moment, then my A levels next year. I am thinking of university – to do sociology, the subjects I am doing now there is nothing I really want to carry on and do. I thought from that I could go into sports sociology.

Where do you see you sailing going for the next couple of years?
Well I have the rest of this year and next in the Youth Squad. Then after that I hope to get into the Olympic development squad in the Europe and see how it goes from there really.

The Europe squad has had it’s critics recently, does that motivate you?
Yeah, it does spur me on, I would like now to get in a Europe and see how I would go against them. After Shirley (Robertson) it seems quite strange that there is a void after her. So I am quite looking forward to getting into a Europe and trying that out.

How much support does the RYA give you?
A lot, as well as being in the Youth Squad, there is the IT squad, which stands for Intensive Training. It’s the top three boys and top three girls and we get extra training on top of our Youth Squad training. They also help to subsidise our trips abroad. The RYA Youth Championships is also a qualifier for the Radial Worlds and there are also trips to Denmark and Germany.

Are you happy to stick with singlehanded sailing?
Well I have never really done doublehanded sailing, I would quite like to try. People say to me ‘oh you’re the perfect size for a 470 crew’, but I will stick to the Radial for the time being, although I wouldn’t turn a good opportunity down.

Who would you say is your role model in Sailing?
I should think that Shirley Robertson is the obvious one, her determination and not giving up is really important.

What about Ellen MacArthur?
No! I like the tactical side of racing, the boat on boat sailing. I don’t think I could be alone for that long!

How about the competition between the girls?
It does get really tense. The Scottish girl Charlotte Dobson, we have always been so close, we are always the biggest rivals and we do find that really difficult. It’s fine at the training and we are like best friends, it’s just when you get here and you have to face each other.

How has your week gone?
Mixed! It’s quite random out there, it sounds really awful but it is. I still don’t quite know what is going on.

In such a big fleet is there any follow my leader going on?
Yeah, you do look around and work out who’s gone that way and who’s gone the other. But you're not going to win a race unless you find something extra, but you do generally look to someone for some inspiration!