Mark Turner

Ellen's Project Director discusses their plans for the future, life, the universe, etc...

Among the movers and shakers within yacht racing, few have achieved as much in such a short period of time as Mark Turner.

Turner has been instrumental in Ellen MacArthur's formidable career development - sponsorship from Kingfisher for a new Open 60 when Ellen was just 22, Europe 1 New Man STAR win aged 23, Vendee Globe second place aged 24, BT/YJA Yachtsman of the Year, MBE, Lacoste FICO World Champion, ISAF Yachtswoman of the Year and most recently second place in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year ahead of Liverpool and England striker Michael Owen. Never has yachting seen such a meteoric rise.

Turner's ability to help Ellen on her way stems from the various aspects of his background. He has done a lot of yacht racing - he sailed part of the Whitbread Round the World race on board British Defender in 1989/90 and developed close ties in the French sailing community taking part in the Mini Transat in 1997 and the Figaro class' double handed Transat AG2R the previous year. As Marketing Director of Spinlock he gained a strong technical knowledge about boats and got to know many of the key players in the international yacht racing industry as well as the oportunity to hone his marketing skills.

Equally important was Turner's work ethic. Those who work with him say he redefines the term 'working flat out'. During the Vendee project he and Ellen became severe workaholics - hard at it often 20 hours a day, much of it spent in airport lounges beavering away on their Macs with cellphones red hot, has certainly been one key to their success.

Turner's involvement the Kingfisher project was such that some critics around the time of the Vendee Globe accused him of 'moulding' the young Ellen in a svengali-like way. Turner strongly refutes this. "Ellen was already at a knowledge level and ability level of most professional sailors ten years older than her," he says. "The perception has always been 'young girl, didn't know what she was doing' and that isn't how it was. One of the harshest criticisms that I've heard is that Ellen's never been in control of her life and that's never been the case."

He admits that when they started out on the Vendee Globe project they accesses what her strong and weak points were and ensured that their team handled as much of the administive side of the campaign as they could to allow Ellen time to concentrate on developing her skills. "I don't know anyone who has been more in control of their life than Ellen. There are very few people who set out with an aim and everything evolves around them to achieve it."

For a man who places high standards on things, Turner is utterly in awe of his protege's ability. While he recognised Ellen's potential early on, it was only in the last 18 months that he has come fully realise just what a special and unique talent Ellen has.

So much effort and emotion was put into working up the Vendee Globe, that Turner was almost not surprised by her second place ahead of many more seasoned solo ocean racers. The two results which he says left him gobsmacked were her first place the Europe 1 New Man STAR - Ellen's first race in her new Open 60 - and the recent Transat Jacques Vabre.

"If I needed any more final proof of her extraordinary ability, then it is the Transat Jacques Vabre," he says. "To learn to get the confidence and the ability to race a trimaran takes most people years. And to be seen as the weather guru by someone like Alain (Gautier) and trusting her at the helm in extreme conditions when it can all be over very quickly... In a monohull you have a lot of get-out cards and you can get away with quite a lot. But you can't get away with that on a multihull."

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