Mark Powell - profile

What's your date of birth?
2/7/83

Where were you born?
Portsmouth

Where do you live now?
Hayling Island

Where are you currently studying?
Havant College

What course(s) are you studying?
A levels in Maths, Physics, English Literature

Academic year?
2nd year 6th form

What are your parents' occupations?
Father - Associate Director finance
Mother - Housewife

At what age did you start sailing?
Seven

Who or what inspired you to start sailing?
My dad taught me to windsurf, and I started sailing dinghies at HISC in a course run by Colin Waters.

What class did you start in?
Optimist.

... and where?
Hayling Island sailing club

How long have you sailed been sailing your current class?
Eight months in the full rig Laser, a couple of years in the Laser Radial.

Your greatest achievement in sailing?
1st Youth Nationals 2001 Largs

Your other top sailing achievements?
1. Silver medal European Youth Olympic games, Lisbon, 1997
2. 2nd British Optimist National Championships, Torbay 1996
3. 17th Laser Radial Youth World Championships, Turkey, 2000
4. 17th Laser Radial Open World Championships, Turkey, 2000
5. 4th RYA youth trials 2000, Falmouth.
6. 9th Stokes Bay qualifier 2001

What’s your greatest strength in sailing?
Tactics

What’s your greatest weakness in sailing?
Reaching

What’s your biggest goal in sailing?
To win the Olympics

What are your other interests away from sailing?
Cycling, films, books, TV, my car, pool.

Have you competed at national/international level in any other sports?
no

Have any of your relatives competed at national/international/Olympic level in any other sports?
My brother sailed optimists now he sails Laser Radials at national level.

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