Shirley Robertson interview - 1

The trials and tribulations of putting a Yngling campaign on the road to glory

Following a couple of years away from the heart of the Olympic action, Europe Gold medallist, Shirley Robertson has decided to go for gold once again, this time in the Yngling. Peter Bentley asks the questions.

mfs: After nearly eleven years in the Europe and some time off, why did you decide to do a Yngling campaign?

Shirley Robertson: There was no way I was going to sail the Europe again and after a while I missed the whole Olympic thing. I saw the Yngling as interesting as it required lots of the same skills that you needed in the Europe. It looked like a new challenge so I thought I would give it a go.

mfs: You say you missed the Olympic thing. What is it exactly that you missed?

SR: I missed just working at something 100 percent, really covering all the options and dotting the Is and crossing the Ts. You know are really going to put yourself on the line in Olympic sailing whereas I think the other sailing I have done is much more 'turn up and do your best'. Olympic sailing is a tremendous opportunity you don't get in most areas of life where you can just whole heartedly work as hard as you can towards something you love doing.

mfs: When you decided to start the Yngling campaign, you have never even seen one. How do you get started?

SR: It was really difficult because we didn't have any history of them here in Britain. Nobody knew which builder made the fastest boats and it was very, very difficult to know what to do. We ended up buying a good second hand boat just as a starter and doing a few events.

mfs: In any other class you get into there is a tuning guide. Did that exist for the Yngling?

SR: When we first got our boat there was a very basic tuning guide but everything was pretty underdeveloped. That is obviously now changing at a rapid pace. We are also discovering things for ourselves which I see as an opportunity. In such an undeveloped class, there is a big opportunity to prepare well and to discover things that other people have not discovered.


Shirley crossing ahead of Margriet Matthijsse to take Olympic Gold

Page two... Crew
Page three... coaching and coaches