Fumsey Talks

Lynsey Brotherton tries to get a word in edgeways with Etchells World Champ Simon Russell

He's about 5ft 4in tall, weighs in at between 90 and 100kgs, has a nickname for every person he meets (I pity the unfortunate sole who he knows as 'shoe box head'), has the most infectious laugh on the planet, and is one of the nicest blokes you're ever likely to meet.

Oh, and on top of that he is also the current Etchells World Champion and has a list of notable sailing achievements as long as ... both of his legs stood one on top of the other.

Simon Russell is more popularly known as Fumesy, an unfortunate nick name stemming from way way back as a teenager with very smelly feet. The name has stuck and it seems to suit him.

He is currently the Holt and Sampson rope product manager for the UK and spends most of his time talking to chandlers around the country. It appears that when he's not talking he's sailing and this has been the case since he was four or five.

Born on 18 January 1967 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire he caught the sailing bug after a holiday with his family. "It was an exciting trip in a Skipper 12 to the Mumbles. It was a real shitter and we sailed four up plus a dog. I can remember watching my Dad at the helm and thinking - 'coor I'd like to give that a go'."

His first sailing club was South Cerney near Cirenchester where prior to his smelly feet, he was known as Mighty Mouse. He sailed Cadets and won his first race in one of the club's boats in a crews helm race. He went on to win every trophy the Cadets had at South Cerney to the point where they used to lash his tiller extension to give the other kids a chance.

His dad bought his first boat after driving past a wooden shell for sale on someone's drive."It was a Cadet covered in white emulsion, a real old piece of furniture, and my Dad rebuilt it."

Since the Cadet days Fumesy has consistently clocked up excellent sailing results. The event he is most proud of is this years Etchells World Championship win with Stuart Childerley and Nick Pearson. "I think it's a really prestigious event," he said. "There were lots of big names there and it felt great to win." On top of the Worlds the same team also won the Etchells Nationals and the South Coast Championships.

He was part of the team to win the Melges 24 Worlds 1998 in Torquay with Vince Brun, Simon Fry and Ian Walker, as well as the Melges Nationals with the late great John Merricks. The team were leading the Melges 24 Europeans in Italy when Merricks was tragically killed in a car accident.

In 1995 Fumes sailed in the Admiral's Cup on Seahorse winning the Fastnet and did an abundance of big boat sailing on Corel 45s. He also spent the best part of 10 years sailing with Lawrie Smith in the Ultra 30 class.

His next plan is to take part in the Mumm 30 Worlds at Key West in January. Having already won the Mumm Europeans with Kevin Sproul on Framboise,this time he is set to do the Worlds with Stuart Childerley at the helm.

Off the water training consists of eating and the odd match of five-a -side. When asked what coaches he uses Fumesy replied "National Express". He feels that he wasn't in the right part of the country to benefit from the RYA school of coaching, run then by Jim Saltonstall. "I think it's really important to come through with that good work ethic and encouragement that Jim promoted. If you look at most of the really successful British sailors, the majority of them had come through Jim's school of coaching. I feel I could have done a lot better and gone further had I been through it."

His funniest on the water story is almost unbelievable. "I was taking part in the Commodore's Cup trials on Blizzard. I got roped into it really - no one knew what they were doing - it was an absolute nightmare. When we were practising we were so bad we never went round the leeward mark with the jib up or the spinnaker down. It was during one drop when Dan Primrose was up on the bow. The spinnaker guy had gone down the hatch as Dan was hauling in the kite - the guy was so long though it had gone down and wound itself around the loo - there was a puff of breeze that came though and caught hold of the spinaker and as it filled the loo got pulled out of the fore hatch. There it was, this loo swinging around in the breeze. It was hilarious."

As far as sailing heroes and best sailors in the world go, Fumesy thinks that there are too many to name. "There are so many sailors who excel in different areas of the sport, in different classes and in different conditions - it would be impossible to only name one person."

Outside of sailing, he enjoys bimbling around with his classic 1974 Lotus Elan and the odd spot of DIY - he's currently on a five year project to install a dishwasher. His favourite bars in the world are Rum Runners in Key West, "the regatta usually coincides with my birthday and I more often than not end up on the stage", and the Key West Bar in St Tropez where he says dark glasses are essential for a watchful eye on the clientele.