Mike Urwin - a madforsailing profile

Peter Bentley finds out what makes the 'most influential man in keelboat racing' tick

Mike Urwin is the technical manager at the RORC Rating Office in Lymington. Though he says his job is "to pick up anything within the club that either nobody else can understand or doesn't want to do", his real role is much wider ranging. Since 1992 Urwin has been responsible for administering the Channel Handicap rating system, developing the IRC and IRM rules and a whole range of related rating rules.
Arguably Urwin has had a bigger influence over keelboat racing in Britain - and lately internationally - than any other individual. As well as looking after a multiplicity of rating rules he is also responsible for safety matters within the RORC and acts as adviser to the club on technical matters.

Age?
48

When did you start sailing?
The first time I remember being in a sailing boat was at the age of four in a rented dinghy on holiday at Ryde on the Isle of Wight with my father.

Do you come from a sailing family?
We had a 12ft dinghy, so I guess so, but not a racing family, not a racing family at all.

When did you first get involved in serious sailing?
I had my first Cadet at 15. I won my first serious race at 17 at Cadet Week.

What is your biggest achievement in competitive sailing?
That race at Cadet Week sticks in my mind because it was the first one. Second in the J24 Europeans - not as helmsman but as tactician - sticks in my mind. I guess I've had so much enjoyment out of it over the years that it's invidious to try and pick them out.

What are you sailing now?
A Beaulieu Scow and an Optimist from the back. That's not entirely fair because I can get so much sailing that I don't need to own a race boat. I'll be doing the Spring series, or parts of it and will no doubt sail in a number of regattas over the course of the year. You can't do my job from behind a desk. You have to get out on the water.

Do you have any other recreations or sports that you do to take your mind away from sailing?
Murdering trout - fly-fishing. Domestic things take a lot of time - two young kids and a 200-year-old house that's always trying to fall down around me.

What would you say is your greatest strength?
Experience at the widest level of engineering disciplines. I'm not a naval architect but I have in turn worked with such things as hovercraft, flight simulators, ships, wave energy, wind energy, composite structures, electronics. A very catholic range of experience. I think that is important because it enables me to not just understand what people are saying but also to have some idea of where they're coming from.

Would you admit to any weaknesses?
That's a leading question. I don't get on water enough. In an ideal world I would spend more time with sailors and with owners but there is a practical limit in terms of running the office. If there is one thing I regret it's not being able to spend more time with owners and sailors.

If you could go sailing for a day with anybody of your choice who would it be?
I do enjoy sailing with Jo Richards. The people I admire most I guess in that sense are the likes of Paul Cayard for his ability to put campaigns together, Ed Baird for the same sort of thing.

What advice would you give to a young person coming into sailing the kind of boats that you're involved with?
Get as much and as wide as a range of experience as you can, in as many venues as you can, on as many boats as you can, doing as many different jobs on the boat as you can. Only by understanding the problems that the guy at the other end of the boat has, do you become better at what you are doing.