An interview with Stuart Childerly

Now the ex-Olympian is sailing for fun.

Having competed in two Olympics and narrowly missed the rostrum on both occasions, Stuart Childerly (pictured right in 1992) looked destined to carry on sailing and move into the professional circuit. Instead he moved away from working within the sailing industry, but behind the scenes continues to do very well. mad for sailing finds out Stuart's plans for the year and asks if he ever hankers after being involved with the GBR Challenge.

You are currently lying in third place in the Etchells Cowes week qualifier, only four points behind Barry Parkin who is currently leading. How did the Etchells campaign come about?

I bought the boat last year mainly to have a bit of fun. I'm sailing with Simon Russell (Fumesy) and Nick Pearson, it's early days yet, and as I said we're out to have a bit of fun. But there's a carrot at the end of the season to work for and at the moment although we're four points behind Barry Parkin our results overall have been far more consistent. We've still got two more races to go, the end results should be a lot closer when we've had our final discard.

Have you sailed much with Simon and Nick before?

No, not at all. We had a couple of training events over the Easter weekend and at that stage it was the first time that the three of us had sailed together.

How does that compare with the other guys at the top end of the fleet?

The others had been sailing together for quite a while. Graham Bailey is very well organised and Barry Parkin has been sailing Etchells for quite some time, we were trying to bench mark ourselves against them. At the moment we're consistent and competitive, there's still plenty of time before the Worlds.

You have always done really well within the sailing circuit. Do you ever regret moving away from the professional circuit or ever hanker after getting involved with the GBR Challenge?

The Soling trials at the end of 1995 were a catalyst that made something happen. It seemed a good opportunity to get out and I walked away with no regrets. Two years later Adrian Steed invited me to sail on Barlo Plastics, that made me realise that I could still sail well with a group of people as well as have a bit of fun.

I've certainly not got any axes to grind, and I would jump at the chance of having a sail on the America's Cup boat. I just had a bit of a reality check and have a different view on things now with different priorities. It's nice to be still involved with sailing but without the politics.