Magnus Leask - a madforsailing profile

A man who has achieved a lot in a short space of time

What's your date of birth? 5th January 1983

Where were you born?
Portsmouth

At what age did you start sailing?
Three years old, 1986

What inspired you to take up sailing?
Parents both sailed and all of family, my father was doing his Olympic campaigns at this stage and it was the family sport. My father was 4th twice - in 1984 in Los Angeles and 1988 in Seoul, Korea - both times in the Soling Class.

Where was your first sailing club?
Locks Sailing Club in Portsmouth and I still always enter events under their club name.

Which class did you first race in?
Optimist, my best result was 4th at the Nationals in Plymouth, 1995.

How did you buy your first boat?
My father bought my first boat for me.

What was your first regatta win?
420 world selections 1997.

What's your biggest event or championship win?
Olympic Trials 2000, Weymouth, third in 470 class.

Any other notable regattas that you have taken part in you would like to mention?

4th 420 World Championships 1997, Newport Rhode Island.
4th 420 Nationals Llandudno, Wales.
2nd RYA Youth Nationals 1999, Weymouth, and reserve for RYA Youth Worlds South Africa.

470s
1st Miami Olympic Classes Regatta 1999
34th Princess Sofia Palma 1999
33rd Hyeres Olympic Regatta 1999
4th Junior Europeans Rostock 1999
18th Europeans Croatia 1999
1st UK National Championships 1999
22nd World Championships 2000, Lake Balaton, Hungary
3rd Olympic Trials, Weymouth 2000

Melges
Top 10 at World Championships 2000, La Rochelle France

Which event will you be taking part in next?
Cowes Week - August 2001
America's Cup Jubilee - August 2001
Melges World Championships, Lake Garda, Italy - September 2001

Do you do any sailing-specific off the water training?
Gym work more fitness than weights for 470 because I was trying to keep my weight down, the weight was extremely important in the class. I am just starting to sail a 49er so that will require a lot more upper body strength than I have currently, but fitness, flexibility and speed will be just as important.

Which coaches do you use if any?
Bunny Warren coached me in 470s mainly, but Cathy Foster, Paul Brotherton and Derek Clark also did some work with me.

Which other sports do you take part in?
I don't have a lot of time for other sports, because sailing and college work takes up so much time I rarely have time for other things.

Do you have other hobbies or interests outside of sailing?
Not really, I enjoy spending time talking to my friends and going out when I have time.

Do you have favourite bar, pub or restaurant?
The Key Eating House, Hamble.

Who are your role models?
I do not have one particular role model, many people are extremely good at their job, but while I was learning to crew properly Andy Hemmings was a good example. Now I think you need to look at many different sailors and pick the best bits from each to become nearly as good as them. The one thing that you need to be a good sailors as well as millions of other qualities is the will to learn and a huge wealth of experience.

What's your biggest remaining goal in sailing?
The ultimate goal and dream, gold at the Olympics

How much time do you spend on the water each week?
Currently not very much time because I am revising for my exams but when I was sailing full time last year we used to sail about six days a week and each day around four to five hours on the water, so 35 hours a week at most.

Who are your sponsors?
I used to be sponsored by the World Class Performance System until I stopped sailing 470s. Currently I do not have a sponsor. I get a small discount from a local chandlery.

What is the best excuse you have ever given for a poor performance in a race?
It wasn't the correct weather, the usual one of blaming the boat.

What is the funniest thing you have either witnessed or experienced whilst sailing?
I was training against JJ Isler in 470s in St. Petersburg Fl, USA. It was a couple of months before their trials for Sydney. We were doing some short course racing, windward leewards and JJ was coming across towards us on port, we were on starboard, she went to duck us, just misjudged the line to take and clipped the back of our transom, in the process she hit the boat in exactly the right point to peel the back of the boat off. After the incident the boat started to sink and we managed to get it ashore via tying it to a RIB.

Do you have a favourite sailing venue and what makes it a great place to sail?
Hayling Island, outside in the bay. As I come from the Solent area I understand the tidal effects better than most of the competitors in this race area. I regularly train in the same piece of water out of Langstone Harbour, a harbour to the west of Chichester Harbour. I especially enjoy sailing in this venue when it is windy because the waves build up to a height and distance apart that I feel comfortable with and can sail completely by feel rather than sailing via a more technical method of getting through the waves quickly.

What's the single thing that could most improve the running of regattas?
The waiting around in between races, I understand that regularly courses need to be reset because of wind shifts and other elements, but an increase in entry fee would provide professional race officers which would speed up the running of events and make the organisation much more professional.

What is your greatest strength in sailing?
Performing under pressure, when it is coming to the end of an event and all that is required for a good overall result is some good consistent results. I rarely go and blow the event if I am in that position. If things start to go badly such as you get a touch of the slows I am usually pretty good at trying to keep the team work positive and work on the next step in the race rather than going down the negative route which often hinders the rest of the race and subsequent races.

What is your greatest weakness in sailing?
Changing routines in the boat to adapt to the circumstances and also changing class for a couple of days along with being reasonably competent at basic boat handling manoeuvres such as tacking and gybing. For example, sailing a 470 compared to a Laser 4000, when I came in off of the wire in the Laser 4000 I am used to seeing a layout with side tanks rather than a soap dish layout, which completely threw me during tacks. Also two to one jib sheets meant I went out on the wire and pulled in the jib and had only half of it pulled in.

What's the single most important piece of advice you could give to younger sailors?
Take note of all tips and ideas that are given to you by your superiors and ask as many questions as possible to help you improve.

Who are your sailing heroes - and why?
Ian Walker, because to be able to crew and helm to Olympic Level takes some doing and he is extremely professional in his approach to the sport.

If you could sail for a day with anyone of your choice who would it be and why?
Dave Ullman, because he is extremely knowledgeable from years of sailing. His views are very specific and he tests ideas time and time again to see if they will work. If he does not agree with a method of doing something he will always give you many reasons and cases when it would fail.

Who do you think are the best sailors in Britain?
Extremely hard question to answer, I can only name a few that could be, one person does not spring to mind because there have been some legends in the past and present, but as the sport is so diverse with many different classes and types of sailing I can only name a few. Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy, Ian Walker, the late Jonny Merricks, Chris Law, Adrian Stead, Rodney Pattison.

Who do you rate as the best sailor in the world?
Again, I can only name a basket of sailors but it is teams that win races rather than individuals and as there are so many different classes and types of sailing I can only name a few. Also I feel that the rest of the crew should be mentioned more than are currently in results because sailing is often a team effort with each member having equally important jobs. For instance, a navigator or a trimmer is just as an important a member of the team as the skipper on a Volvo Ocean Race boat.
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