Sam Goodchild Sailing

Artemis Offshore Academy

www.artemisoffshoreacademy.com

The Artemis Offshore Academy is a vital building block for shorthanded offshore racers, something for a long time identified as being one of the shortcomings of British campaigns in the Mini, Figaro, Class 40 and IMOCA 60. Until now there has been no equivalent of the Pole Atlantique Course au Large, the famous shorthanded training centre in Port la Foret, which has spawned so many French winners in the leading shorthanded events. Today there are several such centres dotted around France’s coastline. However there are some differences between these and the new British academy. While the French ones are geared up to coach shorthanded sailors with existing campaigns, something with the Artemis academy will also offer through its ‘associate’ scheme, the British focus is primarily to identify talent and nurture them into potential Figaro/Vendee Globe winners.

Following the opening date for entries into the new Artemis Offshore Academy in August, there were 53 applications. These were then whittled down to 32, after their applications were poured over by the selectors, led by John Thorn, the academy’s newly appointed Performance Director. While Thorn admits he has no previous experience in the Vendee Globe, Figaro circuit or indeed any shorthanded offshore racing, he is amply qualified to head up the academy. Until now he has been the RYA’s National Sailing Coach, a giant managerial role that required him to oversee the RYA’s portfolio of coaching and training schemes run by 2,500 or so centres both in the UK and abroad. he is also personally a Yachtmaster Instructor and Examiner.

“The applicants had a wide variety of backgrounds, from dinghy sailors who had been through the RYA high performance squads to experienced keel boat sailors or yacht racing people,” he says. “They all had to fill in quite detailed application forms. We were looking at their past results, past experience, what they have done, who they are and how old they are. We also looked at physical traits like weight, height, body mass, etc.”

At the Artemis boot camp:
Over the course of September the Artemis Offshore Academy 32 was divided into teams of eight, each group separately invited down to Weymouth for a two and a half day assessment that included a ‘Fantasy Figaro Campaign’ (copyright Charles Derbyshire). “A cross between Dragon’s Den, the Apprentice and Super Stars” as Hiscocks describes it.

Even for the experienced John Thorn, the assessment was unique due to the diverse backgrounds of those taking part. “The trouble was the people we were looking to select didn’t necessarily have a track record in sailing Figaros or sailing in long distance offshore singlehanded events, so unlike any other selection process we have at the RYA, there is no track record or performance record you can easily compare. We batted a few ideas backwards and forwards and what we realised was that we weren’t going to answer any questions by getting them to sail up and down in boats that they weren’t familiar with. So we had to think of something that somehow got underneath the CV and tried to find out a little bit more about the person as well as their sailing ability and their past performance.”

The two and a half days began with psychometric testing (‘If I sense that people dislike me, I feel very uncomfortable’: True/False, etc) and physios for each participant, including work outs on rowing machines and timed runs.

There followed the Dragon’s Den element where each sailor had to deliver a pitch for sponsorship in front of a panel of judges, including Thorn, Frank Citeau who runs the training centre in La Grande Motte, where the eight finalists will be heading over this winter, OC’s Charles Darbyshire, Mike Hart, the RYA’s Coaching Development Manager, and management training advisor Brian Collier from GRA Associates.

“The product they were selling to themselves – why should we invest in you?” says Thorn.

Then the fun really started with the Fantasy Figaro Campaign, which took place over the final 36 hours of the assessment. Thorn explains: “The idea was to try and simulate the pressures and the environment they might experience in putting together a Figaro campaign. First of all there were some activities they had to undertake, which involved them gathering funds, solving problems and working together as smaller groups and larger groups, which you’d probably recognise as management training tasks, but they were all wrapped up in the sailing world.”