Upper Sixth Former Ollie Dwight’s sailing dreams were positively soaring over the summer when he and his sailing partner Will Smith scooped first place in the National Schools’ Sailing Association (NSSA) Youth Regatta.
The flagship event on the sailing circuit took place at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy – previously the Olympic Sailing Academy. The event is similar in size to the National Schools’ Rowing Regatta to provide some sense of scale.
This was Ollie’s fourth time competing in the regatta and after years of hard work, often training up to four times a week, Ollie and Will were thrilled to finish first for the Fast Fleet (which included Great Britain squad boats) out of hundreds of schools from all over the UK. This was the culmination of five days of competitive offshore racing.
If this was not enough, they then went on to win another first place for the fastest catamaran over the course of the week.
Ollie was also invited to sail at the UK F18 Nationals in Tresaith, West Wales over the August bank holiday weekend. Oliver was the youngest competitor at the event for the best 18-foot, twin-trapeze, catamaran sailors in the UK, at senior level. Despite this, he and his partner came 7th out of 16 boats in the three-day event – an excellent achievement.
Ollie has been sailing since he was eight years old when he would attend sailing summer camps, where he discovered his passion for the sport; he has been training and competing ever since.
In addition to his activities on the water, Ollie is studying for A-Levels in Maths, Design Technology and Music Tech. He hopes to take a gap year to spend time working in the entertainment industry and time with an Engineering company as well as finding some time to teach abroad. With a flair for maths and a creative mind, the world is Ollie’s oyster.