We caught up with our 2024 PASS recipients, Flo Tovey, Harry Mills, Wilbur Palmer-Ward, and Thomas Semmens, to find out how their 2024 season has gone so far.
Through the PASS programme, we provide unparalleled opportunities for young athletes to hone their skills and reach their full performance potential. This includes top-notch coaching tailored to their individual needs, event support to navigate the competitive racing circuit, invaluable mentoring from seasoned professionals, and essential kit to gear them up for success on the water.
Here’s what Flo had to say!
Reflect on this summer, how do you think you have progressed?
Summer 2024 has been such an experience! It was so great to have such a sailing packed long summer after finishing my GCSEs in June. Over the summer I had my first experiences racing in international fleets, first at Kiel week and at a Europa cup and then at the ILCA 6 Youth Europeans! I really enjoyed the experiences and really feel like it has helped me improve my starts, race craft and overall experience. I also spent some time learning to foil in a WASZP, I decided to enter the WASZP UK Nationals where we had challenging wind all week; it was definitely a steep learning curve, but I had such a blast!
Looking ahead, what are your goals for the next sailing season, and how do you plan to achieve them?
Over the next sailing season my goals are to continue working on my decision making and light wind ILCA sailing as that has been highlighted as a weak point of mine. I am super excited to spend more time on the water in the WASZP, learning to race and improving general foiling ability. For the coming season I am lucky enough to have been selected for the British Youth Squad which I believe will help me immensely improve my ILCA racing and help me achieve my goals for the future! I am also really excited to have the awesome opportunity to train in the Athena Pathway squad which will be great for my WASZP sailing.
What was the most memorable moment of the summer season for you, and why?
I would have to say one of my favourite memories from this summer was racing at Kiel week! We had some champagne sailing conditions, and it was such a cool experience racing with so many boats from all over the world. Apart from the racing in the day there was a huge festival all over the city that made for some great fun in the evenings.
What’s one new skill or trick you’ve picked up this summer that you’re particularly proud of?
Although the summer was packed with lots of learning and new skills, the one I am particularly proud of Is learning to foil gybe in a WASZP. Consistency is not yet there but it is coming!
Can you share a funny or unexpected moment that happened on the water this summer?
The most unexpected and slightly funny moment of the summer was probably on the day that every ILCA 6 racing at Kiel week had a tracker on the boat, after a very breezy day of racing on the water to my surprise I was recorded as having the fastest boat speed on the water. Alas this didn’t translate into race winning results.
