Name: Nathan Clark

Age: 17

Sails: ILCA 6

What first sparked your passion for sailing, and how did you get started?

I first started sailing in 2016 at the Oulton Broad Water Sports Centre during a school holiday club where I learnt how to sail and paddle, one of the instructors encouraged me to join Waveney and Oulton Broad Yacht Club where I completed my RYA stages, In 2018 I was given exclusive use of a club boat and started club racing.

What has been your most memorable experience on the water?

My favourite moment was definitely at the 2025 RYA Youth Nationals where in race 3 I had the worst of starts, getting rolled by the entire fleet. I managed to fight my way back to the front of the pack by mark 1 and finished winning the race by over 40 seconds.

How do you hope this scholarship will help you achieve your sailing goals?

My main goals for this year are to go back and work on the basics, to refine those skills so that I can become a more well rounded sailor. This will also help me be more confident in tougher manoeuvres. I feel that the high quality of coaching will really help me refine these skills.

When you're not sailing, what are some of your other hobbies or interests?

When I'm not sailing I'm a level 3 apprentice technician learning to repair cars and sometimes even helping my bosses prepare their stock cars for racing, I enjoy this as helps develop my problem solving skills by creating a plan on how to tackle issues.

Who or what inspires you most in your sailing journey and why?

I have fond memories of my first ever race coach Tom Thwaites who was given the difficult task of teaching me how to race my topper after i just learnt to sail. He was so patient teaching me to rolltack and looking back on the videos of my sailing back then is quite embarrassing. He was so supportive and it was very inspiring as he had just won the Eastern Region Series for the first time which he went on to repeat in the following two years and it gave me something to aim for.

If you could sail anywhere in the world, where would you go and why?

I would love to sail at Lake Garda again, because first of all I absolutely love Italy as its a beautiful country but also because you are almost guaranteed wind, due to the geography of the area. In the morning we would sail out in lighter conditions before the Ora would kick in around lunchtime creating some epic sailing conditions.

Do you have any funny or embarrassing sailing moments you'd like to share? 

Last year, whilst racing my ILCA at my local club regatta I was rushed into a tack by a starboard boat. Unfortunately, I missed the toe strap and fell out of my boat and almost landed in the other boat. I didn't learn my lesson, as the very next day I managed to do the same thing during a tack but this time almost landing on the shore instead!

If you could have any sailing-related superpower, what would it be?

If I could have any sailing super power it would definitely be the ability to control the wind because then I can give myself all the wind whilst leaving the opposition in the doldrums.