CAPTAIN | 10
QUALIFYING SERIES | MAY-JULY 2022 | Switzerland 
FINAL SERIES | NOV-DEC 2023 | Spain 
THE SPITFIRES
DOG FIGHTING ON THE SEA AS THEY DO IN THE SKY
RUTHLESSLY SWOOPING DOWN TO TAKE OUT OPPOSITION
A seafaring island nation, Britain built its empire on the water thanks to naval heroes such as Nelson to explorers such as Francis Drake and Captain Cook, while modern day adventurers, such as round the world sailing pioneers Sir Francis Chichester and Sir Robin Knox-Johnson have continued this tradition.
Since then Britain has ruled the waves in competitive sailing. Here there are two principle disciplines – match racing and fleet racing. The British SSL Gold Cup team is master of both. Since 2000, British sailors have won the Match Racing World Championship more than any other nation, while one of their number is the world’s most capped champion. But an even stronger display of British sailing skill has been in the Olympic Games. As in match racing, the world’s most successful Olympic sailor of all time is British. Britain is also by far the most successful Olympic sailing nation of all time. While Britannia came out on top in the first Olympiads of the early 1900s, similarly, more than a century on, she has been top sailing nation in four of the last five Games.
With such depth of talent from which to choose, the British team enters the SSL Gold Cup as one of the competition’s favourites.
Statistics
THE COUNTRY
- 3.900,000 particpants in watersports activities
- 120’000 sailors
- 800 sailing clubs
- 1800 sailing schools
- 31368 km of sea coast
ACHIEVEMENTS
- 1 Olympic Gold Medal
- 12 Match Racing World Championship golds
- 9 fleet racing world championship wins
Ssl ranking
- SSL best ranked woman:HANNAH MILLS
- SSL best ranked man:JOHN GIMSON
- SSL nations ranking:1 (06/2023)
MAIN EVENTS
- Round the Island Race> 1800 participants
- Cowes Week> 1000 participants
- Rolex Fastnet Race> 380 participants
58
Since sailing made its debut at the inaugural Olympic Games in 1896, British sailors have won more Olympic medals – including 28 golds – than any other nation
The captain
IAN WILLIAMS
The 43-year-old captain of SSL Team GBR is the most successful skipper on the international match racing circuit. The former lawyer turned professional sailor was the first British skipper to win the Match Racing World Championship and has gone on to make history winning the prestigious title a further five times. Recently he has proved he has lost none of his competitive edge winning two of the world’s leading match racing events, the Congressional Cup and Argo Group Gold Cup in 2019.
THE LEADERS
MATT CORNWELL
Coming from the UK’s sailing hotspot of Lymington, Matt Cornwell is one of the UK’s most sought-after bowmen. Having cut his teeth with the GBR Challenge America’s Cup campaign in Auckland in 2003, Cornwell was with the French Areva Challenge in Valencia four years later before joining Team Origin and ultimately the INEOS Team UK America’s Cup challenge.
GILES SCOTT
Doing an admirable job taking over Ben Ainslie’s position in Team GBR aboard the Finn is Giles Scott. The towering Brit has dominated the heavyweight men’s single hander, winning four Finn Gold Cups and securing Olympic gold at Rio 2016 with a day to spare. He now splits his time campaigning for the Tokyo Olympics and as tactician for the INEOS Team UK America’s Cup challenge.
GERRY MITCHELL
Since cutting his teeth in the Whitbread Round the World Race on the Dolphin & Youth and then on Silk Cut and Tyco, Gerry Mitchell has earned himself a reputation as one of the world’s top mainsheet trimmers. A ‘safe pair of hands’ Mitchell has been part of many of Ian Williams’ match racing victories, as well as three Farr 40 World Championship titles.
THE YOUTH FACTOR
One of the keys to Team GBR’s Olympic success over the last two decades has been due to the Royal Yacht Association identifying and then nurturing young British sailing talent. This has created some of the world’s very best sailors including Sir Ben Ainslie, Iain Percy and Chris Draper and continues to do so with two recent successes being Emma Wilson and Islay Watson, following Olympic bronze medallist Bryony Shaw in becoming respectively the 2017 and 2018 RS:X Women’s Youth World Champions.
Confirmed Athletes
Potential Team Position
|
1
BOW
Matt Cornwell
|
2
FLOATER
Freya Black
|
|
3
PIT
James Dodd
|
4
GRINDER
Phil Clapp
|
|
5
TRIMMER
Pete Cumming
|
6
TRIMMER
Aaron Cooper
|
|
7
MAIN TRIMMER
Luke Patience
|
8
HELM
Ian Williams
|
|
9
TACTICIAN
Nic Asher
|
10
CAPTAIN
Ian Williams
|
|
11
FLOATER
James Peters
|
|
1
BOW
Matt Cornwell
|
|
2
FLOATER
Freya Black
|
|
3
PIT
James Dodd
|
|
4
GRINDER
Phil Clapp
|
|
5
TRIMMER
Pete Cumming
|
|
6
TRIMMER
Aaron Cooper
|
|
7
MAIN TRIMMER
Luke Patience
|
|
8
HELM
Ian Williams
|
|
9
TACTICIAN
Nic Asher
|
|
10
CAPTAIN
Ian Williams
|
|
11
FLOATER
James Peters
|
SQUAD
| Ian Williams | Matt Cornwell |
| Gerry Mitchell | Gilles Scott |
| Elliot Hanson | Iain Percy |
| Pete Cumming | Anna Burnet |
| James Dodd | Charlotte Dobson |
| Dave Carr | Andy Hemmings |
| Luke Patience | Aaron Cooper |
| Neil Hunter | Paul Goodison |
| Freya Black | Amy Seabright |
| Phil Clapp | Elliot Willis |
| James Peters | Nic Asher |