Jeremy Arnold (helm)
I learnt to sail whilst very young, crewing in my father's 12' Skipper dinghy on annual family holidays in Norfolk and Keyhaven, near Lymington.

Later, at the age of twelve or so, I was very fortunate to join a school that had sailing as one of it's official sports, and it was here that I started helming and also learnt that you could actually racing sailing dinghies as well as simply cruising about for the fun of it. I represented my school in the NSSA events for three years, ending up sailing a Graduate with my friend Tim. We actually got selected to go to Jim Saltenstall's famous Cowes training academy (now defunct), and looked set for a glittering sailing career at the highest level - the Olympics and America's Cup beckoned - but unfortunately rather than going to Cowes Tim had to go on a family holiday in Wales! Bugger.

I never had much interest in the conventional youth classes (Laser, 420 etc), and ended up sailing a Phantom for several years, then the 2.4m keelboat. Later I messed about in catamarans a bit, and occasionally crewed a Flying Fifteen.

It was not until I met Mike that I began sailing seriously again, and slowly got back to the standards I had been achieving years before.

More info:
Job: Marketing Manager
Other Interests: Building and rebuilding cars, boats, houses and anything expensive

Mike Pearce (crew)
I started sailing in 1998 at Ogston Sailing Club initially in an Enterprise. Fed up with spending so much time in the water (Ogston's very gusty - that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!) I bought Flying 15 2162, a Shepherd - partly because of that lovely keel and partly because 15's look so classic under sail.

Looking for a sailing partner for the club's Pro/Am competition I asked Jeremy to sail with me. Under Jeremy's guidance (the less experienced sailor has to helm in this competition) we came a creditable 3rd and I picked up my first bit of glassware.

As a result of Jeremy's experience and enthusiasm we decided to try competing in the open circuit this time with Jeremy helming. We spent sometime re-rigging and improving the boat (including moving the shrouds 6 cm at deck level to take the 's' bend out of the mast!) In our first open meeting (Carsington in 2000) we were placed 4th. We developed our skills and confidence on the open circuit gradually improving our performance through the season.

More info:
Job: Retired
Other Interests: Writing, mountain biking, scuba diving, Gypsy Dancer.