Sailing better than farming for GB star Amelia
By Derek Davis
23rd Oct 2022 | Local News
Nub News gets Up Close with Great Britain sailor Amelia Mayhew as she trains with for the World Championships in Australia
At first glance there does not seem to be too much comparison between Shotley Gate and Melbourne, but for farmer's daughter Amelia Mayhew, it offers the perfect training waters ahead of the World Sailing Championship on the other side of the world.
As part of the GB team of 24 Cadet class sailors, Amelia is enjoying home advantage of being able to train out of Shotley Sailing Club's dinghy park and squeezing every knot and nautical mile out of the breezes swirling down the river Stour, and out into the North Sea and the relative shelter of Dovercourt Bay.
Amelia, who is 17 today, has been schooled at Woolverstone High since Year 4, has been hooked on sailing since she was seven-years old.
She has used all that experience to climb to the top of her class and pass on tips and techniques to her 13-year-old crew Hettie Thorogood, granddaughter of renowned author Julia Jones.
"My parents always sailed so I have grown up watching them and I started sailing at seven learning with an older person
"It took a lot of training sessions to improve but now I am paying that back by helping by crew Hettie improving."
A combination of camaraderie and competitiveness lie at the heart of Amelia's love of the sport.
"All the fiends I have made, will be my friends for life, no doubt," she said. "Also, having that competitive element as well definitely makes it rewarding when you do well.
"It is good to learnt to deal with things even if you are doing badly, it is about learning to keep the right mindset."
Although the GB team are made up of accomplished sailors, travelling from as far as Southampton. Weymouth and London to train at Shotley, the young sailors usually based at Waldringfield on the Deben, were getting some polishing up skills fro coach Matt White.
Amelia and Hettie listened attentively at the pre-training session in the dinghy park on a blustery morning knowing fine tuning the technical aspect could prove the difference in the rankings.
"Cadet sailing is the most technical among junior boats," Amelia explained. "The boat is not symmetrical like the Terrors, Fevers and others
"There are a lot of different settings, knowing how to use the compass, reading the wind, so it is very satisfying when you get it right.
"It is physically tough, especially when you have these winds like off Shotley, which is similar to what we will face in Melbourne.
"For us a good race is will be finishing top 10 in Australia."
Amelia has had taste of world class sailing before but now as skipper she knows it will be different level and is confident crew Hettie will rise to the challenge with her.
"The Worlds in Australia is a once in a lifetime experience," said Amelia. "I went to Argentina when I was 11 as crew and competed in the southern hemisphere but this is the top of things to do.
"We are looking forward to the opening ceremony, wearing GB kit, and then competing against the best in the world.
"We have learnt as a pair and have got our routine. We get on really well and have a great chemistry, which is so important."
Amelia is also an avid tennis player when not on the water and has her sights on being a lawyer in the future, despite coming from a farming family working the land on the Shotley peninsula for generations.
"Farming is not not for me," laughed Amelia, even though she does help out and was recently harvesting potatoes. "I much prefer sailing."
Although a keen tennis player, and studying hard for her upcoming A-Level exams, Amelia is fund raising when not competing, including silly cakes with her friend Toby at the Open farm Sunday during the summer.
Her dad Geoff was the auctioneer at fund raiser to get all the Cadet boats and equipment onto a container which is currently half way to Australia.
Amelia and Hettie have also pledged to support the Woolvestone Project help coach disabled sailors from next April, as part of an initiative organised by the author Julia Jones.
Amelia said: "I like to give back and it is so good to come sailing get away from school life.
"The Woolverstone Project will be part of that after the Worlds.
"For all of us to even get to Australia has been down to so many people. I want to thank you to my parents and all the sailing people helping us and now also Shotley Sailing Club to for letting us train here."
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