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Charlotte Dobson

Posted 7 months, 1 day ago

Charlotte Dobson
Only one sailor can represent Britain in the Laser Radial at the 2008 Olympics and it’s tough call who will go. The RYA Olympic Selection Committee has determined the events which will form the continuing Trials in the Laser Radial class. The shortlisted four of Andrea Brewster, Penny Clark, Charlotte Dobson and Lizzie Vickers who will be tested at the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January and, if required, the Laser Radial World Championship at Takapuna (NZL) in March and the French Olympic Sailing Week at Hyeres (FRA) in April. Copyright: OnEdition Louay Habib spoke to Charlotte Dobson, one of the rising stars in British sailing; “I grew up in Helensborough, on the west coast of Scotland and from a young age, I was heavily into tennis; Pete Sampras and Martina Navratilova were two of my heroes, they were both a class act and a cut above the rest, in their day. Especially as they could perform over and over again and were so exciting on court, just amazing to watch. I did play a bit of hockey but I was only good at smacking the ball pretty hard! However, I did make the Scottish junior squad for tennis but I wasn’t really quick enough around the court. For me, tennis has many similarities to racing a Laser; you have the obvious fact that they are both sports for individuals but there are other similarities. They share the same sort of mental approach and like sailing; every match and every surface is different. To succeed in tennis or sailing, you need to be able to master multiple tactical situations and to come out on top, whatever the conditions throw at you.” “Probably, the main influence on me to get into sailing was my mother; she was in the Olympic riding squad which meant a fair bit of riding at a young age. However, she thought it was cheaper to buy me a boat rather than a pony! My mum is really supportive about my sailing but she is not a pushy parent, just very supportive.” I got my first big break at the Laser Radial Youth World Championships in Barcelona. I was just 15, a little kid; I didn’t have a clue really. It was a light airs regatta and in one of the races, I had an awesome start, hitting the line, spot on the gun with good speed. I had decided to go right and “banged” the right hand corner. I got incredibly lucky, as the wind shifted in my favour and I was a long way ahead on the first beat. I couldn’t really go downwind well, I just sat inside the boat and watched, as everybody caught me up but as I was so light, I would get away upwind again. As I said, I got very lucky but it definitely gave me a taste of beating top competition, the boys included! I got the confidence that I could win at the higher level. Up until then, sailing had been something that I did for a lot of fun and the sheer enjoyment of it, especially travelling around meeting new and exciting people but winning that race motivated me to try and really get to the top of the sport.” Charlotte became part of the RYA youth squad and achieved some good results early in her career, notably by the age of just 19, she was ranked 7th in the ISAF world rankings for the Laser Radial. Charlotte looked set for a glittering sailing career but early in 2006 she began to feel unwell, she was diagnosed with glandular fever. It was very frustrating, especially not being able to train as much or as intensively. Dobson entered events, even though she knew that she was not going to sail the boat anywhere near her capabilities. As a result her world ranking fell and for a time it looked like her aspirations of going to the Olympics was over. However, spurred on by a win, at the 2006 Sail for Gold Regatta, Dobson crept back into the ISAF world top twenty which was crucial, for funding purposes. By August 2007, Charlotte came 5th at the Olympic Test event in Qingdao, the venue for the 2008 Olympics, she is currently ranked 12th in the world, the highest of a highly talented group of British Laser Radial sailors including; Lizzie Vickers (14th), Andrea Brewster (16th), Laura Baldwin (23rd) and Penny Clark (24th). The competition between these four girls is fierce, only one of them will go to China and their results, over the next few months, will give deep joy to one of them and the despair of failure to three. To achieve a level of skill and experience to even get a chance of qualification for the Olympic Games requires a lot of hard work, determination and a huge amount of dedication. As Charlotte Dobson explains; “I do a lot of cycling, 2 or 3 weights session a week and lots of core stability work. I am a bit of a liability on a bike but it does make a massive difference to my fitness. The great thing about using cycling, as the main way of physical training, is that I can take my road bike to training centres or regattas. I can continue the same level of training wherever I am. All in all, it is a fantastic way to train, it feels more like enjoyment than a chore, especially somewhere like Palma Mallorca; cycling around the beautiful countryside or along the coastal roads is great, it doesn’t feel like training at all! Core stability is a big issue, not just for the Laser Radial but in any boat. You are only as strong as your weakest link and core stability is a foundation in many ways for all of the physical side of sailing. In the Laser Radial, the correct posture for hiking is quite a difficult one; you must keep very straight in your back, keeping your shoulders square and not rounded. To hold that posture relies heavily on good core stability. All the exercises, designed to work the different muscles around your torso, makes an amazing difference to your ability to hike correctly. It improves the strength of your back and much more and as a result gives you more power, stamina and also prevents a lot of injuries. I am still only 21, so I am very near the bottom of the learning curve; I still have a long way to go, not just in improving my sailing ability but also my physical conditioning.” Copyright: OnEdition To reach the top of any sport requires dedication and that is no different for sailing that requires sacrifices by Charlotte and those people around her; “ I have sailing dreams that I aspire to reach but there are others as well, like having a career afterwards and I guess, for a while, you have to put those other dreams on hold. Also, I have to spend a lot of time away from friends and family and that for me is a massive sacrifice but that’s about it. I am doing what I love, working towards something I really want and I am having a wicked time doing it.” “I still go out with friends and have a good time but I just come home a little bit earlier and my really close friends are the people I have grown up with and they know what I am doing and they know I have always been like that anyway, they don’t expect me to be any different. Anyway, I am a terrible dancer so it is probably best I don’t go to too many night clubs!” “Weymouth is an amazing place to train; you can get such a broad range of conditions from one venue and not just in terms of wind strength. In the bay you can get ocean swell and inside the harbour you can have chop and a real variety of wind direction and I think that is really cool. It is a real asset, if during a regatta; you can change your perspective about the conditions from one day to the next. Weymouth is a good place to learn that conditions can easily change from one day to the next. Also we now have a fantastic facility there; there is great support from the RYA and it is just nice to be with a big group of people who all have the same focus. I will be training their right up until the end of December and then I will be going to Miami for the first big event of what I hope will be an exciting 2008.” This article was produced for Yachts and Yachting magazine. Thanks to On Edition for the images. Full Story »

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