Photos: L ©2008 David Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race R ©2008 David Kneale/Volvo Ocean Race

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Mon, 21 Jul 2008 17:30:00 UTC

Several Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship sailors have gone on to win Olympic gold medals, lift the America’s Cup and triumph in the Volvo Ocean Race.

Few of them have passed under the radar of British coach Jim Saltonstall, who has made an immeasurable contribution in his 30-year association with the Youth Worlds.

Commenting on Jim’s achievements, ISAF President Göran Petersson said, “Jim has inspired countless youth sailors to achieve their best. His energy, passion, dedication and sense of fun are invigorating. Those who have been coached by Jim are fortunate to have benefited from his expertise. ISAF thanks Jim for all he has contributed to youth sailing and youth sailors around the world.”

A message sent from Great Britain’s two-time Olympic gold medallist Ben Ainslie, an ISAF Youth World Champion during Saltonstall’s time as British coach, read: “I just want to say a huge thank you from me and my generation of sailors like Iain Percy and Nick Rogers. Jim you were the guy that got us into international sailing, you got us on the road.

“Thank you for all your efforts with British sailing and with the international youth here at events like this. You have spent years passing on your knowledge which has made such a huge difference to so many people.”

Saltonstall attended his first ISAF Youth Sailing World Championship at Quiberon, France in 1977 as RYA senior racing coach. He continued in that role for 23 years, developing a formidable British youth team which won 10 individual titles, the best-nation trophy in both 1995 and 1996 and went on to form the nucleus of the British sailing team which topped the medal table at both the Sydney and Athens Olympic Games.

In 2002 he became the ISAF World Youth Sailing Trust coach, extending the benefit of his vast knowledge and communication skills to the full range of athletes competing at the event. With the ISAF Athlete Participation Programme (APP) introduced in 2003, Jim’s brief was expanded to support the sailors selected for the APP and since than time he has mentored more than 123 sailors from 41 nations. The success of Jim and the APP was amply demonstrated this year by Pavlos Kontides of Cyprus, who originally appeared at the Youth Worlds in 2004 on the APP, and this year won his second Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championship title.

Reflecting on his 30 years at the Youth Worlds, he said: “I look back at all that time and it's been marvellous to see so many of those sailors who've been through the Youth Worlds to go on to the Olympic platform and the America's Cup platform and go on to be successful. That is the job satisfaction of being the ISAF Youth Coach as well as the GBR Youth Coach. I'll sadly miss it, I really will. It's been awesome.”

In recognition of his achievements, Fiona Barron, ISAF Vice-President, presented Jim with the International Sailing Federation’s Coach of the Year Award for 2008. She said: “Jim’s expertise in coaching youth sailors, combined with his infectious enthusiasm, energy and sense of humour are guaranteed to inspire and make a difference. I am sure all of you here will have learnt many new skills either as a result of Jim’s direct coaching or through the post race debriefs.”

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