Jessica Nelson
Sports Award
- Age:
- 22
Biography
I am 16 years old from Rutland. I first started sailing after the rest of my family took it up as a leisure activity. After starting to sail with my school I decided to race competitively pushed on by the support I had from my partner. I have been competing for the past 4 years starting out in the RS Feva dinghy as a crew. 2 years ago I moved into the youth class of the 29er. This was a big step up requiring a greater level of fitness as well as technical knowledge sailing to get to the front of the fleet. For a year I sailed as a mixed gender pairing and was successful coming either 2nd or 3rd mixed pairing at every event we attended. We were qualified for the class national squad and after lots of hard work we won silver fleet at the RYA Youth Nationals. Unfortunately, due to injury, my helm was unable to compete in the nationals, as a result I had to find a new helm so I could continue the season. I decided at this point to partner up with a girl as only all female boats were accepted on the Olympic pathway. At our first event together with only one days training we qualified for gold fleet against the top 80 boats in the country. Unfortunately, as an all female boat we can often be disadvantaged in strong winds as we are a lighter pair and the boat design makes it easier for heavier pairings to do better in these conditions. At the first British Youth Sailing Team qualifier we were unsuccessful but did qualify for the Class National Squad once again as well as the Welsh National Squad as my partner is from Cardiff. This only pushed us to train harder and improve. As a result, at the Youth Nationals we came 5th girls and 16th overall in tricky conditions, when combined with our outstanding fitness test results we were accepted into the British Youth Sailing Team. This provides us with the best training we can get. I currently do not receive any other funding for my sailing. The JHMT is helping to provide me the support essential for such an expensive and competitive sport. It is really helping me to focus on being the best I can be.
Blog
Recent Training
Posted: 18th Mar, 2019
Over the past few weeks I have travelled across the country from Pwlhelli to Weymouth to take part in our various squad trainings. All three weekends were very breezy which helped us to work on our technique... Read More »
Fitness Profiling
Posted: 10th Feb, 2019
On Saturday i attended the fitness profiling session at the University of Hertfordshire to asses mine and all the other sailors' strengths and weaknesses. We did a variety of things including push ups,... Read More »
First training of 2019
Posted: 21st Jan, 2019
This weekend we had our first training of 2019 at Draycote Water Sailing Club, this inland venue provided fantastic training with lots of shifts and gusts that we had to plan ahead for and prepare for.... Read More »
Grafham Inlands and Rutland GP
Posted: 4th Dec, 2018
2 weeks ago we had the Graham Inland Championships, although the results were disappointing we learnt lots about what we needed to work on for the Rutland GP 2 weeks later. At that weekend we had a delivery... Read More »
Rutland Sports Awards
Posted: 21st Nov, 2018
Last week I attended the Rutland Community sports awards where I was nominated for Sportswoman of the year. As a result of my successes I win the award! It was a lovely night and it was amazing to meet... Read More »
Youth Squad Selection!
Posted: 25th Oct, 2018
As a result of our performance we have been offered a place in the British Youth Sailing Team for this coming season! We are very pleased with our achievement and would like to thank JHMT for their support... Read More »
Weymouth Selection Weekend
Posted: 26th Sep, 2018
With the storm coming through we battled the elements and ended to Weymouth, Dorset, for the British Youth Sailing Team Selection event. The first day consisted of a light wind race followed by two strong... Read More »
Welsh Squad Weekend
Posted: 20th Sep, 2018
In preparation for our upcoming British Youth Sailing re-selection event we travelled to Pwllheli, North Wales to train with the other top Welsh boats. We had some fantastic training with ranging conditions... Read More »