University sailor to train with Olympic squad

A Plymouth University student is riding on the crest of a wave after being selected to train with some of the nation’s golden generation of sailors. Peter McCoy, 19, has been invited to train with the Royal Yachting Association‘s (RYA) Olympic Development Squad ahead of this summer’s London games. He will be heading up to the Olympic sailing venue, the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy, to start training with the squad this weekend. He then hopes to compete in Sail for Gold 2012, also being held in Dorset, which will be used by many teams as a warm-up for the Games. Peter has already competed in the international arena as part of the RYA Volvo Laser Standard National Youth squad, and was fourth Briton home at the World and European Junior Championships in La Rochelle last year. He hopes this move will be the next step of his quest to follow in the wake of sailing superstars such as Ben Ainslie, who will go for his fourth gold in 2012, and World and European Champion Giles Scott. Peter, from Emsworth in Hampshire, said: “I have sailed since the age of four, and raced from 12.