Shirley Robertson Talks to Four of Sailing's Most Successful and Influential Sailing Coaches

In late 2021, I was surprised and privileged to be invited to sit down and and record an

interview with the legendary sailor, Shirley Robertson for her acclaimed podcast.

This was part of a series where Shirley interview 4 coaches from different areas of the sport, but all at the top of their game (well, at least the other three are - I am still tapering toward a peak hopefully!!). There was Joe Glanfield (double Olympic silver-medallist as a sailor himself

fresh from winning another gold medal as a coach for Team GBR at the Tokyo games), my good friend Phillipe Presti (amazing sailor from the Finn and Star classes and these days a renowned America’s Cup coach) and Anje-Marijcke Van Boxtel (a business and personal coach who was fundamental in shaping the success of Team Brunel in the gruelling environment of the last Volvo around the world race.

Shirley herself is a dual Olympic gold-medalist and has a very successful and high-profile career in the media helping to promote our sport.

Shirley and her partner (and my mate) Tim have become close friends of ours in Cowes and I love the time we all spend together over a glass of wine and telling tales. It was a pleasure and honour too sit down at her house and chat through something I am passionate about - which is helping others in sailing.

I never miss Shirley’s podcasts. They are often playing in my man-cave as I am crafting something or other that hopefully makes someone’s boat go a little faster. Check out the podcast - Series 3 - Ep13 - Sailing's Super Coaches Part 1. And do yourself a favour and subscribe to it.