Any athlete, be it from beginner to Olympic level, appreciates the time, dedication and patience required to excel at their sport. When it comes to competing, these skills are often transferable – but vary depending on the setting. 

Earlier this year, James Peters and his sailing partner Fynn Sterritt, part of the Team GB 2024 Sailing Team in the Men’s skiff 49er class this summer, rose to the challenge – taking on part of the training pathway that Motorsport UK’s Academy athletes undertake.  

The pair have sailed together for close to ten years and have an in-depth understanding of what makes the other ‘tick’. 

Fynn Sterritt, comments, “There’s a real focus and attention to details, obviously at times in sailing there’s a lot going on and you are having to adapt to situations but there’s a lot of skills-based things as well.” 

Both Sterritt and Peters were invited to a two-day training session at the iZone Driver Performance Centre and Silverstone Rally School on 20 March. Trust and communication are some of the key components to creating an effective partnership. Using iZone’s state of the art GT and single-seater simulators and getting behind the wheel at Silverstone Rally School, both athletes were able to develop these components in a new environment outside of their comfort zone. 

James Peters, adds, “I think cross-contamination between sports is really useful, this is the first one that we’ve done (with the Motorsport UK Academy) and I’d love to do more.” 

Katie Baldwin, Head of Competitor Development, Motorsport UK said, “It was great to welcome James and Fynn to experience the motorsport performance environment, during a fun and informative two days. Motorsport has transferable skills that are an asset in a range of sporting disciplines and we hope that the skills they learned at Silverstone may contribute positively to overcoming future challenges in their sport.” 

The best of luck to all Team GB Athletes competing in this year’s Paris Olympics.