After being put through their paces at the gruelling 52-hour selection trials, six of this year’s 16 hopeful candidates have now been selected to join the 2013 Artemis Offshore Academy Development Squad.

The new Squad come from across the UK – Dyfrig Mon aged 24 joins the Squad from West Glamorgan, Jack Bouttell, the youngest new member at 21, Alex Gardner aged 22 and Ed Hill, 29, all hail from Southampton, alongside Mark Andrews, 26 from Weymouth, and the sole female sailor Nikki Curwen, aged 23 from Bournemouth.

These six new aspiring solo sailors will line up alongside existing Squad members Robin Elsey (20, Truro, Cornwall), Lizzy Foreman (22, Worcester Park, Surrey) and Sam Matson (21, Ottery St Mary, Devon) to form the 2013 Development Squad.

The judges at the Selection Trials, which included record setting sailor Dee Caffari, were looking for candidates that not only demonstrated technical sailing ability but also those that demonstrated a certain amount of mental toughness: “The 2012 Selection Trials have been the toughest yet and we are really pleased with the standard of applicants and their performance during the trials,” commented John Thorn, Performance Director. “Selecting the new squad has been a really tough decision and we’ve had to say no to some really talented sailors simply due to the available resources we have. We want those selected to have the best training programme possible.”

The pinnacle race of the 2013 season for the majority of Squad members will be the Solitaire du Figaro and with limited places available sailors will be competing for a spot on the starting line next year.

Copyright: Lloyd Images