We were naturally delighted when Vita Heathcote and Chris (Twiggy) Grube claimed silver in the 470 World Championships in early 2024 and by doing so secured Team GB, and themselves, a qualifying place in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
There are many enthusiastic sailors within Cecil Wright and grassroots sailing is something that Chris Cecil-Wright holds very close to his heart, so it was a natural fit for Cecil Wright & Partners to support Vita over the last three years with a boat, sails and enthusiasm to help her achieve her dream of reaching the 2024 Summer Games. Letter from Vita:
“I want to thank Cecil Wright who has been there throughout; right from the start, always in my corner and giving me the backing I need to achieve great things! Their support has given me the confidence in myself that I’ve needed at times to keep pushing. It is a very special partnership that I value greatly.
Having not raced since August 2023, I felt a bit blind going into the Worlds in terms of where we stacked up in the fleet. I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect but I knew we had to use what we did have and fight bloody hard! What everyone else does is out of our control, we needed to channel our learning and bring the best versions of ourselves, and I was confident we would come out well. And boy did we do that!
I’m very proud to say we found the best versions of ourselves – through solid routines and utter focus. Every day I would go out with the thought of right, I’m just going to concentrate as hard as I possibly can, knowing that our boat WILL go fast!
After six months of training, I was SO ready to go racing. Waking up on day one of the event, I was literally vibrating with energy! This is why we do what we do. It’s for this moment. Getting on that start line, heart rate elevated, I channel that energy into absolute focus on the task at hand.
I can’t explain how much I love 470 racing! There is nothing on planet Earth like it. The pureness and intensity of it is incomparable to any other racing.
Every day I was awake at 6am (my body just decided to) buzzing for the day ahead, I literally couldn’t contain my energy and excitement! We kept things simple, were comprehensive and consistent with our pre-race routines. We would always have the right conversations; about the conditions, identify priorities and style of sailing needed for the day.
It is so great to have such experience in the boat with me. This was Twiggy’s 15th World Championships! Knowing that he’d been under this pressure 15 times before was so reassuring and allowed me to fully focus on my job, knowing full well that he was doing the same.
What I determined was this… we race very well together. Things feel simple and collaborative, that’s not to say easy! It made me realise that for us, our training has been about learning how to race together; verify our roles, routines, strengths and weaknesses, and where we can collaborate. This is what made us so powerful.
The most impressive part of our week was the consistency of our series. We never got a result outside the top 13. This is very rare in such a long series and shows we can always fight back from a tough position. This is extremely powerful and not something easily achieved.
After such an encouraging performance, we have eyes on the top spot! There was not a lot between us and the gold medal performance. I have full faith that if we continue like we have been, trusting the process – that gold could be ours.”
Vita Heathcote
The Paris Olympics will run from the 26th of July to the 11th of August, with the sailing events taking place in Marseille Marina between the 28th of July and the 8th of August. Watch Vita and Twiggy with us this summer.