My Life in a Blue Suit

Jim Saltonstall was born in Yorkshire and grew up in Bridlington where he learnt to sail. He joined the Royal Navy aged 15 and sailed the world as well as racing for the Royal Navy and becoming the Navy Sailing Coach. From this he moved to the RYA to become National Yacht Racing Coach and set up the GBR Race Training Scheme which was the underpinning of Team GBR’s Olympic sailing success.

• Foreword; Introduction; My Early Years; Starting in the Navy; Moving on in the Navy; Becoming the Royal Navy Sailing Coach; My Olympic Campaigning; Setting Up the RYA Youth Programme; Moving on to the International Stage; Youth Results Start Coming; Development in Youth Training; Keelboats & Optimists; My Own Sailing; The Olympics; Going Freelance; More Coaching & Sailing. Interludes: The Ten Aspects of the Sport; Sailing International Regatta; Running a Youth Training Programme; Coaching at Events; Coaching to Success; Working with Parents; Dealing with Prima Donnas.

“His remarkable freewheeling autobiography… Jim describes a life well lived and work well done, dispensing encouragement and inspiring youngsters to chase their dreams. Any parent or budding Olympic sailor could do no better than keep this volume to hand.” (SailWeb)“Jim inspired generations of World Champions and Olympic medallists. He gave youngsters the belief that they could win, then provided the platform to create the skill sets to get the job done. There are a handful of people who deserve immense credit for the success of British sailing in the last 40 years and Jim is without doubt one of them.” (Sir Ben Ainslie)“Jim was ahead of his time in bringing together the best youth talent and giving them a structured approach in order to develop their sailing skills. His real skill was not what he coached, but it was making them feel that they belonged to something special, making them proud to represent Great Britain and in time helping us all believe we could win.” (Ian Walker)“Jim is a one of the standout coaches and mentors that deserves great credit for the influence he has had over Britain’s success in sailing. His enthusiasm, knowledge and tremendous sense of humour inspired so many young sailors to great things. He was immensely proud of his ‘ferrets’ and always had time for each and every one of us.” (Paul Goodison)