British marina and boatyard Berthon is supporting sailor Vita Heathcote as she prepares to compete in the first mixed crew 470 at the Paris Olympic Games this summer.

Heathcote qualified by achieving second place in the recent 470 World Championships in Palma, Mallorca.

Berthon says it is paying for multiple suits of sails for Heathcote’s campaign over the next three months.

Heathcote hails from a sailing family in Lymington on the UK’s south coast. Her uncle is three-time Olympic sailor Nick Rogers, who won silver medals in the 470 class at Athens and Beijing.

While Optimist dinghy sailing locally and nationally, she was inspired by the three-woman keel boats raced in the 2004, 2008 and 2012 Olympics. It was a defining moment when she won the 2019 420 World Championships, and her coach prompted her to consider a 470 Olympic campaign.

She will also be the youngest sailor in the Team GB line-up at just 22.

“Going to the Olympics will be my greatest achievement yet,” Heathcote says.

Heathcote’s connection to Lymington-based Berthon is deeply rooted. “I’ve known Vita all her life,” says Dominic May, director of Berthon. I was there when she won the Optimist Nationals in 2014. She has sailed with us on our J80, and I am delighted to now be helping her on her Olympic journey.”

The Olympic Games Paris 2024 will take place in France from 26 July-11 August.

In the lead-up to and throughout the Olympics, Berthon will be closely following Heathcote’s journey and will be providing regular updates on her progress.

The news comes the same week that Pip Hare, one of MIN’s favourite IMOCA skippers, made the shocking announcement that her team is facing the reality of halting preparations for this year’s Vendée Globe amid ongoing funding woes.

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