On Wednesday evening (27th August) Lymington welcomed its three Olympic Sailing Medallists home. Gold Medallists Ben Ainslie (Finn) and Pippa Wilson (Yngling), and Silver Medallist Nick Rogers (470) were welcomed by a cheering crowd as they arrived at the Royal Lymington Yacht Club where they are all members, to greet well-wishers and give a few tips to the youngsters training in the river.
While there is no shortage of press interest in the success of the British Olympians, it was Marina Johnson of ClearLine Communications who organised and co-ordinated the media presence at the club. Several local TV stations were present and both South Today and Meridian gave live broadcasts during the day to their local news programmes. There were also regular news bulletins throughout the day on local radio.
Amidst live TV transmissions and clamouring photographers the Olympic stars met dozens of children on the pontoons, who were taking part in the very successful Wednesday Junior Sailing Programme. They autographed lifejackets and even ventured down the river on the dinghies to demonstrate some of the secrets of their success to the children. The Olympians then spent half a hour greeting the crowds and signing autographs outside the club.
Later the trio were toasted by club members, led by Commodore Geoff Holmes who bestowed Honorary Life Membership of the Club on Nick and Pippa, along with Adrian Jardine who won Silver in 1968. Ben had already received that honour following his Gold Medal win in Sydney in 2000. An honours board was unveiled listing all the club members who have been selected to represent Great Britain at the Olympics over the years.
A message of congratulations from the club’s Patron HRH the Princess Royal was read out.
The Royal Lymington Yacht Club praised ClearLine’s efforts but for us it’s all part of job and we were pleased to be involved in celebrating such a fantastic achievement.
