LASER Radial sailor and Castle Cove Sailing Club member Jon Emmett has had another fantastic year with many successes.

Emmett coached the Chinese Sailor Lijia Xu to an Olympic gold medal at London 2012 in the Laser Radial class, as well as coaching her training partner Dongshuang Zhang.

However in 2013, Xu ended her sailing career leaving Emmett with an opportunity to take on a new challenge.

This year, he began coaching Oren Jacob and Danielle Maman of Israel. He said: “The year has certainly flown by and while I miss coaching the Chinese girls, I have had a great time with the Israeli girls. It is fair to say that I cannot imagine two more different cultures.”

Alongside his busy coaching career, Emmett still manages time to sail competitively in the Laser Radial fleet.

Earlier in the year, he added to his list of achievements with the Apprentice Masters European Championship title. As well as this, he defended his Apprentice Masters World title and the UK National Championships.

As the 2016 Olympics are soon approaching, time is of the essence. Emmett said: “As we get closer to the Olympics, it will be harder for me to race but I have always felt that competing in major international regattas has helped me to be a better coach – it has certainly helped me understand my sailors better.”

Emmett feels that coaching the Chinese girls gave him the leading edge, helping him to win events.

He said: “It seems ironic that all the match-racing practice I did with Lijia Xu in preparation for the 2012 Olympics was not necessary for her, but both the UK Nationals and Apprentice Masters Worlds came down to a match-race this year, so it certainly helped me.”

The end of the 2014 season was marked with the Laser Inland Championships and this year they were held at Rutland Sailing Club.

Emmett won the event by a clear five points from his nearest rival. He will soon return to Israel for his last coaching camp before Christmas.

He added “I wish everyone a successful and busy season in 2015 – time always flies when you are having fun.”