OLYMPIC debutants Ben Saxton and Nicola Groves believe being so different can be the secret of their success when they make history as the first Brits to compete in the new Nacra 17 catamaran Olympic class in Rio on Wednesday.

Saxton, who lives in Weymouth, and Londonraised Groves, teamed up in the Nacra in September 2014, and the new partnership quickly paid dividends as the pair were crowned European champions the following year.

The Nacra 17 was introduced as a mixed class for Rio 2016, the first time there has ever been a mandatory combined male and female Olympic sailing class, while it also marks the return to the Games for multihulls since the Tornado in Beijing 2008.

Saxton, 26, describes his crew-mate as “very relaxed in her own haphazard way!”

while 27-year-old Groves says her team-mate is “real fire”.

With the high-octane Nacra guaranteed to throw up some of the most exciting racing in Rio, the pair insist they have the perfect blend to turn firsttimer adrenaline into podium glory.

Groves said: “The Nacra 17 is definitely the fastest, most furious boat in the Olympics.

It’s very, very physical, and you have to be able to move at the same time as pulling a large amount of weight, so it’s quite challenging. If you do the wrong thing you know about it, the boat will just kick you off. There’s no let up in it at all.

“Ben and I are quite different but I think that really helps. Ben’s real fire, real passion and, not that I don’t have fire or passion, but we express it differently. If you had two people that were exactly the same it wouldn’t work in the boat together, you would have too much of one thing and not enough of the other, so we work really well.

The four-time Nacra world champions, Billy Besson and Marie Riou of France head to Rio as the favourites for gold, but the Brits believe being part of the most successful Olympic sailing nation can help give them an edge in their quest for an upset.

Saxton said: “It’s special because we’ve got all the team history over all the years, so as members of the team, we want to keep that going for the team as well as ourselves.”