Olympic sailor's boat raises £18,000 for charity

The boat used by an Olympic sailor at this year's Paris games has raised £18,000 for a charity that offers youngsters the ability to sail.

Micky Beckett, who represented Team GB this summer in the men’s dinghy class, charged people £10 a ticket to be in with a chance of winning the ILCA 7 dinghy he used to compete.

All the £18,053 raised will go to the Dorset-based Andrew Simpson Foundation, a charity set up in memory of British Olympian Andrew "Bart" Simpson following his death in 2013.

Also up for grabs in the raffle was the sail Beckett used at the Games, complete with its Olympic branding.

Beckett, who finished 6th in his event, said: "It's no secret that for athletes the time straight after the Olympics is a bit weird and can be a struggle, so doing this raffle has really helped me keep busy and made me feel like I'm making a difference."

"I swapped going to the gym for trying to sell tickets for £10 and I've really enjoyed how much everyone has engaged with it," he said.

Beckett, who is from Solva, in Pembrokeshire, personally called the winners to tell them of their success, and will deliver both prizes in person later this month.

He said raising money for the Andrew Simpson Foundation had "always been something" he had wanted to do.

Nicknamed Bart, Andrew Simpson died while training for the America's Cup in San Francisco Bay in May 2013.

The foundation was set up by fellow sailors Sir Ben Ainslie and Iain Percy, along with his widow Leah Simpson and his sister Amanda, to support youth sailing.

It operates not-for-profit watersports centres in Portland, Portsmouth, Reading and Birmingham.

Caroline Slocock, the Andrew Simpson Foundation’s fundraising manager, said the money raised in the raffle would enable more than 500 children to have a go at sailing.

"Athletes like Micky are great inspirations for the young people we welcome onto the water, and the money raised could even be an introduction to sailing for future Olympic stars," she added.

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