Being born on Portland and brought up in Weymouth provides me with a history and a heritage, along with an excuse for having an understanding and vision for observing the seaside around me. With Weymouth and Portland the sailing venue for the 2012 London Olympic Games it is as if the sporting world is coming to my own back yard.

        Weymouth Bay is the natural arena for the sailing events with a timelessness unchanged in generations. It is a natural amphitheatre evolved through 180 million years of geological history. As a deck chair attendant for the local Council in my mid- teens, a glance across the bay in the early morning would give me an accurate indication of the weather over the next few hours. So frequently that clear morning would be the calm before the storm. Local knowledge indeed, with the visitors unimpressed with my bad weather predictions. But I was frequently right! On a clear day the view of the bay is always spectacular with the sailing craft crossing the horizon from Weymouth Harbour towards Osmington Bay and back.