David Carr

"My parents were very sporty people and encouraged me to get involved in as much sport as I could so I played everything that was available – football, cricket, basketball, hockey, I loved it all.  

"But growing up on the south coast meant I spent a lot of time in and on the water and that’s where I really developed a passion for sailing. I remember watching Ben Ainslie in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics round about the time I was getting more successful in my sailing and that really prompted me to take it more seriously. 

"I was lucky to be at St Luke’s when they had just put a lot of money into the new gym. It was so good having amazing facilities so close, I’d never had that before and there was absolutely no excuse not to train. I also benefited from being surrounded by a lot of like-minded people. There were a few scholars in my halls and we all had the same sort of plans – it was helpful when trying to motivate yourself to study or to get up really early for training.

"Having a scholarship made a big difference to me. I was sailing for the BUSA (British Universities Sailing Association) national team which meant a lot of travel, including overseas. The cost of traveling to compete racks up quickly and the scholarship helped to cover this, meaning I could represent my university and my country. This included winning the inaugural World University Sailing Championship in 2002 (worth noting that of the five crew members in the GB team, three were from Exeter).

"Top Universities like Exeter attract athletes at the top of their game and with the right mentality to succeed. Scholarships can provide that final part that helps them achieve their potential, allowing them to focus on their training and to travel for competitions and international meetings. It definitely helped me start my career in this way.

"My ultimate goal is to try and win the America's Cup. I'm currently part of the INEOS Team led by Sir Ben Ainslie and training is going well for New Zealand. We have our team ready to go now and later in 2019 we’ll be launching our race boat and then learning how to extract every last bit of performance from it. Then in 2020 the Regattas start building up and we have the main race in 2021. It’s honestly all my dreams rolled into one!"