idea just seemed to grow.” Mike Koppstein was Noel’s yacht captain, so he was with the businessman right at the beginning of UKSA, when the idea of establishing a sailing charity first came about. Mike explained: “Noel always had the idea of making sailing accessible to under-privileged children. It came through his experience of the teamwork of sailing and he felt strongly that it was something everyone should be able to experience. “Noel was quite a shy unassuming person, and sailing made him feel comfortable. He understood his own limitations in his shyness and saw how the sailing environment made him more sociable. It bought the gamesmanship and confidence out of him. “In founding UKSA, the priority for him was to make an initial charitable donation but then for it to be run as a business. He was always very creative in making a pound go further while cleverly creating some income – so it was not just about giving money, but about making UKSA run proficiently.” Noel had raced in Cowes for years and when the opportunity arose to buy a waterfront centre from the Sports Council in October 1987 he knew it would be perfect. He invested £4 million in the Lister Charitable Trust to start the place afresh, and he applied his entrepreneurial principles to setting up the charity. In the early days there were 60 beds, and plenty of dinghies but no yachts, but it was busy with 1,500 children a year taking part in activities. The initial goal was to increase this operation by buying more kit to enable more schools to come along. With the growth in leisure holidays too, it became apparent that there were job opportunities for young people within the watersports industry, so UKSA looked into providing instructor training courses. The courses extended the operational arm of the charity, brought in income and helped young people set off on careers. It also kept the centre busy all year round, instead of closing for winter like it did in the early days. Later, the yacht training courses were established in response to a gap in the market and a need, all around the world, for experienced crew for the growing superyacht industry. Mike explained: “I came up with the idea of setting up crew training, because as far as we knew there was nothing else offering that. To the best of our