A YOUNG Helensburgh sailor who recently won the prize for Argyll and Bute's sporting achievement of the year is showing no signs of resting on his laurels.

Calum Bell, a fourth-year pupil at Lomond School, was presented with his prize this week by local councillor and area committee chair Gary Mulvaney.

But Calum is wasting no time in setting himself a higher goal.

“I'd love to compete in the Olympic Games,” 15-year-old Calum told the Advertiser. “That would be the peak of my ambition. I think that's what everyone wants, really.

“Most sailors who compete in the Olympics do so at the age of between 25 and 35, so I've got plenty of time to get there.”

Calum, who was one of six winners in the 2016 Argyll and Bute Sports Awards, was nominated as a result of his achievements in a Topper, the name given to a model of 11-foot sailing dinghy popular throughout the UK and Ireland for both sail training and racing.

He was selected for the British Topper squad as one of the best young sailors in the UK, requiring a commitment to attending training events and competitions throughout the country, and finished fifth in both the world and national championships.

He also received the Class Academy Sailor of the Year prize from RYA Scotland, and finished second in the 2016 Topper National Series, the highlight of his competition year being an outright win at the Plymouth Regatta.

“I've been sailing since I was five years old. I started on my dad's yachts on Loch Lomond and started racing in a Topper when I was 12.

“When I started getting better results locally, I began to think I could maybe do this in other places and achieve more.

“This year I wanted to achieve top five finishes in the world and national championships, get into the British Topper squad and be selected for the Scottish development team, and I've been able to achieve all those goals during the year.”

With that ultimate aim of the Olympics in mind, Calum has left his Topper-sailing days behind him and, just in the last few weeks, has begun racing in an International Class 420 dinghy – a bigger challenge altogether.

“It's very, very different,” he continued. “The 420 has three sails and it's a double-crewed dinghy, but I'm enjoying it a lot, and my first competition in a 420 is this weekend at the Zone Championships in Largs.”

In addition to his own sailing exploits, while Calum may have left his own Topper days behind him, he's also helping to bring on the next generation of young Helensburgh sailors by pitching in to help at their own weekly training sessions.

“I've always thought it would be a good idea to give something back to the sport,” he said.

“From volunteering here I've learned a lot about communication and team work. It's also helped bring back some of the basics of sailing – just in case I've forgotten them! - as well as improving my advanced skills, which could help me achieve more in the future.

“But I was very honoured to receive this award, and I'm very grateful to Helensburgh Sailing Club for nominating me.”

Though Calum was the only Helensburgh and Lomond winner in this year's Argyll and Bute awards, he wasn't the only Helensburgh Sailing Club nominee: he was joined on the overall shortlist by former club commodore Howard Marsden, who was put forward for the Service to Sport award as a result of his efforts to promote disability sailing in the area.

The club's 2016 commodore Alan Jeffrey said: “Howard has been the mainstay of Challenger disabled sailing in Helensburgh for eight or nine years now.

“He organises our disabled sailors and recruits a team of helpers for training sessions, and also organises six weekend-long Challenger events every year.

“It would take half a dozen people to do the jobs Howard does if he wasn't here.”

Turning to Calum's achievements, Alan said: “He's a relatively new member of the club, but he's made his mark almost instantly.

“He came to the club not quite the finished article, but he's come on in leaps and bounds.

“He's also been a great help on the training side – my daughter is one of the club's senior instructors and she says he's a great role model for the younger kids at the club.”