HELENSBURGH Olympic hopeful Charlotte Dobson recently took to the water in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race with the Ellen MacArthur Cancer Trust.

Dobson, who has a big year ahead of her as she bids to be selected for the British team for next year’s Olympics in Rio, took time out of her schedule to welcome five young people in recovery from cancer onto her yacht to sail in the Isle of Wight race.

Alongside sailing partenr Sophie Ainsworth, 29-year-old Dobson competes in the 49er FX, a high performance skiff, a new class for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games. Dobson made the switch to the new class having previously competed in the Laser Radial, she narrowly missed out on qualification to London 2012.

Having recently been selected to compete at the Olympic Test Event in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next month, Charlotte joined 22 young people in recovery from cancer from across the UK sailing on board the Trust’s five yachts participating in the race.

This was her first time sailing with the Trust and participating in the race. After crossing the finish line, she said: “It was absolutely epic. It’s just an amazing event anyway, but to do it with a whole bunch of really game young people, it was absolutely wicked.

“It was so cool to see how excited they were to get round the needles. We had a couple of problems with the jib breaking and some other bits and bobs like that but it all just added to the adventure.” Charlotte was joined by five young people in recovery from cancer on board their yacht Mother T, described the Trust: “I didn’t know much about the Trust before this weekend. It was amazing to see the kids having so much fun and also all the volunteers that are involved with the charity. It’s a really nice atmosphere to be around and a great environment to be in.” Now in its 84th year, the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race regularly attracts over 1,500 boats and 16,000 people who sail the 50 nautical mile course around the Isle of Wight. As the official charity since 2007, the Trust has raised over £200,000 to date through the race.