It is the age-old question. What is more valuable, experience or youth?

For mixed 470 pair Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote, the hope at Paris 2024 is that it can be both.

At 39 years old, Grube has come out of retirement to appear at his third Olympic Games, and he will be the oldest sailor representing Team GB.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the spectrum, Heathcote has only just turned 23 and is the baby of the 14-strong contingent heading to Marseille Marina.

The pair have only been sailing together for a year, but have earned qualification for Paris and will now look to prove that the experience of one, combined with the youth of the other, can be a winning formula.

Family Connections

Nicknamed Twiggy, Grube joined the British Sailing Team two decades ago in 2004, although he had to bide his time for an Olympic opportunity.

After winning Junior World bronze in the 470 alongside Luke Patience, he then missed out to his former partner when the duo went head-to-head before London 2012.

By this time, Grube was sailing with double Olympic silver medallist Nick Rogers, who is none other than Heathcote’s uncle.

Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote in the 470 class (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images)

The pair narrowly missed out to Patience and Stuart Bithell, although that selection was vindicated as the Brits brought home silver in the class down in Weymouth.

In some ways, it is a case of full circle now that Grube is sailing with the next generation of the family.

And for Heathcote, that means the chance to match the exploits of her uncle Nick, who won silver in the men’s 470 in both Athens and Beijing.

“I think he’s just as excited as I am,” Heathcote said of her uncle. “It’s like another life for him.

“There’s lots of wisdom from him. He’s been through it all – the mistakes, the epiphanies, the breakthroughs.

“He’s been quite a solid sounding board for me because when you’ve come out the other side, you have a much better reflection overall compared to being in it. You’re still quite blindfolded to some of it, mistakes wise.

“He’s super excited for me and it’s a ‘go get it’ from him, for sure.

“I’m not sure if that would cause some family rift if I got the gold!”

Grube’s Exploits

Having missed out on London, Grube switched focus and started his next campaign in the 49er alongside Bithell.
He soon teamed up with two-time Olympian Stevie Morrison but in 2015, the opportunity to switch back to the 470 presented itself.

Patience’s partner Elliot Willis had been diagnosed with bowel cancer and had to abandon his Olympic dreams to undergo treatment.

Grube stepped in and a decade after their global bronze at junior level, the pair finished fifth on his Olympic debut.

They returned for a second go five years later in Tokyo, coming away with the same result of fifth, a chance at the podium eluding them after struggles in the final race of the Opening Series, as well as the Medal Race.

Fast Track to the Top

More than a decade and a half after breaking onto the scene, Grube decided that Tokyo was the perfect time to call it a day in the 470 class, just as Heathcote was breaking through.

Chris Grube and Vita Heathcote training (Photo by World Sailing / Lloyd Images)

He continued to sail, and even became world champion in the J/70 class until the summer of 2023, when he decided to return to the 470, joining forces with Heathcote in the new mixed class to make a late bid for Olympic qualification.

He said: “I love the class and the boat. I’m a competitive person, I want to race at the highest levels and the Olympics is the highest level you can race in sailing.

“Things are a bit different because I’ve got a family now and the stakes are higher.

“It was a decision made as it’s a very short cycle for me now because it’s so close and it was an opportunity to come back and have an intense run-in to the Olympics.

“I’ve taken time out of the 470 but I’ve still been racing for two years.

“With Vita, she’s a lot younger than me and four years into the 470 so there are things where you really have to fast-track your learning.

“At the very beginning I was taking up more of that coaching sailor role but we’re at a stage now where we’ve done that fast-tracking and we’ve done our own performances.

“It’s been hard to gauge how our progress has been so it will be good to see what that is and I know that if I bring my best and if Vita brings her best to the boat then we’ll do the job well.

“We know what we’ll achieve by pushing each other and training together.”

The duo finished 13th at the Allianz Sailing World Championships in The Hague in 2023, an impressive first outing.

And they were even better six months later at the 470 Worlds in Mallorca, bringing home the silver medal and qualifying the boat for Paris.

They were duly selected as the British crew to compete in Marseille, as Grube looks to make it third time lucky alongside the Olympic debutant Heathcote.