Olympic sailing gold medallist Sir Ben Ainslie spent a day on the water with Pippa Middleton after naming the first-ever Andrew Simpson Sports Ambassadors

America’s Cup winner Ben Ainslie spent several hours sailing with Pippa Middleton on a Bordeaux 60 after naming the first-ever Andrew Simpson Sports Ambassadors at a school in Dorset.
 
The Olympic gold medallist made a special guest appearance at a Ferndown First School assembly on Tuesday to name the pupils before taking to the water with the Duchess of Cambridge’s sister.
 
The presentation was part of an initiative to honour the memory of Dorset’s gold medal sailor Andrew Simpson, who was killed in a training accident in San Francisco Bay earlier this year.
 
Every year a boy and girl at the Church Road school will be chosen as Sports Ambassadors to keep the memory of Andrew Simpson alive.
 
The first two pupils to be named by Sir Ben Ainslie were Harry Burton and Sydney Tabor, both in Year 4.
 
Ferndown First School teacher Gary Smith told the Bournemouth Echo: “The children thought the event was awesome. They were a little starstruck. The morning was a very fitting tribute to Andrew’s memory.”

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