Vernon Stratton

Vernon Stratton started sailing in his early-20s in a 12-foot dinghy provided for the 1948 Olympics, which he bought following a £500 inheritance. He then moved up to the Finn class, introduced for the 1952 Helsinki Olympics, but he missed out in the Olympic trials won by Charles Currey. Stratton missed out to Richard Creagh-Osborne in the trials for the 1956 Melbourne Games, but four years later Stratton got his Olympic chance. Shortly before going to Roma in 1960, Stratton won the Finn Dinghy World Cup at Torbay in Mickey Finn III. Stratton´s older brother Desmond finished third in Avanti. At the Olympics, Vernon finished 12th, out of 35 with a best finish of fourth in race two.

After the Olympics, Stratton concentrated on his career in advertising and worked for the Sunday Times and the fashion giants Jaeger before establishing his own agency. He also worked on the re-launch of the luxury train, the Orient Express. Stratton maintained his sailing connections and was secretary of the International Finn Association in the 1960s. He was also appointed manager of the British sailing team for the Mexico Olympics. He was manager again in 1976 and would have held that position for the 1980 Moskva Olympics, but the Royal Yacht Association pulled the British sailing squad out of the Games without consultation with the competitors. This resulted in Stratton´s resignation as manager.

During training for the 1960 Olympics, Stratton met his future wife “Pepe”, the daughter of Sir Geoffrey Lowles, chairman of the Royal Yachting Association Olympic Committee. She too was a competent sailor, and was the only helmswoman chosen to take part in the single-handed trials for the 1952 Olympics. She was her husband´s deputy manager of the 1968 British Olympic yachting team.