Farley's cancer treatment led to esailing success

Arthur Farley recently won the e-sailing world championships

A sailor from the Isle of Wight was recently crowned world champion at the esailing world championships, but success came after his life was put on hold due to a blood cancer diagnosis.

Arthur Farley's diagnosis put a stop to his promising sailing career as the 20-year-old had to spend around a year away from the water.

Shortly after being crowned a European champion and being made part of British Sailing's talent pathway programme he was told that he had hairy cell leukaemia (HCL) and would require extensive treatment.

“It’s a chronic cancer," Farley told BBC South Today.

"In around 10 or more years it will come back and you treat it again, supposedly there’s no one under 40 in the world with this type of cancer.

"Getting through the several stages of chemotherapy was making me realise the seriousness of this scenario, I spent basically a whole year with the handbrake on.

"I’m quite lucky that it wasn’t as aggressive as it could have been but obviously it is still a lifelong thing."

With actual sailing then not at the forefront of his mind, Farley used some of the time to develop one of his hobbies into a serious skill.

He recently beat over 50,000 competitors to become the esailing world champion - a sailing competition on a computer game - having finished second in the previous two years.

The esailing world championships were first introduced in 2018 and it is a competition that brings together Olympic sailors, sailing enthusiasts, sports gamers, and newcomers to compete online.

Something that makes it so easy to play is the esport's low entry barrier, the game Virtual Regatta is accessible on mobile devices, tablets, and browsers for anyone to have a go at.

"When I couldn’t do my own sailing I started playing the game a bit more." He added.

"I did 10,000 hours during lockdown and then I’ve just been managing it since, If you are a sailor you do have an advantage.

"It teaches you a lot about managing a 20-40 boat fleet and you can take that into your real setting as well, it crosses over quite nicely."

In his first year back following treatment, Farley finished 10th in the under-21 championships which is a stepping stone on the road to achieving his Olympic dream.

The £5,000 first prize has been put towards his training and a continued effort to get sponsors onboard to help support his journey.

"Bouncing back from it all was quite a big year for me really," Farley said.

"The goal is to go to the Olympic games, it will be interesting to see in 2028 and 2032 how that develops.

"That being said I think the experience has matured me in a sense, it has made me realise that there is more to life that just Olympic sport which potentially is a strength to have against my competitors in the long run."