CHARLIE'S HOPING TO MAKE A SPLASH; SAILER FELLOWS READY TO LAUNCH HIS WARRIORS CAREER.

Byline: BY BRIAN DICK

SIXWAYS sailor boy Charlie Fellows believes he has yacht what it takes to make a splash in the Guinness Premiership.

The Worcester wing is on the right tack for the second league start of his career as Warriors take on fast sinking Bristol next Saturday.

With injuries ruling out speedsters Marcel Garvey and Miles Benjamin, the 20-year-old has been thrown in at the deep end and the early signs are good.

Fellows did well coming off the bench for his first trip into uncharted waters against Leicester Tigers.

And though he found himself in rough seas against sizzling England star Ugo Monye on his full debut against Harlequins, his progress since has been serene.

The youngster's ability to keep things on an even keel should come as no surprise, though, given his other passion - sailing.

The former King's School student extended his education by taking a yacht master course andwhen not racing down the sideline he's rigging his main sheet.

Fellows takes every opportunity he can to get away from rugby and take to the high seas: "I want something to interest me outside of rugby because you can become a bit bored. It can be mundane," he says.

Hot water "You want something to freshen youup and make you look forward to coming in the next day. Doing a course does that.

It's something I enjoy doing, it tests me mentally and it's also good fun."

But it's not always plain sailing. He can't get out as often as he'd like and when he does he sometimes finds himself in hot water.

"I do a bit with my dad on holidays in Salcombe. We've got a Salcombe Yawl, an 18-footer, which we race and really enjoy.

"Time has been limited a bit recently with training in the summer but I usually try and get down for a weekend or a week - depending on what our schedule at the club is.

"We have got a house down in Devon that we used to visit all the time when we were little.

"It's a really good place now to just go down and get away from it, relax, get on the coast and do some walking.

"It can be very hairy, though. We had an incident in the summer where another boat crashed into us but it was our fault.

"We put a massive hole in the boat which cost quite a lot of money to repair.

Thankfully we didn't sink, although some people did that day.

"A couple of times I have had to push us off beaches, rocks and other boats. It get's quite heated - there's a lot of competitive yachtsman out there."

None more so than Fellows' hero who has nothing to do with an oval ball.

"I think Ben Ainslie is very under-estimated, he is a brilliant, brilliant yachtsman who has done phenomenally well.

"It is incredible what he has done - he has won three gold medals and a silver over four Olympics.

"It's a very skilled sport that is not appreciated enough."

Fellows is becoming more and more appreciated, however. Director of rugby Mike Ruddock clearly likes the cut of his gib and played the starlet against Bourgoin yesterday and is set to use him again against relegation threatened Bristol next weekend. All the signs are that Fellows is going to achieve everything he wants in rugby but if he doesn't, he can always head off round the world.

"Hopefully I will have a good rugby career," he says.

"But I have thought about sailing as a career too.

"I could go and crew on a massive boat.

At the moment I just use it as a pastime, something to keep me busy in the offseason but it's an option when I am older.

"I would love to do the Vendee round the world race but I'd have to learn a lot more. If anyone would like to take me aboard that'd be great."

Right now Fellows is learning the ropes at Worcester and doing so quickly. His first start came against Monye in October and the Quins flyer scorched past him for two tries.

A few weeks later he faced Wales legend Shane Williams and the Ospreys.

"It's been a baptism of fire but it's good to be playing against those types of players," he said. "One of them was playing in the England squad and the other has just won World Player of the Year. It's not going to get any harder.

"Learning against the best has been good, if I can deal with them I can deal with most people. I didn't feel out of place." Which is only right because although he's required all hands on deck at times this season, he is no fish out of water in the Premiership's big pond.