Nick Johnstone started sailing at age 6 at the Ida Lewis Yacht Club. By age 10, he started racing optimists competitively at local regattas. He sought out a higher level of competition and started racing at more national level regattas. He kept improving steadily and with the help of a lot of top level coaching through the FAST Sailing Foundation, various clinics, and switching to sailing at Conanicut Yacht Club. He won Optimist Midwinters in 2005, got 6th place at ACC's in 2005, placed 5th at Nationals in 2006, and 5th at Team Trials in 2006. He competed in two Optimist South American Championships, 2 Optimist North American Championships, and one World Championship. He did the 29er circuit for a year and finished 9th at the 2007 North Americans. He then went on to sail 420's and placed 5th at 2008 North Americans, 8th at 2008 Orange Bowl, and 1st place at the 2009 Nationals held at Conanicut Yacht club. He currently attends Tabor Academy and is going into his senior year.