Who Should Pay for the British Keelboat Academy?

One of the themes that comes out time and time again in the sport of sailing is the lack of identifiable career progressions and event hierachies. The world governing body, ISAF does a good job of looking after the Olympic classes, but development of sailing talent for things like offshore racing or ‘big boat’ sailing is less structured. (Well, we say that, but actually, in places like France there is a quite well understood progression… )

Unlike many other sports, sailors are able to be competitive at an age where most other athletes have retired and taken up commentary positions. The Volvo Ocean Race has had to mandate that in the next race three crew must be below the age of 30, which might sound like a ‘youth friendly’ position, but not many brand managers would consider 30 being youth.

So how does the sport develop young talent who are not on the Olympic path? The RYA and UKSA’s British Keelboat Academy is an interesting concept. Launched at the end of last year, the programme aims to create the next generation of UK competitors for the Volvo Ocean Race, America’s Cup, Audi Med Cup etc. The program has developed out of a previous program that have developed an alumni of UK sailors who are now successful at the top level of the sport.

It’s an interesting idea, but the programme is dependent on commercial sponsorship and the goodwill of private benefactors for funding. The Academy is getting great support from the Alumni and many other parties, but there is no certainty for the program after this trial year without additional external funding.

There are some large structural issues that make developing a program like this difficult. Sailing is becoming less and less nationalistic, therefore there is not the same value to the country in developing a UK sailor who might then go on to sail on a ‘Spanish’ team in the Volvo Ocean Race as there is developing a Rugby or Cricket star who goes on to represent the national side. We were going to use the example of British F1 drivers having a positive effect on the country’s national psyche, but Hamilton and Button in recent years were driving for UK based teams (albeit with German and Japanese engines).

If the long term goals of programmes like the Keelboat Academy is to produce enough elite sailors to create UK teams, then the backers of those UK teams must buy into the concept now. Up until now, teams have not had the longevity of football clubs or motor-racing teams. Traditionally, sailing teams have come together for a single event and then disbanded.

With the creation of super-teams like Emirates Team New-Zealand, Alinghi and TeamOrigin perhaps there is scope to create development squads or ‘B Teams’ to create long term stability and continuity. The development of talent for the future would give sponsors more confidence in the long term success of a team and help the sport in general.

With TeamOrigin scheduled to compete in the Audi Med Cup, World Match Racing Tour and Louis Vuitton Trophy, they have the most to gain from a pool of world class UK talent.

We’ll be watching the Keelboat Academy to see how it gets on in 2010.

Volvo RYA Yacht Programme Selections.

The Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme has announced selections for 2008-2009 with more than 40 of Great Britain’s big boat sailors included.

A series of nationwide Open Keelboat Training events over the year, had provided a total of 46 sailors for the three highly-competitive Programme squads – National, Northern and Southern.

With the Programme acquiring the TP52 John Merricks II at the start of the last season, fitness and physicality have been increasingly important considerations in this year’s selection process.

David Atkinson, RYA Racing Services Manager said:

“We are very pleased with the standard of sailors we have not only acquired for the forthcoming season but also the sailors we have retained. As we had hoped it would, having the TP52 has already begun to take the Programme to the next level and all the sailors are increasingly appreciating what it takes to race her competitively.

The Volvo RYA Keelboat Programme was launched five years ago to give young sailors aged between 16 and 24 the chance to establish themselves in the world of keelboats whether Junior dinghy champions or experienced yachtspeople.

No fewer than five sailors in the 2007-08 Programme set-up are currently involved in the Volvo Ocean Race – National Squad sailors Scott Millar and Henry Foster are joined by VKBP mentor and former squad member David Carr as part of the Green Dragon team’s campaign while fellow mentors and former VKBP sailors Ed Hill and Scott Gray are also working with Delta Lloyd and Team Russia respectively.

Meanwhile, also in 2008, Nick Cherry (National) and Rachel Howe (mentor) sailed on Hugo Boss II in the iconic Rolex Sydney to Hobart Race, Cherry later acting as a training partner for the Olympic gold medal-winning Yngling trio of Sarah Ayton, Sarah Webb and Pippa Wilson in their preparations for Beijing, while Tudur Owen (National) has established himself on the prestigious World Match Racing Tour as part of the Mirsky Racing Team.