The most important job in sailing
by Mark Jardine 31 Mar 13:00 EST
Annabel Vines and Amelie Hiscocks in the 29er class during the 2024 RYA Youth National Championships © Paul Wyeth / RYA
I am putting forward that falls to Nick Scott and his team. Namely to secure its competitive future by addressing challenges and delivering radical change while bringing people on that journey with him.
He is Director of Racing at the RYA and, ably supported by his team and in close collaboration with clubs and classes, he oversees sail racing within the UK, including youth, junior, keelboat, racing services and coach development programmes - basically everything apart from the Olympic programme which is run by Mark Robinson.
Nick joined the RYA in October 2022, having worked with Triathlon and Rowing teams, and is a lifelong sailor. At well over six foot, an attribute he shares with his brother Giles, he projects a calm assuredness, and has a plan for growing competitive racing that is bold, exciting and data-driven. He knows what needs to be done and has the vision to actually do it.
We all know the problem. The drop-off rate in youth sailing is alarmingly high. Talent is nurtured at a young age, producing superb sailors, but many of them simply stop before adulthood. Some come back, but many don't, and if sailing is to grow, then we need more of them to stay.
In April 2023 Nick decided to step back and look at the whole programme to assess what needed to be done. There are many competing demands: finding, developing and retaining sailors with performance potential, reducing the cost, the changing demands of sailors, and broadening the demographic of sailing. For such a formidable task, Nick seemed remarkably undaunted.
Britain has had exceptional results in the Olympics, which is rewarded with funding, but things are changing rapidly and talent development needed to evolve while also retaining more young sailors, as Nick explained:
"There's absolutely no doubt that we've had generations of unbelievable talent that have come through the systems that have been in place, and the structure at the time was perfect in order to progress them and develop them. I think the thing we have to acknowledge now is that the world's changed, and that it's 20 years on from the introduction of lottery funding; daily lives and technology have changed a huge amount. The realities of what it is to bring up kids and how you navigate that world of clubs and all those other competing demands has completely shifted everything in the world of sailing, not least considering the fact that the Olympic classes have changed and the demands have changed.
"So we'd be silly to not look at that and think, 'can we do something different? Can we structure our development pathways to get the most in this new world?' What we're looking to evolve to is to be relevant to the new world, and it takes everything that we've learned from the past, puts it into new context, shakes it up, and comes out with a great solution for where we are now.
"The proof will be in the pudding clearly, but what we can guarantee is that we are striving to be the best in the world at developing young sailors, that we want to make sailing more affordable and accessible, that we want to make sure that the sport is engaging and exciting for the next generation of young person who turns on the TV and watches SailGP or Ellie Aldridge at the Olympics, and also that our team represents the whole of Great Britain at the Olympics and is representative of British society. That's what we're looking to achieve in the structure that we've created."
The first stage was the RYA Racing Talent Pathway Review. Gathering information via data analysis, hiring Rob Andrews to draft a review, looking at trends, and a sailor and parent questionnaire which had 260 responses.
Items which needed to be addressed were rising costs, a downward trend in youth performance, engagement, especially in youth and female sailing, and competition from other sports and pastimes.
Types of sailing are extraordinarily diverse for a sport, and the number of pathways and outcomes are huge, so catering for everyone is a huge challenge, but one that Nick is keen to address with one very key message:
"Just the other week, I was at the Dinghy Show talking to Dylan Fletcher about one of the programs we're launching, the Pathway Club Programme, and we were talking about his early experiences at Northampton Sailing Club and you saw the smile come on his face as he connected to that first experience. The fact that you went to a club, you jumped on a boat, you splashed around in the water, you had an amazing time and made amazing friends, and it started you on this journey. For nearly everyone who has delivered at the highest end of the sport, that's their first experience - not being drilled and being pushed to try and be the best - it's built around fun, built around a love of the sport, built around a love of everything the sport can offer. I think if we lose sight of that, then we lose the essence of what sport is.
"We need to ensure that carries on. Yes, things change as you get towards the top of the sport. You have to be more focused, you have to be more deliberate, you have to do the hard yards to make it to the very top, and not everyone has that in them, but if we lose sight of why people do it in the first place then, for me, we've lost the point. We've missed the point of why sailing is such a great sport, and why it means so much to so many people."
What this addresses is the fundamental fact that fun and performance aren't diametrically opposed, instead the former is essential at the early stages to facilitate the latter, in particular when the going gets tough and you need to draw deep during an Olympic, America's Cup or any other high-end campaign.
Nick sees that the core strength of sailing is its network of clubs. They are where the vast majority of young sailors have their first experiences on the water. What happens at these, and how the sailors are then nurtured and guided will define their relationship with sailing. As Nick describes, clubs are core to pathways:
"We are talking about the grass roots. You walk into any club around the country that offers racing, that offers juniors the opportunity to go racing, and you've got this army of volunteers who are the lifeblood of the sport, who make it happen, who encourage parents to bring their kids along, who encourage kids to have another go and keep progressing. If we miss that then we miss a great opportunity to grow and evolve our sport.
"From my perspective, for too long we haven't fully recognized and showcased the role that clubs play in the development of future racers, and there's a great chance now for us to build that, keep moving forward and do more to showcase those clubs that are putting so much in and, critically, recognize the role they play and support them to take things to the next level."
There were many findings in the RYA Racing Talent Pathway Review, including the average cost per annum of junior and youth racing, how more time was being spent in cars travelling to events than actually racing in them, and the inevitable tightening of pathway budgets that we see reflected elsewhere.
Nick is switching from a pathway that pulls sailors out of clubs to one where clubs become central to sailor development, while aiming to remove the belief that you must spend to succeed, and diversifying the talent pool which is currently very south coast-based.
Another key finding was that junior results do not translate into senior performance, while youth results do. Hopefully by becoming more club-based, especially in the early years, pathways and outcomes can lead into sailors developing their love of the sport early on, and those who are naturally competitive pursuing excellence at the youth level and beyond, while others can prosper in the many pathways that sailing now offers, ranging from the more affordable foiling options through to careers in the marine industry.
A side benefit could be to bring the relevance of the RYA closer to club sailors, who will see the national body engaging and supporting their club efforts.
Nick is fully aware that this new approach isn't the 'be all and end all', and it will need to be tweaked and evolve:
"We're taking a step into the unknown in a way. We've identified a problem, we've seen some things that we know could be better and have a real opportunity to change our sport for the better, for the next generation. But we don't know that we've got the answer. I think that the true mark of the success of our pathway now is that actually what you see written on paper won't be exactly the same as what's written on paper in four year's time. For me, change is not a mark of failure, it's a mark of success. The more we can be open to adapting and changing to this environment that's completely different, the better place we'll be in how we're set up and how we develop the champions of tomorrow."
Developing a love of sailing early on, focusing on the competition only when it becomes important for those who are competitive, supporting clubs and evolving the plan. What's not to like? For me, this is a plan that is going to give sailing the best chance of thriving.
This plan will have ramifications way beyond Great Britain. Many other countries take close note of what the RYA has done and is doing, and will be looking to replicate this around the world. This is why I believe Nick Scott's job is the most important in sailing.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor