Nathan Handley, Alex Maloney and Molly Meech (NZL) - 49er FX - Medal Race - Sailing World Cup Enoshima, August 2018 - photo © Jesus Renedo / Sailing Energy / World Sailing
Dear Recipient Name
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for September 19, 2018
The end of the Sailing World Cup at the 2020 Olympic venue of Enoshima, Japan marked the effective mid-point of the 2020 Olympic cycle for the State-funded Olympic campaigns.
In reality, it marks the starting point of the 2024 Olympic cycle for those who are out of the viewfinder for the 2020 Olympics, or those Youth sailors and others who are looking to make a serious bid for Marseille - the venue for the 2024 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
By most reckoning, it takes six years to climb the Olympic ladder. Sure there is the occasional exception, but few sailors make it to the Olympics on their first attempt and even fewer medal.
For the state-funded Olympic squads, it is all about being able to pass the "medal capable" test to gain selection.
Those in the US particularly look longingly at the programs of New Zealand, Australia and Great Britain which have between $4million (NZ) and $12million (GBR) put into them annually (the British figure is averaged over four years). Australia is probably above the mid-point of the two.
While the dollars and support look enticing, it does have the hard edge of medal achievement as a sport, along with the requirement of individual performance as a sailor. Watch what happens in the NZ Rowing squad over the next few weeks/months after they failed to fire (by their standards) in the just-completed world championships.
It used to be possible to run an Olympic sailing lifestyle funded from other than your own pocket. Then, it was OK to be long on potential and short on delivery.
But not now.
Now the funders do look at "return on investment", as it was phrased, after the 2000 Olympics when a harder-nosed attitude began to get traction.
The last two years have been somewhat fraught for talent assessment. Results have been up and down. A lot of new crews have come into the classes. And many of the 2016 Medalists have taken a sabbatical. Even in the month that lapsed between the Hempel Sailing World Championships at Aarhus, Denmark and the Sailing World Cup in Enoshima, there were some big changes in results.
Look at the RS:X Mens Windsurfer.
Would you continue to back the current World and Olympic Champion Dorian Van Rijsselberghe who placed eighth in a field of 40 in Japan and was beaten by the Silver medalist in Aarhus and compatriot, Kiran Badloe (NED) by a margin of 45pts?
Under the state-funded system both will get fully funded as they are in the top five in their class, and by most reckoning, a top five in the Worlds is considered to be an excellent starting position to win an Olympic medal.
Most of the state-funded programs take a more lenient view, and any competitor between fifth and 10th in world championship placings (rather than countrie) is deemed to be "medal capable" and worth serious backing, particularly if they have youth on their side.
However, that doesn't escape the basic point that in the Dutch boardsailors' case, two sailors have to be funded, which is obviously twice as expensive as one - and each nation can only send one competitor to Enoshima in 2020.
In other words, it is like the old line about advertising spend - everyone knows they are spending twice as much as they should, but can never work out which 50% to cut!
But at the same time, most realise that they are better to have a depth of talent in their Olympic programs, rather than the most cost-effective option, which is to fund only one competitor/crew in each class fully.
In the USA it is a different system. There's no state funding at all. But by law, if a class qualifies the USA for an Olympic spot, then US Sailing is required to select and send a sailor/crew regardless of whether they are medal-capable or not.
Looking at the US situation in more depth, under the state-funded model only two of their crews across the ten Olympic sailing events would meet the Medal capable criteria. A couple more are marginal - but it is not a good picture, and the US is at serious risk of emerging without an Olympic medal in 2020. That would mean that they have won one Bronze medal in three Olympics and in the State funded countries, the whole Olympic sailing program would get shut-down, as New Zealand did in the first six months of 2005.
When that happens, the funders refuse to pump more money into a national Olympic program, and instead, pick the individual athletes they wish to fund and keep the sport half on the rails that way.
Of course, the USA has a much bigger problem - albeit one that is nice to have. Their Youth program seems to be running very well, having finished first and third in the last two Youth Worlds - which is an outstanding result. Any country would be proud of that achievement in successive years.
The USA has real strength in five of the Youth classes which lead into the Olympics - with current World Youth Champions in four of those, and a runner-up in another.
So what does the US do? To be honest, they don't really have any choice - they have to bring the Youth Sailors into the Olympic Squad and get them used to competition at this level even though they might not get some good early places.
Peter Burling and Carl Evans competed in the Mens 470 at the 2008 Olympics in Qingdao, when they were both 17 years old and were the youngest crew to ever compete at an Olympic Regatta. They finished 11th overall, and we all know what happened next.
One of the most significant barriers to young sailors succeeding in their sailing careers is the fixation that parents have on age group sailing - as though there is something to be celebrated by being the best 15yr old sailor in some junior class. It's not.
The reality is that it not about age, it is all about righting moment, and how the young sailor's current physique suits the ideal for their current class. Of course, they have to have the sailing talent to succeed and put in the hours to improve their skills and boat-speed. To do this, you have to love sailing and more importantly love the training and not clock-watch for the log-book. You have to be sailing the biggest boat you can physically manage in a breeze, and the sooner you get to compete in open competition against adults, the better.
So what will US Sailing do - weed their Olympic Sailing garden and plant flowers of their Youth program and let them grow and hopefully flourish? Or do they stick with their current line-up which isn't delivering, and coach and hope?
For the State funded teams they have a similar conundrum - unless they have a specific selection policy to maintain team numbers by selecting on development potential.
On a "medal capable only" selection basis what remains is a smaller tighter focussed, better funded Olympic Sailing team - which in the short-term has an excellent chance of hitting its medal target.
In either the state-funded or US model, long-term there is the difficulty of bringing new talent into the Olympic Sailing Team, as the talent development cycle is a six-year one - not just the four years of the Olympic cycle.
Right now there is a new twist, as World Sailing has embarked on a path to change seven of the ten classes for the 2024 Olympic Sailing Regatta.
It is already part-advanced to select the first class, for the slot currently occupied by the Laser, others will follow - but when?
And what is the direction to be followed by today's Youth sailors as they look to sail in their first Olympics in Marseille at the age of 24, or maybe Long Beach in 2028?
Again the Questions are easy, the Answers are somewhat more difficult.
There plenty of interest in this issue - A great deal from Honda, some sound insurance advice from Neil Bailey, a second look at the foil cant system for the AC75, the start of the Para Sailing Worlds plus the sad news that Para Sailing won't be in the 2024 Paralympics, we wrap up the Sailing World Cup at Enoshima and plenty more.
Follow all the racing and developments in major and local events on Sail-World.com by scrolling to the top of the site, select New Zealand, and get all the latest news and updates from the sailing world.
All stories are available on Sail-World.com/nz
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
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