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Team Styles & May help RYA track new Olympic cat crews
Author: Royal Yachting Association
Fresh from their Bronze Medal win at last week's Tornado world championships, Team Styles and May are to back a new scheme implemented by the RYA to source future generations of youth and Olympic class multihull campaigners from clubs around Great Britain.
The RYA Catamaran Programme aims to allow talented (both up and coming and established) youth sailors to consider multihull sailing instead of just the traditional monohull options.
Hugh and Adam are both graduates of monohull sailing programmes. Hugh is a past Laser European champion whilst Adam has tasted success in classes as diverse as the Cadet to the International 14 and is a past double youth world match racing championship winning crew.
Both recognise the need to offer gifted helms and crews the opportunity to compete in multihulls if Great Britain is to have a medal winning future in catamarans.
This stretches from the Volvo Youth Sailing ISAF World Championships (a multihull discipline will become mandatory from 2004 onwards) to Tornado European and world championship medals with the ultimate aim of claiming places on the Olympic podium in future Games.
"If there was one thing we could have done with more of in Sydney, it was catamaran racing experience. We had four years worth of knowledge to compete with compared to the Gold Medallists (Roman Hagara and Hans Steinacher, Austria), who have been racing multihulls for fifteen years and
the Silver Medallists in 1996 have been racing Tornado's for longer than Adam has been alive!"
"Getting into multihull sailing at an early age will enable sailors to get a head start at learning the art of catamaran racing. There is no substitute for time spent on the water," explained Hugh.
By the Athens Olympic Games it will be 28 years since Great Britain tasted success in the Olympic multihull class (Reg White and John Osbourne won the Gold Medal at the 1976 Olympic Games in Canada).
RYA High Performance Manager Simon Wergan and RYA Youth Multihull Coach and cat sailing guru Brian Phipps devised the programme. "I believe this programme opens a whole new door to youth sailing. To be able to compete against the French, Australian's and other top multihull sailing nations we need to develop skilful catamaran sailors from an early age and not simply rely on transferring sailors across from other disciplines. We have the opportunity, support and equipment to produce future world champions, all we need is the sailors with the right aptitude and energy," commented Brian, who has been racing and coaching in catamarans for over twenty years.
The scheme will kick off with three introduction and evaluation weekends in May, June and July where up to thirty-six youth crews (twelve per weekend, six per day) will have the opportunity to sail and train in the RYA fleet of Dart 16 catamarans. On and off water coaching from Brian Phipps and an RYA High Performance Manager will be provided.
The three provisional weekends will be May 12/13, June 2/3 and July 28/29. Venues will be confirmed soon (see the RYA website; www.rya.org.uk).
After an assessment period, the top six crews will be offered a special charter deal by Hobie Europe for six months and will form the basis of a new RYA Catamaran Development Squad.
"These young sailors are our catamaran stars of the future so we are obviously pleased to work with the RYA to mount a serious junior catamaran programme in the UK. The Hobie is the ideal class to launch the challenge as the Hobie range offers a fine line of exciting but not overwhelming catamarans. For those with the talent there is a growing European and world schedule of regattas organised specifically for youth sailors," remarked John Dinsdale of Hobie Europe.
To qualify for the programme, sailors must normally be aged between 11-15 years (people outside this age range may be considered), be prepared to commit to an RYA Catamaran Squad training and racing programme and be eligible to compete for Great Britain in the future.
Youth sailors who wish to enrol on the programme, please contact Simon Wergan, the RYA's Southern High Performance Manager on: Email: simon.wergan@rya.org.uk
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