KEY POINTS:
Former Yachting New Zealand high performance manager Peter Lester is off to Qatar to establish a sailing programme for the country's Aspire Sports Academy.
Lester, a yachting commentator and ex-America's Cup competitor, is heading to the Gulf state in October for an initial period of two years.
The government-run Aspire academy was opened in 2004 and sports catered for include soccer, athletics, gymnastics, table tennis and squash.
Lester said today that academy management wanted to extend the range of disciplines and he had been asked to set up a sailing programme.
He understood the increased interest in yachting in Qatar was helped by Al Jazeera television's coverage of this year's America's Cup regatta in Valencia.
Lester, who was with YNZ for 10 years until April 2005 and was responsible for the Olympic Sailing Academy programme, said Qatar had very little in the way of a yachting tradition, although it did win a medal at the Asian Games.
He believed it would take 10 to 15 years to develop world-class talent.
He said he was attracted the challenge of "a new adventure" and by the chance to work in a well-funded institute with state-of-the-art facilities.
Lester will join a handful of other New Zealanders at the academy, including former track and field representative Kerry Hill, who is involved in talent identification.
- NZPA