Black Foils flight controller Leo Takahashi looks ahead as SailGP prepares to hold its first event in Auckland in January. Video / Michael Craig
Sir Russell Coutts has some simple advice for sailing clubs hoping to set their young talent up for a career in the sport.
Prioritise fun.
For the past six years, Coutts has been working to establish and grow the global foiling league SailGP – a now 14-stop annual series that sees some of the world’s best sailors on consistent competition.
Now into its fifth season, SailGP has expanded its calendar, the size of its fleet, and increased the prizemoney on offer throughout the campaign – having carved its place in the global sporting scene.
After starting off with just six teams in season one, the league now features 12 teams representing their nations, with further expansion in expected in the not-too-distant future.
Coutts, who developed SailGP alongside Oracle founder Larry Ellison in a bid to fill a gap in the market for an elite, league-styled sailing competition, told the Herald he was getting feedback from clubs around the world saying sailors are beginning to see it as a way to forge a professional career in the sport.
“And not just youngsters,” Coutts said. “Other entities are saying ‘how do we develop a sailing programme that will, in 10 years’ time, start to deliver athletes in this sort of format that we as a country could then compete in SailGP?’
SailGP will make its return to New Zealand next week with its debut in Auckland on January 18-19, however several of the league’s athletes have already been competing in New Zealand this year in the Moth Oceania and World Championships at Manly, north of Auckland.
Helmsmen Diego Botin (Spain) and Sebastian Schneiter (Switzerland), flight controllers Leo Takahashi (New Zealand) and Hans Henken (USA), strategist Nicole van der Velden (Spain), and wing trimmers Kevin Peponnet (France) and Iain Jensen (Great Britain) have all been racing in the foiling one-person dinghy over the past week, alongside a host of other athletes from around the world.
Diego Botin led the Spanish SailGP team to the season four championship. Photo / Adam Warner, SailGP
But while foiling has taken centre stage in the sailing world through the likes of SailGP (F50 foiling catamarans) and the America’s Cup (AC75 and AC40 foiling monohulls), Coutts said the class of boat shouldn’t be too much of a consideration for clubs looking to hone young talent.
“I’m not sure that that needs to be the objective of clubs.
“First of all, I’d say increase the numbers. Do everything you can to increase the numbers of participants because at the end of the day, it’s a numbers game. If you have thousands of young people in any one country coming into a sport, you’re more likely to get top athletes out of that programme than if you just have hundreds.
“So, get the numbers up at junior level, [and] make sure the enjoyment factor’s high. The fun factor’s got to be there, and then once they get a bit more advanced into their latter teens and so forth, then you need the right support and coaching structures to ensure that they get the right training and learn the right skills.
“The type of boat, at an early junior age, I don’t think it matters that much. Whether they’re jumping on a wing foil or an Optimist or an open skiff or whatever they do, I don’t think it matters. As long as they’re enjoying it, having fun, it doesn’t really matter.”
Coutts noted the approach of prioritising the enjoyment of the sport instead of committing to a class early was proven among some of the sport’s best.
“If you look at who I would classify as maybe the top sailor in the world today, [Australian] Tom Slingsby - a lot of people suggest maybe Pete Burling as well, but let’s just say that both of those are two great examples - Tom didn’t really start seriously competing in sailing until he was 15 years old. There are lots of examples,” Coutts said.
“You can get carried away with junior programmes and make it too intense, too early and, I would suggest, you risk losing potentially really strong talent by doing that.
