I agree that full time Olympic paths often start after college, but if the US is going to be competitive internationally, the Olympic path must start younger.... it definitely does elsewhere in the world! To accomplish this, the strength of our domestic program must get better. It is unrealistic to think that a high school or early college sailor can commit to a summer racing in Europe... even if they have extraordinary drive and commitment. Unfortunately, that is where the competition is, and our European counterparts benefit greatly from the harsh realities of geography.

So what can we do? Well in Europe they have the EUROSAF sailing cup, we need to work with Canada, Mexico, and the Islands to create a similar circuit. The regattas already exist- CORK, ABYC OCR, Miami OCR, etc., but quality and participation is lower than in Europe. Maybe we need to start incentivizing these events. Make competition in your regional OCR a mandatory requirement to qualifying for a regional development team. Having national ranking points that count towards funding tiers from US Sailing. Have quality clinics included as part of the events. We don't need huge fleets, but we need close the gap between youth sailing and college sailing, and a full time, euro-centric Olympic campaign.

As far as college sailing, I love the game- it is perhaps the simplest, most fun sailing you can possibly have. The important thing to remember, however, is that college sailing is just a very, very small part of the overall sailing world. It is really good at teaching some skills, but the realities of the venues and format mean some skills are neglected- and that is ok! I don't think an Olympic campaign and college sailing are mutually exclusive, but success in both requires clear communication of goals between coach and sailor, and flexibility from both sides.

Fran (MIT Sailing Master) is all for running a college event in multihulls, but the same question arises... where do you get the boats?

These issues are fresh in my mind currently... lots of discussion of my brother-in-law's campaign during Thanksgiving!