1) Hiring regional coaches-certainly doable if groups of F16/F18 sailors get together and make it happen. These coaches may be Olympic hopefuls and you're helping fund their campaign.
More to the point...
Target is the 15 to 21 year old junior RACER... Not learn to sail... not recreational sail.. NOT OLD FARTS like us...
(now a partner program of coaching for the weekend warior set adds a huge amount of financial power and velocity to a program )
Credentials and authority matter...(as much as cat sailors reject authority)... FACT OF LIFE... no parent will spend the coin unless the program is real and supported by US Sailing AND your local establishment Yacht Club and it leads to International Championships.
Big time Yacht clubs already hire full time coaches/program directors (AYC just hired a recent ex Olympic coach) ... for their core group of sailors... We need to augment this expertise with a regional coach that comes in to support the high performance boats (skiffs and cats).
We need to change the attitude of college coaches... When THEY assert that juniors who cross train in high performance boat classes are the prize recruits and College admissions accomodates this change... Parents will be insisting that their kids have cross training opportunities.
2) Getting a double stack F16 setup available for use. Its viable if there is manufacturer support behind the effort.
This is a partnership between US Sailing (program) and your regional YRA, and the sponsors (boat builder and benefactors). A couple of YRA's could get together and buy into the package of training opportunities. The leadership starts at the top... but the people who make this run are at the YRA level (working with the key Yacht Clubs)
3) Showing up at high school/college regattas and practices with your F16/F18/N20 and taking the kids for a spin after racing or the parents during the day. More exposure to high performance sailing=more interest in the classes=a few more Olympic hopefuls.
No... NO ... NO... Taking the kids for a spin is a proven waste of time...
Sailing is sailing.. racers decide on what class is more fun and meets their goals (regional champs, NA's, ISAF qualifier, College Admission, Olympics) ... it's not a novel new experience... So... they want to see the opportunities available and how doable is the class.
Ultimately... a kid needs to buy a boat... so parents are going to want to see a real commitment... a training camp of a couple of days will cost some money... when the US high performance program delivers.... the parents and kids have real information to move forward.
Final point... Kids don't want to look bad to their peers or anyone... So, they don't just jump into something where they will look foolish... Programs are a work-around for that psychology. (Tried for years to get kids to take a free boat to a race... does not happen! .... THEY love to just sail it tho)
What you propose is best left to the boat builder... it's called marketing. Or a Yacht Club... it's called membership drive.
