So that newcomers and youth/juniors have a tangeable ultimate goal that outsiders and National Authorities can understand.



If a youngster says to his parents that he has had a trip out on his mate's catamaran and he now wants to be F18 world champ one day, they will be impressed and wish him all the best. If he says that he wants to win the olympic multihull gold medal one day, parents can instantly relate to the potential for excellence that is available in the sport and may well get more interested themselves.

National Authorities have/are realizing that the same amount of money invested in sailing has more chance of producing medals than in most other sports. Cycling has this potential too. So they invest in the sport at all levels [mostly junior] to get these elusive medals.

It is never going to be you or I that are going to benefit from olympic status in our sport, it is the youth and investment at their level.

I have to say that my evidence shows that Hobie are very good at supporting junior sailing and work very well to get the national Authority money spent on their products to get them out there to the young sailors. In the UK we are lucky to have a scheme where Hobie owned dragoons are available to new junior teams to charter for a season at very reasonable cost, to get them involved.

The F12 thing is a good enough idea, but I have seen young teams at the back of the Dragoon fleet week after week, getting lapped and right off the pace. they stick at it because they know that all the boats are he same and if they keep training, the results will come. If they were sailing a formula, they would be tempted to think that their boat is just not as fast as the others and give up. F12 is a good idea for PARENTS not sailors.