REALLY!

This has been the standard US position.... take an All American college 420 sailor and coach em up....in 49ners or Cats or windsurfers etc. I think it is just wrong.

Prior international experience is also over rated.. Bundy tried a short go at helming the 49ner when the T was dropped.. did not work. The number of sailors who medal in two very different classes are few and far between.
In fact, I will argue that the AC 45 experience tends to suggest that the instincts to race the high performance boats must be developed from an early age. Terry Hutchinson is a great world class match racer and sailor but he was replaced with a 49ner helm. Terry just could not make up the countless hours on the helm of a boat that is super high performance.

I am going to go with Gladwalls theory that mastery, is at its core, about hours doing the exact task.

The idea that a great sailor can change disciplines and win a gold is not a sure thing....