Yes, I agree when the media attributes a winner with "talent." For me personally, every sailor falls somewhere on that talent spectrum - from 100% preparation and drilling all the way across to 100% natural, effortless brilliance. Talent is an undefinable quality - I don't think it can be quantified, as you hope. You can take two people, put them through the same training program, and get two results... in fact you're likely to get two results. Even at the 100% prep and train side, it takes the ability to tie it all together, which is a different type of talent than what is associated with an instinct for the helm on the other side. At least in my opinion.

I think that we, in the cat sailing niche, often see predominantly one end of my imaginary scale - the "natural" side. I think this is because the training side is difficult, time consuming, and still not a guarantee for any given individual. I don't see this as a pessimistic view, either - I don't feel I have done my best in quite a while because I have been coasting on what little "natural ability" I have, letting my learned skills and physical fitness slide. Marriage and a toddler fills much of the time I used to devote to bettering myself as a sailor. But my Sara is growing up and my house is in order, so I made the decision early in the summer to start putting together a program again. My goal isn't another national championship, but to move up in the fleet by focusing on training and preparation. I don't think it is pessimistic for me to recognize that despite my best effort, I am unlikely to dominate the NAF-18 class. I'm not speaking of a single race or afternoon regatta, and I'm not talking about the attitude of "oh, here comes JC... he's better than me, so he's probably going to roll me here." I'm actually a very optimistic fellow. It makes it all the sweeter when, instead, I roll JC... even if he got it back half a leg later as we rounded the top right together. <img src="http://www.catsailor.com/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

I guess my personal bottom line is this, looking at the title of the thread "talent, or training and skill?" It takes a kind of talent to effectively apply training and skill. There are some that require little training or skill to consistently excell. That is the type of talent that likely stands out more in cat sailing.

Disclaimer - All of this may be complete hogwash and only applicable inside my noggin.