GUEST COLUMNIST
Tomorrow’s World
I
t’s vital to get kids into match racing at an early age to keep the sport alive. The sailing federations around the globe are mostly funded by Olympic committees so they naturally push youngsters towards Olympic classes, which produces very talented young sailors but very few of them get as far as an Olympic campaign. Match racing is a great alternative to dinghy racing that appeals to kids because of the short races, the intensity of the races and the fact that you sail as part of a team. More than often the boats are provided, so it’s not expensive like a dinghy campaign.
Magnus Holmberg Photo: Gareth Cooke/Sub Zero Images
Sailing legend Magnus Holmberg joins Match Racing 360° as our first guest columnist to explain the importance of getting youngsters excited about match racing.
I started Match Cup Sweden in 1994 but having attended the last few years I realised that there isn’t really much young Swedish match racing talent coming through. For a youth sailor the route to an Olympic campaign is fairly well recognised with quite a bit of funding but it’s not always clear about how to get into match racing and get proper training. Off the back of that I started a youth programme with the Royal Gothenburg Yacht Club and the Swedish Sailing Federation for match racing so that aspiring match racers have a route to follow. There are a lot of kids who, once they have finished their time in dinghies, quit sailing altogether because there is nowhere else for them to go and that’s really sad.
We hold a training programme where kids can pay a small amount of money to be coached by me and Australian skipper Keith Swinton in our fleet of boats. We teach them how to match race and get them used to sailing bigger boats. It’s not just about coaching on the water but also about giving them advice about how to progress their match racing careers. Match racing has so many benefits and we should be doing all we can to encourage youngsters to get involved.
Photo: Dan Ljungsvik / Stena Match Cup Sweden MATCH RACING 360° | AUGUST 2011 page | 20
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