The penny has dropped with Dan Slater three times New Zealand Olympic representative and Olympic coach. Dan in his open letter here reflects on the rapid growth and huge international and Olympic success being achieved particularly in Europe which he attributes to near universal adoption of ILCA 4 as the transition class from junior sailing.
In New Zealand while acknowledging the legacy of the NZ native Starling youth boat Dan calls for a change placing the ILCA 4 at the heart of New Zealand’s youth sailing future. He is taking action to bring this much needed change about in NZ.
In Australia we are taking strides to emulate the success of the European nations in the class in terms of participation and performance. Unlike in NZ Australian Sailing is ramping up support for the ILCA 4 as the transition class from Opti to senior sailing but we can, and should, all do more.