THE Royal Yachting Association (RYA) has set up a new women’s Olympic Match Race Academy as part of its preparations for 2012 and to find sailors for the new keelboat event that will replace the Yngling class, which Britain has won at the last two Games.
The programme, which will be finalised once the sailors are identified, will see a combination of national ranking qualifiers, training and development that will lead to the selection of a team to represent Britain at the 2012 Olympic sailing regatta in Weymouth and Portland.
The Eliot 6m will replace Yngling for 2012 after the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) controversially voted to replace it.
The decision has left the British trio of Sarah Webb, Pippa Wilson and Sarah Ayton, who won the gold medal in Beijing earlier this year, seeking a new direction.
Webb and Ayton had also been part of the team, along with Shirley Robertson, that triumphed in Athens four years ago.
The Elliott 6m, which are sailed by teams of three - helm, main, bow - have been described as "waterborne hotrods, which place a premium on boat-handling skills".
The RYA intends to support up to two crews for the World Cup events - the first of which will be the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta in January - with further training and development support potentially available for a further two teams to compete at other ISAF graded events.
The RYA's racing manager and performance director John Derbyshire said: “This is an exciting opportunity for women’s match racing, at a fantastic time to be involved with sailing in the United Kingdom.
“The new RYA Olympic Women’s Match Race Academy will be the first step towards delivering gold in the class for 2012, to ensure our excellent pedigree in the women’s keelboat event continues.”
Run on behalf of the RYA by Ewan McEwan, an experienced coach and event manager for women’s match racing, the Academy will be a part of Skandia Team GBR and fall under the control of RYA Olympic manager Stephen Park.
Park said: “It’s a pleasure to have Ewan on the team.
"He has considerable experience in developing women’s match racing at an international level and the combination of his background in coaching and event management makes him ideal for this role.”
