He has traveled through sailing from winning six Mirror dinghy titles as a young teenager (and one more as a 40-something sailing with his daughter Zoe) to two Olympic medals and then victory in the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race,Ian Walker,Royal Yachting Association,Seahorse Magazine,Scuttlebutt,sailing,yacht,raceyacht,regatta,racecarmarine’s current day job as the racing manager of the Royal Yachting Association may offer some even bigger challenges.

In this report for Seahorse, Ian shares how changes in the sport are affecting the big picture

I’ve always thought of myself as a young gun but as I approach my 50th birthday and watch my daughter sailing a 420 (as I once did) it is beginning to dawn on me that I am not so young any more.

I grew up sailing in the 1980s when many boats were still made of wood with Dacron sails, big regattas had one long race per day, there was no sponsorship allowed in Olympic sailing and a compass on your dinghy was as high tech as it got.

Primitive technology by today’s standards, but it is worth remembering that there were many national championships in the UK boasting over 100 boats, the Admiral’s Cup, SORC and Kenwood Cup were in their heyday, the Whitbread Race had 29 entries (1981), the 18ft Skiff class was expanding fast in Australia and we witnessed the best ever America’s Cups in Newport (83) and Fremantle (87).

The sport may be technically more advanced nowadays but it desperately needs to reverse the general decreasing trends in participation.

So what have been the biggest changes in the past 40 years since I first started racing? Here are my top 10.

Click here to read the full feature on Scuttlebutt

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