As you progress through your sailing career the natural move is towards higher performance boats. I believe this is why people often come to Olympic Catamaran sailing later than other Olympic classes which may have a more set route, for example, 420 to 470, or Radial to Laser. Having been a full time sailor for nearly ten years it therefore seems natural that I am now racing Catamarans.

Although I will always step back into the Radial (this year I shall be competing in the Europeans in July) for the love of true one design racing, I see my future in high performance sailing, and as such I was very saddened by the ISAF decision in November to remove the Tornado. By doing this they are not only removing a class, but a whole discipline which, surely as the fastest and most spectacular, should be represented at the Olympics.

Unfortunately it seems more important to ISAF to stick to a decision, than to do what is truly best for a sport as a whole. This is especially strange when this decision goes against the recommendations of both the Equipment committee and the Athlete commission. My interpretation of the voting in May would be: we realise we made a mistake (the vote to re-affirm did not get passed) but we are not going to do anything about it (the vote to discuss Cat sailing did not get a high enough majority).

So how does this leave the future of Cat sailing? Well having had two prolapsed discs removed from my neck last year (and the surrounding three vertebrae fused) this year was always going to be more about fitness than sailing for me. However straight after the 2008 Olympics there will be no more Olympic Cat sailing, no more events, and the top sailors will simply drift off, leaving a vacuum which may take many years to recover from.

I would hope that we can have a major rethink for 2016. I think the 5 women, 5 men classes: Single, Double, Keel, Cat, Windsurfer would seem the obvious way to go. With this time frame in mind Catamarans could reinvent themselves, producing a one design high performance boat, much like how the 49er came about. This would allow far more countries to compete on an equal footing at the Olympics.

When we think in four year cycles it is hard not to be emotive, as this effectively means taking away one sailor’s class. Most countries will have a good medal chance in certain classes and not others, so there is always going to be a vested interest. Suddenly when thinking eight years in advance the problem goes away as it is much harder to predict who (and in what classes) are going to be sailing well in eight years!

The issue now is that with no Cat sailing in the Olympics, many countries will stop their Youth programme, meaning there will be a huge talent drain, as the current top sailors will not be passing on their skills to the next generation. My only hope is that the IOC will step in, realising that sailing has not prepared for the future, and bring in an eleventh event (which would have to be the Tornado) for 2012 on the proviso that proper planning is put in place for 2016, starting tomorrow (after all it would take a considerable amount of time to come up with a new one design).