Abstract

This paper presents the main findings of the Class Change Mentoring Programme (PTCC) started up by the Catalan Sailing Federation (FCV) in 2001. This is an unprecedented international project that aims to learn about and influence the continuous improvement of the passage of child sailors into youth classes. In competitive sailing, the final time in the Optimist class, the choice of a new class and the first experiences in the one selected are key moments in the sporting life of the sailors. After a pilot period, in 2003 a 10-year process was begun during which three studies were conducted (in 2003, 2008 and 2013) involving monitoring and intervention with the FCV’s child and youth fleets. Questionnaires drawn up for this project were used to collect impressions from 370 child sailors, 231 youth sailors and 170 parents. Given the size of the results, this article focuses on the trends that provide most information about the evolution of the sailors, especially in the 2013 study, while it also presents the PTCC as a possible model for monitoring fleets that is applicable to other organisations involved in competitive sailing.