Q: How did you come to be involved with the Bermuda Optimist Dinghy Association (BODA)?

A: As any parent of a child involved in sport will tell you, the volunteer aspect kicks in. BODA is a registered charity and it's been in existence for about ten years and as a charity for about five years. Those who started it recognise the importance that sailing has for the development of youth.

It started with the parents and it has become more structured and organised and now it's one of the most highly regarded youth sailing organisations in the world.

BODA prides itself on the accomplishments of its sailors on the international scene, but more importantly, on how it's been able to organise itself to bring into the sport a number of important aspects of youth development.

For example, we have a very stringent code of conduct, to adhere to on and off the water. Teamwork and the principle of drug-free sport. Every sailor has to undergo a drug test. You think, what, children with drugs? But it's not about that. It's about the conditioning and personal development of kids to understand the concept of drug-free sports.

Q: How old are the Optimist sailors?

A: They start from about the age of seven and go through to 15. The Optimist programme is at the club level in Bermuda ? the Hamilton Amateur Dinghy Club (HADC), the Royal Bermuda Yacht Club (RBYC) and the Sandys Boat Club. They all have their own layered programmes and coaches. They come in as juniors, to learn the fundamentals of sailing, move on to advanced levels, and go right through to international racing. All year round, we probably have about 600 sailors who go through the programme. The Bermuda Sailing Association (BSA) is a key element in all this too. Their summer programme, funded and supported by the Ministry of Youth and Sports, enables the broad section of our community to engage in sailing. That's normally done at White's Island.

It happens at club level too. The RBYC is well known for sponsoring children who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford to get involved in sailing. I think last year that around eight of their sponsored sailors took part in their programmes and learned about the joys that sailing can bring.

During the warm weather sailing season, May to September, we can get up to 600 sailors on the water.

Q: That would seem to counteract the argument that sailing is an elite sport.

A: Sailing is not an elite sport and never has been. The problem is that it can be expensive, when you include the cost of equipment, repairs, coaching, and, by default, that has inhibited certain members of our community from doing it as a year-round sport.

BODA undertook a new initiative last year called Outreach. We recognise that sailing brings tremendous value to youth development ? I've seen it in my own kids. Self-confidence, self-reliance, independence, leadership, team building.

When you see them out in the harbour in 25-knot winds, sailing in whitecaps, four-foot waves, they're having the time of their lives. Of course, we're not stupid about it and safety's a big part of it.

We have two safety boats for 20 or 30 kids if the winds are light. But when you get whitecaps and 30-knot winds, then you need maybe one safety boat for every four kids.

Q: Do you go into the schools to attract youngsters?

A: We've taken our Outreach programme to the clubs to get the programme under way. Last year we worked at the Mid-Atlantic Boat Club on North Shore Road, Devonshire. We got them the necessary funding to get their junior programme going. That's been highly successful under George Hayward.

So BODA has not gone into the schools, but, as the governing body for the class, our role is that we provide support to the clubs, that we provide a structure to develop their skills and take it to the highest level they want to go, including top-level coaching. Our national coach is an Argentinian with a tremendous track record. So we're enablers and facilitators.

One very important programme we have is the result of collaboration between BODA, the BSA and the Bermuda Government. It's called Water Wise and it involves taking the fundamentals of sailing into the classroom, to people who may never even have been out on the water before.

They use simulators, boats mounted on wheels and they allow the kids to learn the fundamentals of winds and angles without being on the water. They learn about the history of sailing and our maritime culture, which goes back to day one in our history.

They can then embark on a programme on the water at White's Island and then they have the chance to take it further.

Then they come out of the Water Wise system into the club and the BODA system. BODA is a vehicle that brings all the sailors out together and allows them to race. From there, they can graduate to an intermediate and advanced level. It's like a production line.

These kids know every trick in the book and they know the rules back to front. When they get in the water, they turn into these individuals in full control who compete. It's a rewarding experience to see them.

Q: When they're out on the boat alone, it must be a character-building experience.

A: That's right, but it's not just about individual competition. There is also team racing, comprising two teams of four. It's a shortened course and it's not about being fastest around the course, it's about getting the highest number of your team across the finishing line first. Part of it is blocking, tacking and covering. Tactics and strategy are involved.

You get points according to positions and the lowest score wins. If the scores are equal, the team that crosses the line first . So out on the water, they've got a lot of calculating going on. It's a mind game.

Q: Are you a keen sailor yourself, or did you get into this through your kids?

A: I've never been a serious sailor, just a social sailor. I did a bit of racing in the early '80s, but I never really had the time to do it competitively. I used to have my own sailboat. But really, it's through my 13-year-old twin boys, Jordan and Jason, who are doing well in the Advanced Fleet, that I've become involved.

They're probably the best heavy-wind sailors in Bermuda now. That's because they're quite big. The thing with Optis is that you don't only age out ? when you get past 15, you have to change class ? you can also size out when the boat becomes too small for you and you become competitively disadvantaged.

Q: Has Bermuda had much notable success in international Optimist competition?

A: Yes. Remarkably for its size, we're probably the best in the world. Bermuda has won the Nations Cup in South America three years in a row, against 18 to 20 countries. And in the North Americans, we won two consecutive years and finished second last year, out of multiple nations.

Bermuda, in team racing, has won the South American Championships three years in a row. We also won the North Americans team event three years in a row and came second last year. We are recognised across the world as the team to beat.

Q: Do you think that one day, some of these kids could go on to be Olympic medallists?

A: Absolutely. I sincerely believe that's possible if we continue to give these young sailors the support that they're getting now.

BODA is committed to three things. One is Optimist class racing, two is Outreach. Through Outreach, we are getting more and more girls involved and also more diversity. We have more young, black Bermudians, Portuguese Bermudians and low-income Bermudians sailing now than we've ever had. Now it's a healthy balance from the community and it's important for those kids to be able to sail, and to learn and develop as a result of that.

The third thrust for us today is transition. When our young sailors come out of a well-organised and successful programme, what happens when they are 16 and 17? Up until a year ago, the answer was nothing. Some go off to university, some drop out, some continue sailing on their own. It's a letdown when we've produced some of the best young sailors in the world and they drift out of the sport.

Now some of the parents whose kids have grown out of the Optimist programme are putting them into the Byte programme. These are bigger boats, single helm, and deemed to be the next best boat for sailors coming through.

That's okay for the sailors who are heavier and stronger. The lighter kids, we get them into the 420, that's a dual helm boat.

We believe that if we can give the same commitment and support to these young sailors, who have responded and have become some of the best in the world, then we can have Olympic success in future ? guaranteed.

We've set our sights as early as 2012 in the UK, the London Olympics, to see some of our guys medal. It's an ambitious target, but from 2016 onwards, I'd guarantee Olympic success ? so long as we can keep our commitment to them.

The business community has been very supportive ? the Bank of Bermuda Foundation, Ace, XL Capital, Cable & Wireless and Renaissance Re, which sponsors the Junior Gold Cup every year. We bring the top eight to 12 sailors from the World Championships here to compete with our guys in that event. We end up doing well. It's that type of support that is so important to the organising committee. There's a lot of people supporting them and making it happen.

Without that administrative, commercial and coaching support, the programme would die. And that's a critical factor in helping our young sailors today to aspire to be the best in the world. And I believe they can do it.

Q: What do today's top adult sailors think of the programme?

A: There have been some great Bermudian sailors over the years, like Peter Bromby and Paula Lewin. Some have done very well at the Olympics and have come close to medalling.

Peter would tell you that had he had an Optimist programme when he was young, it wouldn't be about whether he'd been an Olympian, or had he medalled, it would be about how many he'd won by now. I think he's right.

These kids are as astute and as capable in their understanding of racing rules and handling the water than you could find at any age group. You see them on the water and they can spin boats around like a top.

Our commitment to the kids ? and the BSA is central to this ? is to give them the support and the resources and the structure and they'll respond, I guarantee.

In Optimists, we've already had a number two in the world, Jesse Kirkland. And other fine sailors like Sean Bouchard, Cameron Pimentel and Oliver Riihiluoma. These young sailors have now moved on, but they've already made their mark on the world scene.

We have not competed at the World Championships in team racing because of a formula that disadvantaged us. But had we done so, we would probably have been contenders.

We've got Joshua Greenslade, probably our number one sailor in Bermuda today, my two sons, I'm proud to say, and Hayley Powell, she has really kicked in during the last year, and James Anfossi. They're a really solid and capable group that are about to embark on the South Americans, in Cartagena, Colombia, from April 5 to 16. And then they go on to defend their positions in the North Americans in San Juan in July. And the World Championships will be in Uruguay in December.

We've got as good a team now as we've ever had and there are a whole bunch of kids coming through behind them. It's a conveyer belt and we've just got to keep it rolling.

Q: Your sailing commitments must cost you a lot of spare time.

A: Yes, but it's really rewarding.