The Paris Olympics might be starting soon, but Bayview Olympian John Forbes is returning to the grassroots of his sport.
Three-times Olympic sailor, John Forbes, winner of Bronze in Barcelona and Silver in Sydney, is giving back to the sport he loves, encouraging students to possibly one day don the green and gold. John has breathed new life into school sailing as coach of the Hobie 18 fleet at the Australian Combined High School (CHS) Sailing Championships, the fleet taking to the water at the annual regatta at Lake Macquarie in April.
The resurgence of these boats began several years ago with John buying 20-to-30-year-old Hobie 18s, fixing them up, and sailing them in local regattas. What began with just one boat gained traction and soon there were five or six Hobie 18s competing in the Miscellaneous Class.
During his career, John won seven World Championships and travelled the world sailing for 22 years. He began sailing with his father Bob, at the age of 12. Following the Athens Olympics, he didn’t sail for 11 years but again picked up the ropes after his youngest daughter said she’d never been on the trapeze – he says it was a ‘bad parenting’ moment!
“That’s when I noticed the same people were in the sport who were there 15 years earlier,” he says. “It wasn’t healthy for sailing. I don’t think there are enough sailors wanting to go to the Olympics.”
This began John’s quest to see more women and kids enter the sport. He says the Hobies already possessed a furling jib, meaning its front sail could be retracted if things got a little hairy. John pioneered other changes that were officially introduced in April, making sailing catamarans more appealing to women and children.
“Kids just want to have fun,” he says. “It can be a little daunting going from an O’pen Class skiff (smaller dinghies) to the catamarans. The last thing we want is to scare them away.”
Shortly after meeting these O’pen Skiff kids, John says they suddenly had 11 boats at regattas, a very friendly atmosphere, parent and child teams, a great community and a stunning, brightly coloured fleet. The Hobie 18s is now one of the biggest classes in the catamarans at these events.
“Then a couple of kids approached me and asked if they could sail the Hobies at the Combined High Schools Regatta,” says John. “I said if they could get four or five teams together, I’d come up for the week as a coach, helping them transition from the monohulls to the catamarans. It snowballed from there.”
John, who also happens to be a talented rock bassist, says he’ll be watching the sailing at the Olympics primarily to chart the progress of friend and Sydney and Athens Tornado partner Darren Bundock, current coach of the Australian catamaran team.
Does he have any advice for Aussie sailing hopefuls in Paris? “Perfect preparation prevents poor performance,” he says. “Sailors need to set realistic expectations, and make sure they absorb the Olympic experience as much as possible.”
Keep up to date with John’s Hobie 18s fleet by following
@Hobie18catamaran on Facebook