Russell Coutts, America's Cup and Finn gold medalist Russell Coutts predicted this week that future Olympic sailors will likely train using simulators to hone skills and cloud data.

Coutts won the gold medal for New Zealand back in 1984. He now heads up SailGP, a league that is backed by Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. Coutts has been pushing new technology as he strives to create a top-flight, professional sailing circuit.

The simulator helps you learn the basics of boat mechanics. "It's not a replacement for physical training but I believe it will be used in other sports eventually," Coutts said on Tuesday.

"I could imagine Olympic sailors using a simulation for all kinds of purposes, and not just physical practice," he added during a short visit to the Games. Simulators can also fill in the gaps where weather dependent sailing isn't possible.

Simulators can be used for a variety of reasons, including staying warm, cool or dry. They also allow you to avoid wasting time waiting on the water while there is no wind.

He said: "Let's take a race and stop it there. I will now take over and manage the situation in a different way. Let's now see what happens."

The learning potential can be dramatically increased by running these scenarios multiple times with goggles on athletes, according to Coutts. SailGP, which has plans for more simulators to be used in training centers around the globe, is planning to use them.

The 62-year old added, "I think the next step in the Olympic path is to have more data-driven approaches that allow athletes to up-skill their skills and do so more structuredly."

After winning the $2 million Grand Final in San Francisco, Spanish skiff sailor Diego Botin, and Florian Trittel won gold in Marseille, only a few weeks after their return.

'NEW TALENT'

Coutts stated that simulators would give emerging nations more opportunity to compete, which World Sailing is promoting. This Games has a record-breaking number of athletes.

These teams could lease equipment to allow them to benchmark themselves against the best teams in order to determine what is different.

Coutts stated that SailGP has a mission to increase awareness about the sport and to find ways to bring new generation to the top. As its teams grow, they'll start looking for talent.

He said: "You will almost have scouts out there, finding new talent and bringing them into the company to train them."

Coutts believes that technology can help to encourage more people to get on a boat.

He said that before a child even gets into the Optimist dinghy they could do a simulation at shore to make sure they are not scared when they get in. Reporting by Alexander Smith, Editing by Christian Radnedge

(source: Reuters)