In the late 1950s, two large sailing associative movements coexisted in France: on the one hand, the sporting sailing giving rise to official competitions, performed in the national federation, and on the other hand, the outdoor sailing which initiation centers suggested to novices to discover by disconnecting it from any search for sports performances. The arrival of Maurice Herzog at the head of the Administration of Youth and Sports in 1958 marked the beginning of a public policy which aimed to unify sailing teaching in the country by seeking to place outdoor activities under the only authority of the federation. But, this intervention caused to worsen the tensions remaining between the two parties. The leaders of the federation never stopped demanding that the training supplied in sailing schools should be subordinated to the preparation for the competitions while the leaders of the outdoor centers tried to protect the autonomy of the pedagogy of sailing schools towards the sporting event. The administration was then forced to increase the mediations between one another in order to preserve a fragile federal unity, seriously threatened in 1969. A compromise was found during 1970s when the choice of a more eclectic federal policy taking into account sailing schools gave the officials of the federation a glimpse of the possibility of boosting its population growth and increasing its income.