Treseder, who replaces Rod Carr who is due to retire next March, joins the RYA from The Admirable Crichton, a private luxury events company.

She has extensive management experience combined with a broad sailing experience from cruising in the South West of England, France, the Channel Islands and further afield to racing in dinghies, yachts and keelboats.

Currently, Treseder joint owns a Sigma 33 which she sails on the South Coast.

Richard Langford, the chairman of the RYA, said: "Finding someone to fill Rod’s shoes was obviously quite a challenge for us. 

"However, Sarah's excellent management experience and leadership skills combined with her own personal recreational boating will be a true asset to the RYA, its members and the boating community as a whole.
 

"Her appointment, I believe, will bring an exciting new dimension to the RYA and to the marine leisure sector."
 
Treseder will take up the post in February 2010, when she will work alongside the current Carr before he officially steps down.
 
Treseder said: "To be chief executive of the RYA is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me, and I will devote all my passion, dedication and experience to making a success of the role.
 
"I have been involved in cruising and racing boats all my life, and I believe that my varied experience in business and on the water will help me to connect with the sport at all levels; from grassroots programmes to the higher echelons of the racing community."

Carr took over as chief executive in December 2000 and under him Britain has established itself as the world's most successful Olympic sailing nation.

The team finished top of the medals table at both the 2004 Athens and 2008 Beijing Games.

In Athens the team won five medals, including two gold, and in Beijing last year they claimed six, four of them gold.

It will be a tough standard for Treseder to maintain, especially as expectations will be high for the 2012 Olympics, when the sailing events are due to take place at Weymouth and Portland.
 
Treseder said: "I am very much looking forward to joining the team at the RYA next year and to working alongside Rod for the month. 

"He has made an enormous contribution to boating in the UK and will be a hard act to follow."