The Yachtsponsorship.com Facebook League Table has been updated and this month show’s who is serious about talking to the Facebook generation and who isn’t.

Readers around the world continue to lobby for their property to be included, but for the time being we are keeping the list at the top 30. To get into the top 30 now requires 1716 fans.

New into the list are the Route du Rhum with 12.708 fans, SailTV with 5438 fans and Esimit Europa with 4641 fans.

Alex Thomson Racing, have increased their ‘likes’ from 2,657 to 10,380 (290%) with the help of a few free Hugo Boss watch giveaways. The Open 60 Team is aggressively acquiring Facebook followers off the back of a strategy that obviously values them highly.

There is increasing evidence that people who ‘like’ a brand on Facebook, spend more than those who don’t. With a cost of acquisition that is less than $1 and sometimes considerably less, this platform will become more and more important.

Where are you on the Facebook Chart?

Despite Android passing iPhone as the most used smartphone in the world this week, developers are still making apps for the Apple fanboys (and girls). Just in case you can’t get to your computer and you really want to catch up with the latest from the HUGO BOSS Open 60, you can do it via the new app.

HUGO BOSS, one of the 12 boats still participating in the Barcelona World Race out of the original 14, are currently racing non stop for three months, across the most challenging seas on the planet. You can follow co-skippers Andy Meiklejohn & Wouter Verbraak onboard HUGO BOSS on your iPhone.

HUGO BOSS is the only team in the Barcelona World Race to have launched an App for the race, which is compatible with the iPhone and iPad. By downloading the free iPhone and iPad App you can track the boat’s progress wherever you are, as well as keeping up to date with the latest news, pictures and videos as the race unfolds.

Yvonne Fletcher, Alex Thomson Racing Marketing Manager said:

“With modern technology you can really get close to the race and see what’s happening on board. It’s incredible to think that you can sit on your way to work and see what’s happening in the Southern Ocean, one of the most remote places on the planet, right in the palm of your hand”

Although racing without skipper Alex Thomson after he suffered appendicitis just two days before the race start, the HUGO BOSS team of Andy Meiklejohn and Alex’s substitute Wouter Verbraak continue to race in this three month epic.

Alex Thomson racing is being quite aggressive with social media. The team was the fastest growing yacht racing brand on Facebook last month, with fan numbers increasing 32%.

Fans can follow the team on Facebook and keep up to date with their daily blogs from the boat.

More News from the Barcelona World Race

Update: The Yacht Racing Facebook League Table will be updated here…

There is no doubt that digital technologies that allow sports fans to get closer to their favorite teams and players have changed the communications landscape. But for all the hype, all the self appointed social media gurus, has sailing got it right yet?

At the World Yacht Racing Forum in December, Richard Worth of the Americas Cup Event Authority suggested that social media would be the vehicle to bring the new deal cup to the masses – perhaps making a promise to deliver Russell coutts’ vision of sailing for the Facebook Generation.

At the same event Richard Hosford from Hugo Boss racing told the audience that the sponsor put a value on a Facebook fan – the reasoning, which makes sense, is that a Facebook fan is a known individual who can be communicated with personally over time.

For most sailing properties, the interactive nature of social media – at least on the platforms that are most recognisable – like Facebook and Twitter, is not utilised or embraced.

Most sailing communications departments are staffed by old-school PRs who have a broadcast mentality. Some have come around to an idea of ‘narrow-cast’ but few are comfortable with the ‘back-channel’ which invites praise and criticism alike, in real time to a mass audience. For example – the recent Zhik Moth Worlds, which delivered exciting sailing, amazing photos and thrilling video never provided me an answer to my Facebook question – “where is the best place for spectators to watch the action?”

If an event is going to put social media on its media plan, then they have to be prepared to respond to questions from fans. Pushing out tons of content on another channel is only half the job.

While pure numbers is not everything in social media, we thought it might be interesting to do a quick Facebook League Table for sailing… Sorry if we’ve missed some, we’ll continue to build this and maintain it if people find it useful.

Yacht Racing Facebook League Table

1. Volvo Ocean Race – 35,187 fans
2. Sailing Anarchy – 12,464 fans
3. BMW ORACLE – 12,413 fans
4. Giovanni Soldini – 7,093 fans
5. Oman Sail – 5,989 fans
6. Extreme Sailing Series – 4,155 fans
7. US Sailing Team Alphagraphics – 3,949 fans
8. Quantum Racing – 3,869 fans
9. America’s Cup (Official) – 3,521 fans
10. Barcelona World Race – 3,254 fans
11. Scuttlebutt – 3,251 fans
12. Alinghi – 3,088 fans
13. Michel Desjoyeaux – 2,293 fans
14. World Match Racing Tour – 2,257 fans
15. Velux 5 Oceans – 2,196 fans
16. Alex Thomson Racing – 2,000 fans
17. Ben Ainslie – 1,896 fans
18. Cammas Groupama – 1,789 fans
19. Australian Sailing Team – 1,651 fans
20. Loick Peyron – 1,486 fans
21. Artemis Racing – 1,456 fans
22. Paul Cayard – 1,296 fans
23. St Francis Yacht Club – 1,113 fans
24. Perth 2011 – 761 fans
25. Zhik Moth Worlds – 746 fans

Comparitive numbers

• Lance Armstrong (Cyclist) –  1,569,532 fans
• Dale Earnhardt Jr (NASCAR) – 748,363 fans
• Venus Williams – 654,805 fans
• Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR) – 487,161
• England Rugby – 169,647 fans
• Jenson Button (F1) – 147,228 fans
• Red Bull Racing (F1) – 117, 914 fans
• Jessica Watson (Sailor)- 11,356 fans

If you want to be anything in the year 2010 you need to have a web presence. This week, the Eco 60 Class of ocean racing yachts today launched its own dedicated website.

The new class – which currently makes use of Open 60 yachts launched before 2003 – was created as an ecological, sustainable and affordable ocean racing yacht still capable of fast speeds and top performance, with a proven track record of reliability and safety.

The Eco 60 Class website has detailed information about the yachts and the background to the class, as well as a section devoted to Eco 60s for sale.

The class is a really great idea. It allows enthusiastic sailors without the budget for a new Open 60 to compete in the world of ocean racing and taking advantage of the large market of third generation Open 60 yachts for sale, recycles them back into the world they were built for – solo ocean racing.

As the ever increasing costs of the new Open 60s puts them beyond the reach of all but the few very big sponsors, there is a need to produce a class that is affordable to more sailors with the spirit of adventure and keep around the world solo sailing accessible. These tried and tested racing machines, proven in the toughest oceans around the world with a pedigree of success, are lying unused. However, their potential remains and can be harnessed as Eco 60s.

Race rules will set limitations on the number of sails, the size of shore crews and the extent of refit work permitted in order to further reduce budgets. But it’s not just about money – the Eco 60 Class will also be governed by a framework designed to improve the ecological and environmental impact on the planet. This includes a limit on the use of fossil fuels to encourage sailors to use more sustainable methods such as wind, solar and hydro power.

VELUX 5 OCEANS chairman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston has been a pioneer of the Eco 60 Class after sailing one to glory in the 2007 edition of the VELUX 5 OCEANS. He said:

“In ocean racing, to finish first you first have to finish. For my 2006/07 VELUX 5 OCEANS campaign I chose an older boat, strong and well tested. Of seven starters, four of us finished. In the 2008 Vendée Globe, only five out of the twenty one new generation yachts completed the course, compared to six out of the nine ‘Eco 60’ yachts which successfully returned to Les Sables D’Olonne after circumnavigating the planet.”

“The 28-year history of the VELUX 5 OCEANS is peppered with stories of unknown sailors of limited means who emerged to make their mark on ocean racing. Some became famous; others simply achieved their life’s dream of a solo circumnavigation. The Eco 60 Class continues that tradition.”

Of course a website is not enough these days – you have to be on Social Media. The Eco 60 Facebook page already has 65 Fans, but the Eco 60 Twitter feed is so far looking a bit unloved.

More ..Open 60 News.

According to ComScore, the iPhone has a 4% market share in Europe. Despite all the hype that surrounds the device, Nokia and Sony Ericsson handsets dominate the European market. But perhaps the folks at Göteborgs-Posten know better. Perhaps amongst the population of Gothenburg and those who escape to the island of Marstrand for Match Cup Sweden are big Apple fans.

Let’s assume for a minute that the Marstrand digerati are 3 times more likely to have an iPhone than the rest of the population. This means that 88% of the audience for Stena Match Cup Sweden will not be able to take advantage of the new iPhone application built for the event.

The iPhone does lend itself to applications that make the experience of attending a sports event easier and more interesting, but it is not alone. Android devices are perhaps an even more powerful platform for such applications but in 2010 the best way to provide a mobile experience to your audience is to invest in a good mobile website, then a larger percentage of the audience could participate via their mobile phone.

Nevertheless, for the Apple acolytes, a complete guide, free to download, with news information, results, calendar, maps, nearby restaurants, public transportation etc will be available. Behind the development of the ”app” are Sigma, Göteborgs-Posten and Brandspot. Stena Match Cup Sweden will therefore be the first event in Sweden to offer the guide.

Marie Carlsson, communications manager for digital media at Göteborgs-Posten said:

We hope that a couple of thousand visitors will get to enjoy the Event Guide in Marstrand. The application is flexible and easy to customize and our goal is to make it a complete guide to all types of events in Sweden.

Martin Sohtell project manager at Stena Match Cup Sweden added:

It feels great to be able to offer this service. The timing is perfect an fits naturally into our web strategy to increase visitors’ experience in an easy and accessible way,

While Stena Match Cup Sweden is one of Sweden’s largest public events, and one of the best yacht racing events in the world, it’s a shame that the investment in such mobile technology will only be available to a select few. If the same amount of thinking and investment had gone into a well thought out mobile site that could be viewed by more handsets, then perhaps 70,000 or 80,000 people might be able to enjoy the event through their mobiles instead of a couple of thousand.

More Marketing Technology News…

Sailing continues to push the boundaries of the way the sport is delivered to its audience. While Russell Coutts and the folk behind the next America’s Cup think about TV, the RS:X World Windsurfing Championships are planning to present a new integrated media platform combining tracking with live video images that can be controlled by the watcher.

The City of Kerteminde in Denmark will stage the 2010 RS:X World Windsurfing Championships from 27 August – 5 September and the event will feature a new platform created by Zenitel and TracTrac.

‘Sailstream – You are the producer’ will allow spectators in Kerteminde to watch the racing on giant screens ashore and give a global audience the opportunity to watch live action on their computer screens. The idea behind the concept is a combination of GPS-tracking, live streaming and course commentary, which should make the spectator experience exceptionally exciting.

Jacob Møhl from Sail Event Kerteminde says:

“This game changing technology lets the spectator choose which video stream he or she wishes to watch, hence the tag line ‘You Are The Producer’. Both the tracking technology and live video images will be seen on the same web page.”

The core of the concept is that three or more video cameras can move independently from point to point on the race track, transmitting directly from the water to the Internet. This will allow key points of the course to be moniored including the start, mark roundings and slalom sections of the course as well as the finish.

Spectators can choose the prefferred camera angle and the GPS tracking adds an extra data stream to make following the competitors more easy. Live commentary will add yet another layer of coverage to explain the images to a wider audience.

Mike Dempsey, RS:X Class President said:

“It’s fantastic for the RS:X Class to be so closely involved in this cutting edge development which will bring Olympic sailing closer to a global audience than ever before. We have been working hard to develop our online media presence for three years. Now with ‘Sailstream’, we’re moving on to cloud servers to handle the expected traffic.”

The city of Kerteminde, anxious to brand itself as the world’s most cozy Lilliputian sailing city will be dressed for the RS:X World Championships. It has officially named the week ‘World Water Week’ and will stage a lot of water related side-activities.

More Streaming and Tracking News…

A couple of weeks back, the SportBusiness New Media conference made a big deal about a game of football that was streamed live. People who follow football, especially the national team just expect that the game will be shown on live television, even if it’s restricted to pay channels. For more niche sporting events, like the majority of sailing, technology now allows for events to be delivered via the internet to a small but loyal audience.

In fact, the lack of live TV coverage has forced the sport of sailing to innovate. Sailing has seen the delivery of live audio commentary, live text blogging and even live 3D animated racing.

The Audi MedCup Circuit is one event that believes investment in cutting edge technology and innovation and improved access to the action delivers benefits to fans and sponsors. In 2010, www.medcup.org will stream a daily 4 hours programme with live action. The first Audi MedCup TV programme, to start on May the 12th.

The Circuit is a good example of how incremental technology has made the experience better for the remote viewer. In 2006 there were live mark by mark ticker text updates, in 2008 and 2009 there was live audio commentary and ‘Virtual Eye’ real time tracking.

The 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit will be streamed direct to internet viewers including dockside interviews, pre and post race analysis. As well as www.medcup.org, the feed will be sydicated through SailTV.

Content will be created by Sunset+Vine|APP who will be beam video from a stabilised camera on a TV catamaran which has unrivalled access to the fleet. There will be continuous commentary in two languages and expert comment. On board cameras will add to the racing action as well as aerial coverage. The action will be mixed at the venue broadcast centre, cut with supporting Virtual Eye 3-D animation.

Andrew Preece, Audi MedCup executive television producer explains:

“We are looking to really be able to drill into what is going on on the race course and highlight and explain in simple terms what is happening and why, what is interesting about each race. It will be essentially a sporting programme, but we aim to unravel the action, so that the action become more easily understood and accessible to a new sailing audience.”

Mark David, SailTV CEO says

“We are excited about the Audi MedCup TV package. There is certainly already an established audience, but a lot of how the audience develops and grows will be about people getting used to and trusting the technology. And of course as more sailing becomes available on the internet, so the audience is growing all.”

The Portugal Trophy, Cascais (May, 11-16) will be the first event running this new, ambitious and exciting feature. The first Audi MedCup TV programme will start at 1250 CET on May the 12th.

You might think that an article talking about a Premier League football club has no place on this site, but YachtSponsorship.com is two-way. While promoting the sport of sailing and how it can offer sponsors great value, it also aims to educate those in sailing about best practise from other sports.

The final panel at the Sport and New Media conference in Manchester included Jeff Nathenson, Head of Partner Management for YouTube in Northern Europe and Jerry Newman, Chelsea FC Digital Media, Digital Product Manager. They had some real takeaway advice from those doing, not just talking about it.

There is no doubt that YouTube has changed the sporting landscape. The ability to be able to broadcast high quality – or low quality video around the world is available to anyone with a £15 webcam. As Nathenson says – Youtube is a great equaliser. Chelsea Football Club and the smallest teams have access to the same tools and the same audience, but you need to put in the effort. It’s great to see then that Mirsky Racing Team have started doing video updates. If they can do it, then there is no excuse for some of the bigger, more well funded sailing operations not to be doing it.

While some brands might be scared of putting out content that has lower production values, despite making truly awful corporate videos, Nathenson says that User Interface is not important. Think of Twitter and Facebook and YouTube, not exactly the most good looking or friendly sites. Instead it is the content that is king. Some of the most successful videos on YouTube have no beginning, no middle and no end. What they do have is personality.

What YouTube knows, from millions of hours of content being uploaded and watched every minute of every day is that the old rules don’t apply.

Jeff Nathenson’s top tips for being successful.

1. Do not block comments. Turning off the ability for people to engage with your content limits the conversation. If people are writing negative comments, they are a refection on them, or YouTube rather than your brand or the content. Even if there are negative comments, there is no way for you to stop them.

2. Be flexible and be able to move quickly. YouTube is only 5 years old. Many other big tech brands have come and gone in the space of a few years. While Facebook and Twitter and Apple iPhone Apps might be the big thing now, they might all be replaced by something else just around the corner. This leads into point 3.

3. You are going to make mistakes. There are no gurus in this space. Some people have got lucky, some have applied good old fashioned marketing and business fundamentals to the new platforms and had success, but the ones who do best are those who experiment early and often and learn from mistakes.

One thing I disagree with Jeff Nathenson on is his comment that “you can throw a rock out a window, hit a teenager and get them to run this stuff for you.” I believe that if you have spent a lot of time and money in building a brand, then if you do decide to become more open and more public with your consumers via these mechanisms then it needs to be integrated with the rest of your communications.

Having one voice from corporate with one culture and another completely different voice on new media can have long term implications. You need to be true to your company culture and just as people should be themselves on social media, so too should brands not try and pretend to be something different.

Some sporting organisations make the mistake of lumping all fans together as a homogeneous mass. While there are some broad values that could be applied to the supporters of one club versus another, large global brands like Chelsea FC have a fanbase that spans nationalities, socio-economic types and different access to technology.

As Jerry Newman was speaking, Facebook was announcing that 700,000 Chelsea Fans were being reclassfied as 700,000 people who ‘liked’ Chelsea FC. The club’s Twitter stream is attracting new followers at a rate of 2000 a month. For Chelsea, new media is an unofficial channel that can be more nuanced, less corporate and careful.

Newman’s top tips are similar to those of many who spoke on the day.

1. Understand your customers. Not a new media thing. Not even a sport thing. Just a fundamental of business. New Media allows for a feedback mechanism that is honest and in real-time.

2. Always be learning and Act on what you learn. This speaks to the power of analytics and data. Who is watching what? Where are fans coming from? What languages are they speaking? Where are the conversations happening. Why are some pages never visited? YouTube, Facebook and other top channels provide powerful insights and metrics about demographics that can be used to create more value.

3. Interact. Don’t be afraid to engage. This is the thing that scares some people the most. The fear of negative feedback paralyses businesses from getting more involved, however sports fans are by definition fanatical about the athlete or team that they follow and for every negative comment there will be brand advocates – one eyed supporters who will fight the corner of the brand. Think about Apple – for every person that is sceptical about the iPad, there are hundreds who will defend it – even if they have never seen one.

See how smaller rights owners are putting some of these thoughts into practise. Proof that you don’t have to be Chelsea FC to make it work.

The SportBusiness New Media conference in Manchester yesterday, like many sports events in the UK, was heavily biassed towards ball sports. The problem with ball-sports is that they don’t have the same challenges experienced by other sports – the kind of challenges that lead to innovation.

There is probably not a lot of point using GPS for a game of football. The stadium is a confined space and there are a limited number of players on the pitch. Coverage of mass participation sports is quite a different matter – take the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race for example.

An estimated 1700 or so boats compete in this event every year. With an average crew size of 5, that’s around 8,000 competitors, making the race one of the UK’s biggest participatory events. There are not two teams in this race, but 1700, so how do you manage to cater for the spectators who are following one boat or another?

The Island Sailing Club and title sponsor J.P. Morgan Asset Management have announced that they will be introducing live GPS tracking for all boats taking part in the 2010 Round the Island Race on Saturday 19th June. Many GPS enabled phones have the ability to provide real-time tracking to the internet via downloadable applications. Several boats competing in the 2009 race set up their own live feeds but in 2010, the Round the Island project will attempt to collect all the boat tracking feeds into a single place, viewable on the internet.

Competitors with compatible equipment will be able to download a small piece of software that will allow their mobile phone or laptop to become a real-time GPS tracking device. The device’s position will be periodically transmitted to the official Race website, where a simple, easy-to-use race viewer will allow visitors to monitor the progress of individual boats throughout the race.

The tracking solution has been developed by the Race Technology Partner, Next Generation Results and funded by J.P. Morgan Asset Management. It will be one of the largest GPS event tracking initiatives ever undertaken with mobile phone technology.

The cost of GPS tracking has tumbled in recent years. Once only available to the most well-funded teams, now anyone can provide live tracking information live to the internet with readily available mobile phone handsets. Unlimited mobile data plans have also helped reduce the cost of tracking via this method, though it relies on having a mobile phone signal.

The challenge for race organisers will be getting all the signals into one place and providing the information in a way that spectators online can find the boat they are looking for. Website spectators will be able to search and select up to 10 boats that they want to follow at any one time through the Race Viewer. Boats will be searchable via their name and class. Each boat tracked will show its elapsed time from the race start and current GPS co-ordinates.

The competitors also benefit from this tracking technology as they will be able to replay their race and compare their performance with their rivals to see where they got it right – or wrong!

The technology has application for many sports including Rally, Mountain Biking, Triathlon etc. It’s a great example of how sailing is at the cutting edge of media technology and live sport content delivery.

More details of supported equipment and how to register for the service will be available on the race website at http://www.roundtheisland.org.uk