TAGS: BISCAY 2012, CHARTER, F40, MARKETING, OFFSHORE, ROYAL SOUTHERN YACHT CLUB, SPONSORSHIP, SUNSAIL RACING, TRAVEL

TAGS: FONCIA, FRANCK DAVID, IMOCA, MICHEL DESJOYEAUX, MOD70, OFFSHORE, ONE DESIGN, OPEN 60

In 2012, the Royal Southern Yacht Club will celebrate its 175th Anniversary. In a country where the average life expectancy of a business is 12 years, the Royal Southern continues to show how a yacht club can be commercial enterprise and a thriving hub of social and racing activity.

The Royal Southern yacht club is several businesses, some of which run 7 days a week, around the clock. The management team control the revenue and expenses of a restaurant, marina and event space. But in order to stage the activities planned for 2012, the club requires commercial sponsors.

Sponsorship is something that yacht clubs around the world are coming to terms with as an essential part of their business model. The subject was the topic of discussion at a recent Conference of the International Council of Yacht Clubs (ICOYC), which will hold their 2012 conference at the Royal Southern Yacht Club.

At an event at Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week, the Royal Southern Yacht Club Commodore, Mark Inkster introduced some of the companies that will partner with the club to support the calendar of events including a new race.

Royal Southern Yacht Club 175 partners will include sailing apparel company Gaastra, Piper-Heidsieck Champagne, Swarovski Optik, and Sunsail Racing. The deal with Sunsail is particularly clever and is good for the club, but also for the sport of sailing.

Sunsail Racing will be the technical partner for the new Biscay 2012 Race, with a new fleet of Sunsail F40 performance cruiser/racers, built by Beneteau, constituting the largest part of the Royal Southern Yacht Club’s inaugural Biscay 2012 race fleet. Sailors looking to get into offshore racing will be able to charter the yachts at a reasonable cost, lowering barriers to entry for top level sailing.

Sam Davies, an honorary member of the Royal Southern Yacht Club will also be an ambassador for the new race. She said:

“Any sailing initiative that helps encourage a wider audience to participate in some competitive offshore racing has to be a good thing. Being able to encourage the Club’s racing members to sign up to this but also open it up to a wider sailing fraternity to enter Biscay 2012 is very welcomed. The Royal Southern’s Race Management is superlative and Biscay 2012 couldn’t be in better hands. Congratulations to you all and thanks again for inviting me to be a part of it.”

More Sailing Sponsorship News

40, 50, 60, 70 feet… round the world, stopping, non-stop, crewed, solo… 1 hull, 2 hulls, 3 hulls…One Design or Open… the choices for sailors and the fans of sailing seem to get more and more complicated. There’s only so many sailors, so many sponsors and so many months in the year to try and support a sustainable industry, yet this doesn’t seem to deter both old and new promoters from trying to make their particular model work.

As the MOD 70 gains momentum (up to 9 boats are now believed to have been commissioned), perhaps at the expense of IMOCA, and the Global Ocean Race tries to make the most of a strong Class 40 fleet, the Velux 5 Oceans Race will add a new boat option for its next edition in 2014-15. The ninth edition of the race will continue to extend the life of older Open 60 boats through the Eco 60 Class, but will also allow the SolOceans One Design.

Like the Class 40, the new class is supposed to allow sailors to race solo around the world on a level playing field with ‘reasonable and controlled budgets’. The aim is to increase the number of skippers and sponsors of all nationalities, but in doing so, will have to tempt sailors from other classes or events.

The SolOceans Class has an impressive pedigree on paper, but the project has taken a long time to get off the ground. The 52.5 foot high-tech carbon one-design yacht (16 meters), has been designed by Jean-Marie Finot and Pascal Conq, with Michel Desjoyeaux as Technical Consultant of the Class. Three boats have been built to date with a goal to having 5 to 8 boats on the 5 Oceans start line in 2014.

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston said:

“…we are adapting to the global economic environment in evolving the type of boat we accept to compete. From our side, we innovated with the Eco 60 Class. We started this approach to favour more modest budgets from 2005, even before the financial crisis hit in the summer of 2008. We are now taking this strategy even further in launching this new category of high tech round the world boats.”

“The SolOceans One Design Class will offer skippers and their sponsors a fantastic opportunity to race around the world on an equal footing, increasing further the emotional intensity of the adventure to the benefit of the general public.”

Jean-Pierre Champion, President of the French Sailing Federation (FFVoile) said:

“I am delighted that the 5 OCEANS is opening its start line to the SolOceans One Design Class. It will offer young skippers coming out of our centres of excellence of training for solo offshore racing a future thanks to a series of high tech, one design boats which are financially, technically and competitively accessible.”

“One design racing allows costs to be controlled. The Figaro Class has shown this each season. It is a philosophy that our federation encourages. It allows not only young racers to build their sporting career, but equally for small-medium size companies to engage sustainably in our sport with a real visibility on budget. In these times of economic crisis, this element takes on even more significance. The 5 OCEANS therefore has the support of the FFVoile in this approach which marks a major evolution in oceanic racing.”

It’s a great concept, but now that concept has to be sold to sailors and their backers. The sponsors couldn’t really care less how long the boat is or who designed it. The one-design nature does appeal to some sponsors because it focusses attention on the ability of the sailors rather than the size of their budget.

More Offshore Racing News

The Superyacht Cup is a strange event in the sporting world. Only yacht owners would consider racing their luxury playthings against each other. It’s not like there is a race for new Rolls Royce cars or motorhome races or private jet races, but nevertheless – by collecting together to race these amazing sailing yachts, a unique platform for sponsors is created.

The Superyacht Cup will be raced at the Muelle Viejo in central Palma in June, and with just a few weeks to go, the organisers have announced that there will be a full line up of entries and a couple of new sponsors.

Sportswear and sailing apparel brand, Gaastra, will become a Gold Sponsor of the Superyacht Cup. Perhaps best known by certain generations as a windsurfing company, Gaastra launched clothing lines in 1996 – Gaastra Sportswear, and Gaastra Pro and the Superyacht Cup is one of many events sponsored by the company, including Les Voiles des St Tropez and the World Yacht Racing Forum.

Elvstrøm Sails will also support the Superyacht Cup as a Silver Sponsor. The company has a loft facility in Palma, which is a specific Superyacht division to provide a customized approach to Superyachts with support from Josh Gilchrist.

On the racing side, the fleet of 20 yachts includes 12 entries making their Superyacht Cup debut. Firefly, a 35m Hoek design, will be leaving Holland to sail straight to the Mediterranean from the Claasen Jachtbouw shipyard, following her launching earlier this year. Claassen Shipyards have joined the Superyacht Cup as Silver Sponsor and will be showcasing many of their current projects at the regatta. Also making their debuts at the event this year are the two 55m modern classics Adela and Marie, as well as the 43m Hoek design This is Us.

More Sailing Sponsorship news.

International Yacht Paint has announced that it will become the title sponsor of Katie Miller’s Figaro II. The sponsorship will include Katie’s  100 Mile Double Handed Race campaign.

As well as the Double Handed Race, International Yacht Pain will activate their sponsorship through a programme of corporate racing, including East Coast Sailing Week and the Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week.

Katie said about the sponsorship:

“I am thrilled that International Paint have decided to re join the racing frame. We are sure that the programme we have devised will provide an exciting opportunity to promote International Paint as the premium Yacht paint brand that they are.”

Chris Jones – UK Marketing for International Yacht Paint said:

“It is a great pleasure to be working with Katie Miller and her Figaro II racing campaign from 2011. Katie’s dedication and enthusiasm to sailing reflects International Paint’s commitment to the sport. We are keen to see as many young people as possible take up the sport of sailing and with Katie being a fantastic ambassador for sailing we are proud to support her. It is our hope that her successes will inspire many others to follow in her footsteps. The whole International Paint team wish her the best of luck and look forward to seeing many podium finishes.”

Miller will once again join forces with Matthew Lingley, co skipper of their successful Round Britain and Ireland Race in 2010, and the duo will compete in the 1000 Mile Double Handed Race. The race, starting in Scheveningen, Holland and racing to Lerwick, Shetland Isles and Bergen, Norway, is an official qualifier to the recently re-launched RWYC TwoStar TransAtlantic Race.

Katie said on her blog:

Obviously, the good people with eyes in the vicinity of Shotley Marina would have known this from about Thursday last week… given the unsubtle branding and the copious amounts of International Paint being applied. Our first race is tomorrow!! The jobs list as detailed below has been more than halved and I am just finishing it off while Matt is busy running Demon Yachts! We will be joined on our race by non other than Kate Moss.

More Yacht sponsorship news

Changing Boat Designs for World Match Racing Tour

Does the world of yacht racing need any more designs? Perhaps a silly question – the sport of sailing is at least 50% about innovation and design and in some ‘open’ events, it doesn’t matter how good the sailor is outspent before the boat gets onto the water. But the World Match Racing Tour is not an ‘open’ event when it comes to the boats used. The format pits sailor against sailor – even swapping boats mid race to make sure that the vehicle gives no advantage to either side. So do the boats even matter?

When organisers of the America’s Cup decided to relaunch sailing to a new generation and use the catamaran to do it, match racing in monohulls was characterised by some of the sport’s most influentual people as old-fashioned and boring. Speed and excitement were chosen as the attributes to lure spectators rather than strategy. The new America’s Cup promises a jingoistic format – the world’s best sailors sailing the world’s fastest boats and with a ‘planned’ youth series, the America’s Cup has set itself head to head with a series like the World Match Racing Tour, which has traditionally been a recognised stepping stone to the Cup.

In order to retain the world’s greatest match racers, the WMRT has embarked on a plan to deliver great events and part of the responsibilities of new venues is to choose boats that deliver for sailors and fans. Existing venues will also be expected to update their fleets.

Rather than choose just one or two options, the World Match Racing Tour has unveiled 7 new boat designs.

The designers were presented with a tough brief, namely to create a robust, cost-effective boat that is capable of delivering exciting, tactical and fiercely-fought racing across a range of conditions, from variable winds to differing depths and unpredictable currents. The designers were further challenged by the fact the boats need to test performance sailors yet be versatile enough for corporate and club sailors to give venues a diversified income from them.

Terry Newby of Regatta International said:

“The World Match Racing Tour is delighted with the huge response it received to this brief and the fact it attracted some of the world’s best boat designers reflects the status of the Tour. Each finalist has shown a real understanding of the series’ strategic requirements and has produced a multipurpose design that will be an asset to both new and existing venues who invest in one of these designs. ”We expect everyone to benefit. The designers will increase their profile while the Tour’s venues will be associated with world class sailors using the very latest match racing boats. For the Tour, it will continue to affirm its position to fans, broadcast partners and sponsors as the arena for exciting, innovative and compelling match racing.”

Denmark Out. New Host Cities ready to replace them.

Like many sports that are trying to compete for sponsorship dollars, media and fans, the World Match Racing Tour is changing the mix of events that are part of the tour and raising standards. Like Formula One, which has embraced new host cities and new tracks at the expense of some older, more traditional circuits, the World Match Racing Tour now expects that each event meets certain criteria to be part of the tour.

The WMRT has announced that the Danish Open, which has been on the calendar for a while, will not go ahead in 2011 due to promoters not being able to fulfill their obligations.  The contract has been terminated and the event has been officially cancelled.

Terry Newby says that there are a large number of cities ready to take the place of Denmark and the additional slots that the tour plans to add going forwards.

“With the number of potential host cities growing all the time, I expect the bidding for the available spots to be hard fought. It is also pleasing to see the level of interest from other outstanding venues which are planning ahead past the 2012 and 2013 seasons.”

More World Match Racing Tour News

The ‘Little America’s Cup’ is an event that has a small and loyal fanbase in the world of sailing. Whatever the PR people at the real America’s Cup want you to believe, international competition on wing-sailed catamarans is not a new thing and the C Class Catamaran Championship will continue to be hotly contested despite the next event going head to head with the reinvented America’s Cup in September 2013.

The 2012 ‘Little America’s Cup’ will take place in Falmouth in the UK from the 25th of August to the 1st of September. The timing, a week before the final America’s Cup event in San Francisco, could mean enormous publicity for the smaller event, or it could mean that it is totally lost in the noise, but it is one of those events that won’t mind too much either way.

If anyone can find us a picture of the Mornington Peninsula regional phone book from around the time the Little America’s Cup was contested of McCrae in Victoria, Australia it would confirm that this event has actually been the trend-setter for decades.

The Little America’s Cup should deliver Falmouth some media attention and generate some inbound teams and close supporters, but it’s unlikely that too many fans will travel to see the event specially. Nevertheless, hosting the event will give the town some visibility. Up to 20 teams could attend the event.

A consortium from Restronguet Sailing Club, Mylor Yacht Club and Windsport International will host the event in the village of Mylor at the upper reaches of Carrick Roads and look forward to creating a great event.

The winner of last years championship, Fred Eaton said:

“We are looking forward to defending the International C Class Catamaran Championship at Falmouth. I have had the pleasure of racing in Falmouth before in International 14s and will enjoy returning. The town and the area are rich with inspirational history for a sailor and the people are very welcoming. I know that it will provide a great test for both the boats and crews at our next Championship.”

UK Team Invictus won the right to choose the event’s location by winning the event in 2010. To fund their 2013 challenge, the team have secured a number of new sponsors, including Atlantis Weathergear, ANSYS for structural and aerodynamic analysis and Advanced Composites Group for materials. The team are also in discussions with a few potential sponsors to cover both the build of 2 new boats and for the event itself.

It remains to be seen what (if any) impact the new AC45 series has on the Little America’s Cup. The AC45 is supposed to be a stepping stone for youth to be able to carve out a career in the America’s Cup, but to the casual observer, there is not a lot of difference between a C Class, wingsailed catamaran and an AC45. With 20 teams predicted for the Little America’s Cup and perhaps 8 with the budget to fund an AC45 campaign, the biggest difference is cost – and heritage.

The AC45 has yet to race an event in anger, while the ‘Little America’s Cup’ has been around since 1961. The ‘cult’ following of the C-Class catamaran should mean that the ‘Little America’s Cup’ will be around for a long time to come, whatever happens to the more well known event.

Sailing is one group of sports that provides sponsors with the opportunity to be highly targeted with their messaging. Yacht classes are almost a pre-forma segmentation of the marketplace with different demographics and communities cultures grouping together around specific events. Rather than trying to be everything to everybody, some classes keep their value high by being able to tell potential sponsors exactly who it is they get to market to, where and when instead of bluffing about a gross television audience in the billions who don’t really care.

Aberdeen Asset Management has augmented its title sponsorship deal with Cowes Week by announcing that it will also sponsor the X One Design (XOD) in its centenary year. The class attracts many supporters through being authentic and relevant.

The XOD class Sponsors will support the class throughout Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week and in return, the boats will get Aberdeen stickers and branding. The asset management company will also get some visibility on merchandise and in the XOD Centenary brochure and book.

Martin Gilbert, Chief Executive Officer of Aberdeen Asset Management said:

“It was really a very straight forward decision for us to show our support to this historic and prestigious class; with our involvement in sailing increasing this year as a result of our Cowes Week sponsorship, we are happy to align our brand with the XOD fleet.

Aberdeen has a long-standing heritage in sailing having been first involved with Sam Davies in her first single-handed transatlantic race in 2001: we continue to be proud of our affiliation with the Dragon class which has been part of our sponsorship portfolio since 2006 and we are also title sponsor of the Scottish Traditional Boat Festival which takes place in Portsoy, Scotland annually.”

William Norris, XOD Class Captain, said:

“We are absolutely delighted to have Aberdeen Asset Management’s enthusiastic support as our title sponsor for this year’s centenary celebrations. It is an exciting time for the Class with well over 100 boats expected for the year’s main event, which is Cowes Week itself. Aberdeen’s sponsorship, in addition to that which we have received from seven other corporate and many individual supporters, is extremely welcome and will help to make Cowes Week a very special occasion for the Class”

More Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week News

The UK has shown that when they want to win something, provided they can find the investment to fund the development, they can create great sports professionals. Sports like Cricket and Olympic events like cycling have been targeted with great results. But in an environment where governments are cutting funds for services like libraries, spending public money on future sporting glory is a touchy subject.

A sport like sailing, which is still to fully shrug off accusations of elitism can deliver more than just results. Investment in marine infrastructure by governments in Oman, New Zealand and Spain have shown that there is a bigger play than standing on the top of a podium. Nevertheless, it is unlikely that the UK government would dedicate resources to developing the next British Vendee Globe winner.

Luckily, there are private companies who understand how such investments deliver returns and applications for the Artemis Offshore Academy 2011/2012 Development Squad are now open.

The Artemis Offshore Academy was created in June 2010 to provide a UK training programme of excellence for British short-handed sailors, providing a structure to bring talented sailors up through the ranks. Designed to help them win major offshore solo and short-handed races in the future, the ultimate goal is to put a British sailor in a strong position to win the Vendée Globe in 2016 or 2020.

The Artemis sponsorship helps to fund the Development Squad training at the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy (WPNSA) as well as in the south of France at the prestigious Centre d’Entraînement Méditerranée. On top of the training, a Scholarship is given to the most promising member of the Development Squad. It is an annual, fully funded Scholarship to compete on the highly competitive Figaro circuit, including the famous Solitaire du Figaro race. Support is also given, via the Academy, for one UK sailor to compete in the Mini Transat.

Sam Goodchild, who was awarded the first scholarship says:

“Joining the Artemis Offshore Academy Development Squad and winning the Scholarship has enabled me to get much closer to my dream of racing in the Vendée Globe. The training programme that the Academy runs is totally unique for British sailors and has given me a major boost into the short-handed offshore sailing world.”

Artemis Offshore Academy Performance Director John Thorn explains:

“We are very excited about the next Academy year and the next Selection Trials as we open the door of the Academy to our second intake of talented British sailors. We know so much more now than last year about the logistics and training programme the sailors need. And we have learnt a great deal about the way the French Figaro and Mini sailors train which will be hugely beneficial for the second intake of Squad sailors and beyond. Last year the Selection Trials brought us many exceptional candidates and I hope that this year will be even better.”

“All candidates should not be under the illusion it will be an easy ride. Far from it, the training and the race programme is tough and will require a high level of existing sailing skill on which to build and also a high degree of commitment.”

But with 18 months to go until the next Vendee Globe, many UK solo sailors with a track record are struggling to find the required sponsorship for the race. Importantly he Artemis Offshore Academy doesn’t just teach the next generation about how to sail well, its curriculum also covers how to be commercial about it. Understanding the fundamentals of how and why companies sponsor offshore sailing and packaging that is something that is not a natural talent for many athletes.

More UK sailing news