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

As the America’s Cup World Series draws the attention of old and new sailing fans to Cascais in Portugal, the battle off the water for the hearts, minds and disposable income of those fans heats up.

In the highly competitive sailing apparel market, brands have more opportunity to realise a return on sponsorship through direct sales of team merchandise. A couple of folks, who have a casual interest in the America’s Cup might buy a souvenir of an event, but real fans will want the gear worn by their team.

On the back of the news that CORUM would be a partner, ENERGY Team France have announced that their sailing clothing brand of choice will be Marinepool. The company which is also the official clothing partner of the Extreme Sailing Series will be the “Official Technical Clothing Partner” for ENERGY Team’s challenge for the 34th America´s Cup.

Bruno Peyron, CEO, Energy Team France said:

“We are very happy about this partnership between Energy Team and Marinepool and are looking forward to a very succesful cooperation.“

In a statement, Marinepool said:

“Marinepool is proud to be part of this challenge and to join two of the world´s finest sailors in their effort to win the last trophy that has eluded them and their nation. Team Energy France will exclusively wear Marinepool technical gear renowned for it´s quality and cutting edge technology and design.”

If there are other clothing and apparel deals done for the America’s Cup, it’s hard to find them. Yesterday we overlooked the fact that Louis Vuitton had been announced as the Official Timekeeper for the event, but as the teams get to grips with migrating their online presence to the official America’s Cup website, activation of sponsorships (and partnerships) seem to be taking a little bit of a back-seat.

Even ORACLE Racing, which is long established, makes no mention of their Official clothing partner(s) on their section of the website.

Having watched what Marinepool have done with the Extreme Sailing Series, and with the experience and business savvy of the Peyron brothers, it would be reasonable to expect that the ENERGY Team deal (which is on the partners part of the Energy Team section of the America’s Cup website) will generate some good awareness and sales.

More America’s Cup News.

It’s not the America’s Cup without some luxury timepiece sponsorship. While no official timekeeping partner has been announced at a series level yet, the French challenger, ENERGY TEAM has announced CORUM as its first official partner.

Like many watch brands, CORUM has a long history supporting sailing. Traditionally, the demographic of the America’s Cup used to line up nicely with the market for upmarket timepieces. Despite a campaign to make the event appealing to a new audience, one expects a large part of the fanbase for teams like ENERGY to be those who are fans of Loick Peyron, a long-time CORUM ambassador.

Antonio Calce, CEO of Corum comments:

“This major project is a further step in our strategy that I announced and launched several years back. Taking part in the America’s Cup is the dream of every sailor and for that reason matches the aspirations of a brand like Corum, which since 1960 has been a key player in the sector. The close relationship based on trust that has developed between Corum and the Peyron brothers has enabled this dream to come true.”

Bruno Peyron added:

“It is with immense pleasure that our team welcomes Corum on board as the official partner of Energy Team. It takes courage to be the first, as there are on the one hand doubters and then on the other those, who are determined to make their own destiny. Antonio Calce is one of the latter and the atmosphere of mutual trust that we are building together is probably down to what we already have in common: a great desire to see things through. The support of Corum is vital and this commitment will act as a catalyst to attract other major partners and allow us to get going in building our first AC 72.”

And while we wait to see how the new America’s Cup World Series in Cascais and Plymouth will change sailing forever, ENERGY TEAM have their minds on the long term game. For Bruno Peyron, the speed trials off Estoril beach mean nothing when it comes to beating ORACLE Racing in an AC72 in San Francisco.

The America’s Cup World Series is compulsory for teams challenging for the 34th America’s Cup and provides good training on a scale model of the boats that will eventually compete, but reading Bruno’s answers to interview questions about the ACWS, you can tell his mind is elsewhere – a Multiplast yard in Brittany to be precise.

When asked what objectives have been set prior to the start of the ACWS events, Bruno Peyron responded:

The sporting objective isn’t really a priority in this first test. The important thing was to be there and we’re there! The objective is not to be too far behind the top 3 teams, who have been training for months, so as we can be in a position to be a serious threat to them between now and midway through the season. It would be a big mistake to be overly confident. Of course finishing at the top of the Challengers’ leaderboard would be the best possible outcome.

CORUM is the first of the team’s partners that will enable the team to focus on the real goal. Peyron said:

We’ll reveal the first partners as soon as the boat’s launched this week. The construction of the global economic operation is continuing and we hope to be in a position to balance the budget in the next 3 months so as we can get going with our first AC 72 before the end of the year at the Multiplast yard in Vannes, SW Brittany. Everything is now in place to move up a gear in September.

More America’s Cup News

The America’s Cup World Series will feature 10 boats. That’s the big news from San Francisco, where the organisers of the America’s Cup gathered to announce the line-up for the training events to be held in Cascais and Plymouth later in the year.

9 out of 10 sailing websites went with the prepared PR headline – “America’s Cup Teams welcomed to San Francisco,” proving that even when there is news, nobody bothers to do any work, far easier to paste the press release from the communications team verbatim. Cut & Paste content rules.

The numbers are a little confusing, so here is the breakdown. 10 boats, 9 teams, 8 challengers competing, 7 announced. ORACLE racing will send 2 boats to the first round of the America’s Cup World Series exhibition match in Cascais, Portugal. 7 challengers turned up in San Francisco for the press conference and one team (believed to be European) will announce their entry later.

For many, the line-up is not a surprise. The good news is that Team Korea and the Peyron’s Energy Team are in the group challenging for the America’s Cup. Unsurprisingly Australia is not there.

The Teams for the America’s Cup World Series

• China – China Team, Mei Fan Yacht Club
• France – Aleph – Équipe De France, Aleph Yacht Club
• France – Energy Team, Yacht Club de France
• Italy – Venezia Challenge, Club Canottieri Roggero di Lauria
• New Zealand – Emirates Team New Zealand, Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron
• Republic of Korea – Team Korea, Sail Korea Yacht Club
• Sweden – Artemis Racing, Kungliga Svenska Segel Sallskapet
• United States – ORACLE Racing, Golden Gate Yacht Club, (Defender)

The reason for ORACLE Racing’s two boat team as reported by AP is because “no other defense candidate has emerged” – which is a nice one line glossing over of months of politics and intrigue that no-doubt will come out at some point. In the mean-time, the ‘American’ team continues to spend bigger than any of its rivals on the travelling warm-up show that is the America’s Cup World Series.

Although the purchase of an AC45 and participation in the ACWS is compulsory for a challenge for the next America’s Cup, it seems that at least one team has not fallen for the distraction. Energy Team, who perhaps have more experience than any other team at sailing multihulls over 60 feet, doesn’t seem to fussed about the 45 foot version – with good reason. The results of the sideshow don’t mean anything – the real competition starts with the Louis Vuitton Cup in the AC72.

While Artemis Racing are now installed as the friendly Challenger of Record for the next edition of the cup, Energy Team is perhaps the one that will give ORACLE Racing the biggest challenge. One imagines that for Bruno Peyron to put his hand up and be on the list of challengers at this stage, the team has the commercial sponsorship required to compete for the ultimate prize.

Bruno Peyron said:

“Energy Team comes to the America’s Cup with great experience in world-class multihull racing. With this new format, we see an exciting opportunity to excel in the America’s Cup. The French public are huge fans of multihull racing so this move to new, dynamic boats will be great for the French sailing audience. And I have no doubt that the passion the French have for fast multihulls will be shared globally once people see these teams racing.”

While ORACLE Racing, backed by Larry Ellison flies the American flag, other teams may have more national support. Team Korea might not have the sailing pedigree of Energy Team or Emirates Team New Zealand, but the team could bring to bear enormous resources in order to win the Cup. The backers of Team Korea are the same people who created the Korea Match Cup, from nothing and in a short space of time have turned it into a nationally broadcast premier sporting event.

Dong-Young Kim, Team Principal said:

“We are very proud to represent the Republic of Korea’s first-ever Challenge for the America’s Cup. With a new boat and new format, Korea can enter the America’s Cup for the first time with a better chance of success. We look forward to building our team and racing the AC45s starting in Portugal.”

New Logo for the Louis Vuitton Cup

The America’s Cup Event Authority have also unveiled a new brand logo for the real America’s Cup challenger series – the Louis Vuitton Cup. The logo playfully hints at the NASCAR wreck element of the new America’s Cup – portraying an AC72 backwards and upside down with the wingsail in the water. The effect is to turn the sails of the boat into a representation of a yacht club burgee.

It’s a classy looking logo, but the connotations are not great.  One might think that Louis Vuitton, who is a global leader in design would think about such things.

Richard Worth, Chairman of the America’s Cup Event Authority said about the new design:

“In every sense of the word, the America’s Cup is reinventing itself, from our cutting-edge boats to breakthrough sporting technology to our visual identity. Everything about this new America’s Cup is designed around transforming the sport.”

Pietro Beccari, Executive Vice-President of Louis Vuitton, added his view on the logo concept:

“When we started to work on the new logo for the Louis Vuitton Cup, we wanted to give it a modern and dynamic design which reflects the spirit of the competition. We began by playing with the sails and the hulls of these huge boats, from which we found the inspiration for the logo of next Louis Vuitton Cup.”

More America’s Cup News

The World Match Racing Tour has begun its 2011 season with Match Race France in Marseilles. Having visited in 2009, we returned to see how the event stacked up against the statements of vision of the tour and against other world class events.

To make comparison easier, we are developing a scorecard that we plan to use for events visited in 2011 and beyond. Areas that will be measured include – media output, marketing, hospitality options, fan experience, management & logistics and an overall score.

The success of an event like Match Race France has to be measured differently from different points of view. The experience of a fan with access to high speed internet is very different to one who travels to watch the event live. In 2011, that was even more so.

You should have been here yesterday – but here’s one I prepared earlier.

One of the stated reasons that the America’s Cup has changed its format is to allow for an event that can be broadcast by live TV without missing its window. If the breeze is too light or too strong, then racing can’t take place.

Faced with the prospect of a 45 knot Mistral wind in Marseille on the final Sunday, the race committee decided to accelerate the program for Match Race France. This meant that by Friday night, Semi-Finals were already underway. By Saturday night, after a long day, the final was decided.

On Sunday, the wind did indeed reach speeds that would have made racing almost impossible for anything but a windsurfer. The Mistral reached speeds that would have been way outside the wind-range specified for the new America’s Cup boats and even if the competitors had braved the seas – the umpire and media boats would not have been able to operate.

So the race committee got a result, but the prize was awarded 24 hours earlier than advertised. Fine for those watching via computer screen, but not so good for anyone who had planned to see racing on Sunday. Had the event been ticketed, there would be plenty of refunds to issue.

In the end, for an event like Match Race France, it doesn’t matter much because very few people turn up to watch anyway.

The Greatest Unwatched Show on Earth.

Had there been tickets for the Saturday at Match Race France, fans would have received more than their money’s worth. The day featured semi-finals, a sponsor race and the finals as well as the prize giving ceremony. The hastily arranged final even included two French sailors. But despite banners on the side of the road and posters in shop windows, spectators have to really want to watch Match Race France.

The event website invites the general public to visit, but the Yacht Club base of the event is tucked away from the road and once the boats leave for the races, the club is almost deserted.

Watching from the water is the only way to really follow the action, but getting onto a boat can be a mission (even for media).

If you do get onto the water, then you have to be a match racing expert to follow what is going on. While the Internet audience get real-time commentary, fans on the shore, or on a boat, have no elegant way of knowing what is happening. You can tune into the live-blog or tweet stream via a smart-phone, but that’s is not really recommended for anyone visiting from outside France unless they want to face hideous data roaming bills.

This got us thinking about radio – which is something Le Mans has been using to keep fans informed for years. It’s an overlooked technology – and something we’ll return to in a different article.

I Want My IPTV

The World Match Racing Tour is investing heavily in media. Much of the action from Match Race France was streamed live via the internet, complete with live commentary from on and off the water. Alongside the video coverage was the live text blog, Twitter updates and other social media.

A global fan, with a fast connection, an HDMI lead, a big screen TV or perhaps a Roku Box, would have had a better spectator experience than someone who had made the journey for the event. Given the lack of event atmosphere, there is no benefit to actually being there.

At some point on Saturday, the live blog was being viewed by about 250 people. We don’t have any numbers yet on the live streaming, but even if there were 150 people watching, it was about 100 more than were watching from the shores of Plage de la Pointe Rouge in Marseille.

This mix of digital fans versus physical fans has an impact on the ROI of the event. If local sponsors and partners have signed up knowing that they may gain awareness of people watching via computer on the other side of the world in Malaysia, then that’s great. But if they have signed up because they are expecting an upturn in hotel room nights, inbound flights or local restaurant trade then Match Race France is not delivering.

Of course there is a small influx of athletes, officials and media, but this is not enough to raise sponsorship on the back of.

One World Tour – Some Not so World Class Events.

It’s important to remember that the history of the World Match Racing Tour has been to bring together existing, separate events under an umbrella brand. The future vision of the World Match Racing tour is to create a world class, global sporting event that can deliver to all stakeholders - including sponsors, athletes, media and fans.

It would be a good bet that Match Race France is not one of the events that WMRT is using as a model for future host ports or promoters of World Match Racing Tour slots.

While the best sailors on the 2011 tour provided great racing action, the race officials did a fantastic job of making hard decisions to make the most of the weather and Red Handed TV’s new lineup delivered a polished product to online fans – the event doesn’t cater very well for anyone who turns up expecting to experience a World Tour event.

Just as F1 has a couple of events (fewer each year) who are there for legacy reasons, the WMRT in 2011 still has some events that have their place on the tour for historical reasons. As new events are announced, and modeled along the lines of Match Cup Sweden or the Monsoon Cup, events like Match Race France will have to improve significantly to maintain their spot on the WMRT calendar.

Scores

Scoring takes account of over 40 scoring items in 5 groups, from the point of view of different stakeholders.

• Marketing –  1.8/5
• Visiting Fan Experience – 0.8/5
• Remote Fan Experience – 3.2/5
• VIP Experience – 2.3/5
• Other Factors – 2.5/5

Overall –  2.1/5

More World Match Racing Tour News

While sailing has to be a little bit careful when it comes to claiming environmental credentials, the sport does have an advantage over some pursuits that consume vast quantities of fuel and it does rely upon keeping the marine environment in a state that is fit to participate in water based activities. British solo sailor Conrad Humphreys has announced that Disc Manufacturing Services (DMS) will sponsor his Solitaire du Figaro campaign to promote plastic free packaging.

The ‘Pack it in’ campaign began attracing attention with an eye-catching livery for Pete Goss MBE during the Route du Rhum. It’s a serious environmental message about plastic packaging, and Humphreys, who understands the importance of delivering real value to sponsors better than most in the sport, gives DMS another great platform to promote their campaign.

Humphreys has worked with large sponsors including LG Electronics and Motorola . Combined with working with WWF to create the award winning mass-participation event, the Blue Mile – Race for the Environment, Conrad knows how to work his sailing to give his partners the returns on objectives they are looking for.

The Figaro campaign is the start of a 5 year plan for Humphreys to once again compete in the Vendee Globe. Conrad, a leading triple round the world sailor, having competed in The Whitbread Round the World Race (now Volvo Ocean Race) is the youngest skipper to win the BT Global Challenge and only the 5th Briton in history to complete the legendary Vendée Globe. 2011 marks his return to single-handed sailing after a number of seasons racing catamarans in the Archipelago Raid and the Extreme 40 Series.

Conrad said,

“I’m really pleased to be racing under the colours of DMS and their Pack It In! Plastic Free Packaging branding. To have secured their backing at this early stage in our campaign will give me a great chance to fight hard on the water. I’m also very happy to use our campaign to highlight the need for greater regulation of the use of plastics, much of which ends up in our oceans, something I care passionately about.”

In recent years, sailing has become a strong channel for communicating environmental concerns and DMS will be continuing its work with Julies Bicycle and their Industry Green (IG) certification for CD/DVD packaging to highlight the need for plastic packaging reduction. DMS will eliminate all plastic from their product range by 2012 and together with IG’s founder, Alison Tickell is calling on the creative industry to do the same.

For Dave Summers, Managing Director of DMS – the ‘Pack it In’ campaign is more than just business. Summers grew up in Cornwall and lived next to the beach until his early 20’s. Visiting the coast every summer and being a keen yachtsman, he was horrified to witness and read stories about huge amounts of dumped plastic floating around the world’s oceans. Although aware that he was powerless to do anything about it, he made the conscious decision that his company would no longer contribute to this environmental disaster.

He commented on the new partnership:

“We are pleased to continue supporting Conrad and his team after the huge success we shared with Pete Goss and the Route du Rhum. Conrad’s approach to sailing and the environment fits very well with our own approach and we are pleased to support his goal towards the next Vendée Globe. Over the past decade we have built up a global business that now produces more than 3000 individual releases per year from rock bands through to multinational blue-chip companies. This results in millions of individual discs and packaging units, which up until 2008 we manufactured in 90% plastic. Currently, only 10% of our total packaging output contains plastic and we’re aiming to eliminate all plastic packaging by 2012.”

More Sailing Sponsorship News

The world probably doesn’t need another yacht race, but having said that – where there is a market, then sports promoters will find a way to develop a product that make sense. The MOD70 has been slowly building momentum from a concept to an event that has high profile ambassadors, boats in the water and now a title sponsor for a transatlantic race.

The MOD70 circuit organisers have announced that Krys Group will sponsor editions of a race from New York to the Tonnerres de Brest Maritime Festival. The Krys Ocean Race is planned for 2012 and 2014.

This could probably only happen in France. The popular support for the sailors who have put their names (and their sponsor’s names) to the project allows the MOD70 project to launch into an already crowded space. It is not a surprise then that the sponsor of the first race will also be French with a French focus.

Arnaud Ploix, Managing Director of Krys Group said:

“Beyond all the common values we share with sailing in general, it’s also interesting to be present at the genesis of a project. With a new class and a new partner in the maritime universe, we naturally have some fine human stories to write together. We’re going to rely on this fantastic race to share the really thrilling, inspirational moments with our customers and further unify our opticians. Furthermore, though we want to associate the brand’s image with the values of sailing, a single operation would only have little significance. It takes time to establish a successful collaboration. Our involvement in the first two editions of the KRYS OCEAN RACE is the first concrete proof of a partnership which Krys is keen to be part of over the long term.”

The KRYS OCEAN RACE 2012 is positioning itself with tradition in mind. While the boats might be modern trimarans, the publicity uses the imagery of  major transatlantic races including a race to honor Charlie Barr and the schooner Atlantic in the early 20th century.

Perhaps one of the things that does make the MOD70 different is the one-design concept that puts all sailors on an equal footing and celebrates the human talents of the pilots. While there is a place in sailing for races where the team with the deepest pockets, the best designers, the newest materials and the biggest budget for training wins – the MOD70 is more like the World Match Racing Tour – a competition between people rather than machines.

And not just any people. The confirmed entry already includes the who’s who of French offshore sailing;  Stève Ravussin, Roland Jourdain, Michel Desjoyeaux and Sébastien Josse

Different stakeholders are looking for different things from the project. There are not a lot of sailing events around the world that have a title sponsor, so being able to announce the involvement of KRYS group is important for the credibility of the MOD70 project.

Marco Simeoni, President of the MOD S.A commented:

“The KRYS OCEAN RACE constitutes both a success and the start of the adventure. The various partners associated with this event – Krys, our title partner, as well as the cities hosting the start and finish, the cosmopolitan New York, and Brest with the fabulous Tonnerres de Brest maritime festival – all come together to provide some very promising elements in terms of notoriety and popular success for this first race, whose aim is to be a major event on the MOD70 circuit.”

More and more, the host cities of races are seeing the economic and social benefits of being at the start or finish of such a race. Mr Cuillandre, Mayor of Brest said:

“The MOD70 project represents the future of offshore racing with one-design multihulls aboard which the crews will be able to pit against each other on equal terms on powerful, high performance machines. As such it is important for Brest to be associated with such a project, so as to bring to the fore its facilities, such as the new Port du Château and its network of businesses specialising in the sector of offshore racing and watersports. A race like the Krys Ocean Race is an additional opportunity to showcase Brest and its maritime excellence. Furthermore, a finish in the midst of the Tonnerres de Brest maritime festival 2012 further strengthens the link with the whole world of sea and sailors”.

Dates of the KRYS OCEAN RACE

• Start: on 7 July 2012
• Opening of the race village in New York: from 30 June to 7 July
• Opening of the race village in Brest: from 13 to 17 July

More on the MOD70 project

As the IMOCA Open 60 fleet finish the Barcelona World Race, attention is being focussed on the next edition of the Vendée Globe. While several British skippers are finding the task of raising sponsorship difficult, French brands are investing in proven stars. The concept of the sailing ‘super-team’ which leverages sponsorship of the sport across multiple events and disciplines, seems to be working well for brands like French bank Banque Populaire.

The company, perhaps best known in recent years for its backing of the record breaking trimaran, has just announced that it will sponsor Armel Le Cléac’h in an IMOCA Open 60 for the next solo, round the world race.

Chantal Petrachi, Head of Communications for Banque Populaire said:

“The Vendée Globe is the only major offshore race that Banque Populaire has not yet taken part in. It was only normal that we attempt this new challenge which bears the very same human values that Banque Populaire has always been attached to: courage, pushing back the limits, the conquering spirit and adventure.For this new project we have chosen Armel Le Cléac’h, whose talent is well known and who has had a lot of experience on this type of boat. Second in the last Vendée Globe and the Route du Rhum, he has had an exemplary career and always shown his determination.”

Armel Le Cléac’h, the skipper of the Banque Populaire VI monohull said:

‘I’m very pleased. It’s a surprise for me to be joining Team Banque Populaire. They are one of the sailing world’s top sponsors. I have just finished with one sponsor who had been with me for five years and I’m proud to have been chosen. With all the skills you find in this team and around this fleet of boats, I believe this is an ideal situation.’

My goals are clear. I will be taking part in a full programme leading up to the ultimate goal of the Vendée Globe 2012-2013. For the 2011 season, I shall be training to begin with from the start of June, before taking part in the Artemis Challenge and the Fastnet in August. In November, I shall be lining up at the start of the Transat Jacques Vabre for which I haven’t yet chosen my co-skipper, even if I do have a good idea.

The long term commitment to the sport of sailing by sponsors such as Banque Populaire, Groupama, Telefonica, Hugo Boss and Fonica shows that there is real ROI from this kind of activity, and it should help others to raise campaign budgets.

More Open 60 News

When the Defender of the America’s Cup, ORACLE Racing announced that the next edition of the trophy would be sailed in giant multihull catamarans, they created a new challenge for themselves. If the marketing line was to work, and there was a groundswell amongst professional sailors for this change, then well known multihull specialists would have to announce challenges early in the process.

It’s still early in the process. The venue was only announced on the 31st of December, but the team that may allow the America’s Cup Event Authority some respite from tough questions, has made it’s intentions known. Energy team backed by the Yacht Club de France has been launched this week, headed by multihull specialists Loïck and Bruno Peyron.

Energy Team was officially registered for the 34th America’s Cup on the 27th January 2011. The entry brings the number of challengers to six.

Richard Worth, Chairman, America’s Cup Event Authority, who should have relieved as well as pleased at the announcement  has learnt his one-liner well saying:

“The 34th America’s Cup will feature the world’s best sailors on the fastest boats and with this in mind we are pleased to welcome the Yacht Club de France and its Energy Team, which features sailors who are well-known for their strength and experience in multihull sailing.”

With the backing of the  Yacht Club de France, energy team is aiming to be one of the most competitive challengers.  According to the launch statement, the team plans to compete in the next two editions of the event in order to win the America’s Cup for France. Bruno Peyron will be General Manager of the project while Loick will be the official Skipper and head up the design team.

Part of the French team’s strength will come from expertise in the country around the design and construction of large multihull boats. While Oracle have a certain head start, learning much from their campaign for the last edition of the America’s Cup, Energy Team have combined with Multiplast to build an AC72.

The Vannes (Brittany) based boatbuilder, which construced Orange I and II, Groupama 3 has an exclusive deal with Energy Team. The construction of the first AC72 catamaran will begin on 1st September with her launch planned for April 2012. Yann Penfornis, managing director of the yard, will be coordinating the AC 72 design and construction teams, under the supervision of Loïck Peyron.

When Oracle Racing decided to go to a catamaran format, Energy Team is the kind of potential challenger that they may have hoped for and wished against. With significant resources, this team could make the event a race.

While other challengers wait for a sail in the AC45 and enter into the Extreme Sailing Series to get some catamaran experience, Energy Team will have 17 boats including four Class A boats, four F18s, a D35, an X40, a G-Class (the former Orange II), twoAC45s and two AC72s… plus four “F25s”, which are a 1/3 scale model of the AC72s, which will be used for the America’s Cup.

The Energy Team base will be set up on the Atlantic coast of France. It will include three centres: one in Vannes, the Multiplast yard, which will be the construction and technological development base; one in Lorient, which will be dedicated to the AC72 and G-Class catamarans; and finally one in La Baule, which will both bethe main training centre for the squad and the operations centre for all the work with partners and the media.

Core Members of the Team

The core members of the Racing Team are already in place and bring together a wealth of experience in four major areas that are vital for performance. The core members so far appointed include the following:

• Loïck Peyron, Skipper of the AC45 and AC72: 6 times F60 world champion, 8 times F28 Trophy Champion winner,
• Bruno Peyron: 8 times world ocean records champion, skipper of the G Class, which will be the ambassador for Energy Team,
• Yann Guichard: helmsman with Loïck Peyron : Extreme 40 world number 2, Member of the French Olympic team,
• Thierry Fouchier: performance team, the only Frenchman to have won the America’s Cup with BMW Oracle Racing aboard which he was the wing sail trimmer.
• Jean-Christophe Mourniac: performance team, member of the French Olympic team, one of the world’s top 5 Tornado and F18 racers over the past ten years.
• Yves Loday: coach for young talent. Former member of the French Olympic team, he was Tornado gold medallist in Barcelona in 1992.

It’s not just the athletes that are bringing talents to the table. The commercial and executive team around the team, drawn from partnerships with the Yacht Club de France will give the team a level of investment that should see the sailors given the best platform, not just to compete, but win. Executive team members include Philippe Court, President and Gérard Petipas, Vice-President of the Yacht Club de France.

More America’s Cup News.

Loick Peyron, Veteran Global Ocean Racer and Multihull Skipper

It’s difficult to do justice to the speech that Loick Peyron gave to the delegates of the World Yacht Racing Forum to open day 2 in Estoril. The performance was one that showed the sport of sailing does indeed have personalities to rival any other. The speech was full of wisdom from years of being in the industry including an interesting mountain-climbing analogy.

For Loick Peyron, sailing different kinds of boats is the thing that keeps him in the sport. Whether it be monohulls or multihulls, sailing around the cans or offshore alone in the southern ocean, the diversity is something that informs his view of the sport. The lesson he draws from this diverse experience is that the best way to look to the future is to respect the past.

From where he sits, Loick Peyron observes that the yacht racing industry is worried about the future. He can feel it. He doesn’t have the answer to the question ‘What is going to happen to my business?’ but he has some thoughts about the challenges the industry faces.

Peyron says that we live in a funny little village. Sailing is not the same as Formula 1 for a simple reason. He says:

“You can talk to someone and they will say – oh you are a sailor – I have a boat too. People don’t see an F1 pilote and a car driver as the same thing. There is a huge difference, but in sailing the professionals mix with the amateurs all the time.”

Coupled with a lack of a single ranking system, this is a problem. We know the world champions of football, and we know the world champion of F1, but it is difficult to convey the same level of achievement of sailors to the general public. There is no World champion of driving – the more generic description of the activity undertaken by the professional race drivers.

Offshore racing faces a similar problem of conveying the achievements of the best in the world. While the first sailor across the line in the Vendee Globe is given a heroes welcome, so too is the last sailor – who may cross the line months later. The problem with this is that the guy who comes last is just a sailor who has been around the world. The sport is failing to differentiate how difficult it is and how much talent is required to sail FAST.

To continue the argument, Peyron uses an analogy to mountain climbing. He compares the various premier events to 8000 metre peaks. There are 12 or so, all the same level, but some have more light shining on the summit than others.

The America’s Cup has so much light that it sends people blind, but the others are just as high, just as much of an achievement. The Vendee Globe might be a peak with a single steep face and a longer more simple route around the back to the summit. The winner climbs the hard face, but the person who takes the longer, simpler route still reaches the 8000 metre mark – the same level.

This problem of perception leads to situations where countries have well known people who are awful sailors. But sailing needs these people because they fill a wider need than can be delivered purely by the sport. The sport is not very interesting without the people and the stories and we need to respect all facets of the business.

Loick Peyron was also part of the America’s Cup Session at the World Yacht Racing Forum.