While the America’s Cup is promising a revolution in the way sailing is broadcast, elsewhere in sailing, broadcasters are working on how to best communicate and broadcast ‘old fashioned’ match racing. Rather than patronise the wider viewing public and remove ‘complications’ – the World Match Racing Tour and it’s media partners Redhanded TV are focussing on educating audiences about the match racing discipline.

As a result, Redhanded TV has been nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award for their live coverage of the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu Malaysia. The Broadcast Digital Awards, run by the respected TV industry magazine Broadcast, have been growing in significance and prestige for the last few years, as Digital and Online broadcasting has become increasingly important.

Redhanded TV is nominated against some big competitors. Other nominees include the BBC and the ITV coverage of the Tour de France.

Here at yachtsponsorship.com we fundamentally disagree with the notion that sailing needs to be simplified or dumbed down. Rather, we believe that broadcasters must work harder to educate and engage the audience and that an investment by a fan in learning the rules and intricacies of the sport will lead to a longer term commitment.

Part of what Redhanded TV is trying to achieve is to get beneath the skin of match racing on a tight schedule and to the highest standard. It’s not just about the racing rules though – it is also about raw emotion of the sailors being delivered to fans both on the shoreline and watching around the world.

The Monsoon Cup live coverage and highlights shows, leverages expert on board commentary with headcam,  in-depth analysis and interviews with the winners and losers just seconds after they’d crossed the finish line.

Redhanded TV owner and managing director Sam Usher said he was very proud to receive the nomination.

“To be nominated for such a prestigious award is a very great honour for us,” he said. “We’ve built up a young, professional and dedicated team here who are all giving 110 percent to every World Match Racing Tour Event. I’d like to pay tribute to my team for making this nomination possible thanks to their dedication and hard work. We have just completed the Korea Match Cup and are very excited as we come back just two days before the award-winners are announced. This company has come a very long way in a very short time, and we are all looking forward to more high-profile, top quality projects in the very near future.”

There’s no doubt that the Monsoon Cup is a great event and PR folks have to sell as hard as they can, but the press release makes a comparison that is hard to justify:

The Monsoon Cup is to sailing what the Monte Carlo Grand Prix is to Formula 1.

More World Match Racing Tour News

The World Match Racing Tour has made a strategic decision to leverage emerging sailing markets to drive growth of the tour and the sport of sailing. The Korea Match Cup is a newcomer to the tour, but has significant support from the local community and a young, leisure sailing market that will only get bigger.

Not only does the Korea Match Cup provide a sporting event that receives huge national and international coverage, there is a legacy element that trains new Korean sailors and positions Korea for the future of international sailing events like the America’s Cup.

Like many successful sailing events, the Korea Match Cup is driven by an entrepreneurial promoter. Dong-Young Kim is the kind of person that sailing needs. The World Match Racing Tour spoke to him:

WMRT: You started the Korea Match Cup back in 2008. What were your reasons for launching the event?

Dong-Young Kim: Back in 1999 I went to New Zealand when the America’s Cup was on. I was surprised at the scale of the event and how good it was. I thought that it would be great to have an event like that in Korea to develop the skill levels of sailing as well as the boat-building industry. After that I couldn’t stop dreaming about hosting a big sailing event in Korea.

WMRT: The 2008 Korea Match Cup was a success but it must have been a lot of hard work to pull off?

Dong-Young Kim: It wasn’t an easy operation at all. We didn’t have any marina here in Jeongok so it was a big challenge. To be honest I couldn’t see what the future of the event would be at that point. We just thought we would see how we got on, taking one step at a time. We put in temporary pontoons and it was a great success. After the 2009 Korea Match Cup the Government built a proper marina here, and that really cemented the future of the event. We enjoy strong support from the Government now, they are keen to see sailing develop.

WMRT: What is your role in the project?

Dong-Young Kim: I am a sailor and a boat builder. In Korea we are so far behind other countries in terms of our sailing industry so it was my belief that by hosting a major sailing event we could boost Korean sailing. I see myself as a kind of ambassador for Korean sailing, I’m doing what I can to develop it and the Korea Match Cup is the foundation of that.

WMRT: Has the Korea Match Cup had the desired impact on Korean sailing?

Dong-Young Kim: Yes absolutely. Looking back to 2008 Korea didn’t have a match racing team at all. After we hosted the 2008 Korea Match Cup sailing clubs all over the country had their own match racing teams. Thanks to this event sailing schools all over Korea are booming. After last year’s event I had about 6,000 young people coming to the sailing school here in Hwaseong City as a direct result of the Korea Match Cup.

WMRT: What is your vision for the future of the event?

Dong-Young Kim: The Korea Match Cup will get bigger and better each year. Yesterday Busan Match Team, the Korean entry at the Korea Match Cup, won their first race here which is a great achievement. For them to be able to compete against the world’s top match racers is very special and gives them a great opportunity to learn and improve. It’s also great for the young sailors who now have a dream, something to aspire to. The Korea Match Cup really is the foundation for the development of Korean sailing.

WMRT: You are now involved in the Korean ‘White Tiger’ America’s Cup project. Is that a direct result of the Korea Match Cup?

Dong-Young Kim: Definitely. The success of the Korea Match Cup has given us a starting point to think about entering a national team in the America’s Cup.

More World Match Racing Tour News

Despite the success of the Volvo Ocean Race‘s successful stopover in India during the last race, the country has not really received the attention it should from sailing rights holders. Recent viewing figures that we’ve seen show that the television audience for sailing in India is huge – much larger than some S.E. Asian countries where world series’ currently have events (or are planning on having events?).

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is taking advantage of this demand for sailing content in the region by announcing that the race will be broadcast throughout Asia, Pacific & Indian Sub-Continent via the Australia Network.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia had granted rights for the broadcast of the entire ninety minute start program of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race 2010. The gross media reach is up to 31 million homes across 45 countries in Asia, the Pacific and the Indian sub-continent, including Australian troops serving in Afghanistan and other parts of the region.

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race joins a list of other top sporting events such as the Melbourne Cup, Tri Nations rugby and State of Origin that are shown on the Australia Network.

Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Commodore Garry Linacre said:

“We are extremely pleased that we have the opportunity to bring this iconic yacht race and the sport of sailing to an even larger regional audience through this agreement.”

Rod Webb, Head of Programming of the Australia Network said:

“Our main interest is to continually provide our expatriate audience with content, and we hope that we can begin a tradition this year by including the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start program into our offering and that it will become a regular must-view program in the years to come.”

The start of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an iconic part of Australian sporting culture. On Boxing Day, sports fans switch between the sailing and the Cricket while they recover from Christmas celebrations the day before.  In 2010 the Seven Network reported 1.2 million Australian viewers had tuned into the race start, with an additional global audience watching the broadcast online.

More Australian Sailing News…

Malaysian drinks manufacturer Permanis Sdn Bhd will continue its sponsorship of the Monsoon Cup for a second year. Revive Isotonic will be the official isotonic drink for the Monsoon Cup, the finale and World Championship deciding race of The World Match Racing Tour (WMRT).

Mathematically, five skippers including defending champion Adam Minoprio and Olympic star Ben Ainslie still have a chance of being crowned World Champion. The spotlight will be on the five-star Ri-Yaz Heritage Marina Resort and Spa in Kuala Terennganu for the regatta which takes place from Nov 30-Dec 5.

The event is important for the country, bringing foreign tourists to the region as well as showcasing Malaysian brands like Revive Isotonic to the world via live television and other media coverage.

Hemalatha Ragavan, Vice President of Marketing, Permanis Sdn Bhd said:

“I am delighted with our continued partnership with the Monsoon Cup, one of the biggest sporting events in Malaysia. Athletes of demanding sports such as Match Racing need to keep their energy levels up & their bodies hydrated. And Revive ISOTONIC is essential as it helps meet those needs.”

Monsoon Cup Sponsorship Manager Ramya Raj said:

“It gives us great pleasure to continue our sponsorship with Permanis and Revive. The sailors will definitely be reaching for cans of Revive as they battle it out at the Monsoon Cup.”

More World Match Racing Tour news.

There is no doubt that Vietnam has a spectacular coastline. Earlier in the year, when the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) announced a round of the global series in the country, they looked at the resort beach of Nha Trang to host the regatta. While the deal fell through, the Saigon Times Daily reports that Vietnam is still working with the WMRT to find a suitable venue for a future race.

This time the Vietnam National Administration of Tourism, the Vietnam National Administration of Exercise and Sports and WMRT are looking into conditions in Halong, further north than Nha Trang and the stopping off point for the spectacular and World Heritage-listed Halong Bay. Vietnamese officials also visited the Asia Match Racing Championships in Malaysia to gain insight into the level of professionalism expected by the Tour.

Nguyen Van Tuan, head of the tourism administration,  is looking position the country to a wide inbound tourism audience. He says

“It’s a professional event. So if it is hosted here, Vietnam can get worldwide publicity.”

The publicity will come in the form of a television package that includes 20,000 minutes of broadcasting on networks including Star Sports.

One of the reasons that Halong is being considered over Nha Trang is the presence of an international standard tourist wharf, something that Nha Trang does not have. Whether or not the region can satisfy the other criteria for a World Match Racing Tour host city remains to be seen. The series will have to consider other infrastructure as well as sailing conditions. There is little doubt that if the wind can be found, Halong Bay would be one of the most spectacular sailing venues on earth, but the region is more well known for calm, misty days.

More  World Match Racing Tour Business News…

2010 has not been the most successful year on the water for Peter Gilmour and his Yanmar Racing World Match Racing Tour team. With just one race to go, Gilmour lies in 8th place, well behind the ‘young guns’. Whether the tour is favouring youth and enthusiasm over age and gamesmanship, or whether the increased responsibilities of being one of the series owners is impacting on the results; Gilmour’s sponsor Yanmar are probably still quite happy.

While results on the water are great, and help to attract sponsorship, every sponsorship deal has its own goals and measures of success. In Gilmour, Yanmar get a true legend of the sport and a brand ambassador who can perform with as much talent in front of conference delegates or the media as in a dial up at the start of a match race.

A little story about activation this week tells of Peter Gilmour as skipper of Yanmar Racing visiting the Yanmar Kota Kinabalu R&D Center and the Sabah International Expo 2010 (SIE2010), a multi-industry international trade fair.

Sailing is often used to strengthen environmental credentials. The activation of the Yanmar Racing sponsorship at an event like SIE2010 helps to promote the Yanmar Kota Kinabalu R&D Center, which deals in the research and development of biodiesel, in order to actively contribute to world environmental issues such as the depletion of oil resources and global warming. Its main activities include the development of biodiesel engine technologies, engine performance tests, together with analysis and evaluation of fuels and lubricants to be used on biodiesel engines.

As part of his brand ambassador role, Peter Gilmour greeted Chief Minister of Sabah and the visitors of the Yanmar booth, and offered a presentation of the latest activity of Yanmar Racing and tips on how to make the most of match races. The presentation serves as a reminder that not all sponsorship benefits are external, or for general spectator consumption.

Sponsorship can be a powerful internal communications platform and allow companies to positions themselves within niche markets.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

At first glance, the World Match Racing Tour was the sailing event most likely to be effected by changes to the America’s Cup. Despite Russell Coutts’ claims that there is no identifiable pathway for sailors to the America’s Cup, the WMRT, at the top of a pyramid of global support racing, has consistently provided elite competition for skippers who have dreams of becoming AC heroes.

At a well produced press announcement in London’s Hospital Club yesterday, the World Match Racing Tour responded to recent planned changes to the America’s Cup by confirming the vision outlined by new owners last December. WMRT CEO Jim O’Toole presented a platform that he believes will fill a void left by the America’s Cup moving to multihull boats.

The highlights of the plan are – more races at more venues, more prize money and new boats.

Yesterday’s event was hosted by Jake Humphrey, who also presents the BBC’s coverage of F1 (and the Commonwealth Games). Perhaps due to BBC regulations, Humphrey, who uses Twitter regularly, did not mention the gig once and seemed a little uneasy after watching a highlights package delivering the line:

“… and I thought F1 was exciting.”

The Strategy.

The World Match Racing Tour has done some homework. Jim O’Toole presented figures from a recent survey that showed that nearly 80% of sailors would prefer to match race in a monohull yacht and 73% of people would prefer to watch match racing in a monohull boat. If the America’s Cup Defender BMW ORACLE, have consulted widely and has results of surveys that prove different, then they haven’t revealed them publicly.

O’Toole said:

We are comfortable with our place in the sailing universe. That universe has changed recently, but we have consulted with our stakeholders and we have made the decision to stick with monohulls. While we are committed to preserving the integrity of what the public sees as match racing we also have a responsibility to drive the sport forward and ensure that it constantly seeks to innovate and expand.  The doubling of the prize fund and addition of six new venues by 2013 with new boat designs shows our commitment to attracting great sailors and providing the best platform for match racing.”

Peter Gilmour, representing the views of the Tour’s owners said:

The decision by the America’s Cup holders to embrace catamarans means that it has moved out of the space which it had previously held as the pinnacle event in match racing and feedback that we are receiving indicates the interest remains. As the conduit for match racers around the world to realise their ambitions we will facilitate a collaborative process and provide a platform for interested parties to voice their thoughts.”

More Events, More Global.

In 2010, the World Match Racing Tour is the only annual sailing event outside of the Olympic Classes to visit more than 3 continents.  This difference is being challenged by the Extreme Sailing Series, who plan to hold more events outside of Europe in 2011, the RC44 championship who are adding events in the USA and the proposed annual America’s Cup series aims to be as global as possible.

In order for the World March Racing Tour to be relevant to sponsors, the series must expand into territories that are important markets for stakeholders. There are currently no WMRT events in Australia, USA, UK or the Middle East.

Taking a leaf out of the Volvo Ocean’s Race’s book, the World Match Racing Tour have announced that 6 new events will be added to the tour via a bidding process to be managed by external consultants. The bidding process for host cities will be revealed later, but venues will have to meet environmental criteria (there needs to be wind) as well as financial obligations to cover prize-money and media plans. New venues will also be expected to provide new high-spec match racing boats.

More Prize Money.

Sailing hasn’t really managed to crack the professional model yet. While 2nd and 3rd tier Golf and Tennis professionals can make a living from their sport, the top 5 person teams in the World Match Racing Tour barely cover their costs from prize money alone. The Defending Champions, Black Match Racing have won around $USD 86,000 to date in 2010.

To address this, the World Match Racing Tour will be doubling the tour’s bonus prize pool to USD $500,000 meaning sailors will compete for a total prize fund in excess of USD $1,750,000 in 2011. While this might sound like a lot, it represents 1% of a single America’s Cup team’s estimated budget for the next America’s Cup.

Future stars like Torvar Mirsky and Adam Minoprio have managed to build teams based on prize-money, that has allowed them to compete at a level that might otherwise require large sponsorships. Increased prize money should attract professional sailors to the tour and large bonuses are a huge incentive to win the event.

New Boats.

The World Match Racing Tour has a unique business model where the boats are provided by event organisers and matched as closely as possible to ensure that the skill of the sailors is the defining characteristic of racing. After promoting this concept via some polished highlights videos, the Tour announced yesterday that new venues would be encouraged to supply a new kind of match racing boat. The boat would be a result of a design competition for a monohull in the 42-48 foot range.

If Match Racing is the sailing discipline that focuses on the sailors and not the machines, then the boats shouldn’t matter too much. Nevertheless, to attract the best sailors, the tour needs to provide the best platform for match racing while not losing the element of every team having to adapt to a new boat for each event.

The Stars.

The World Match Racing Tour has one real advantage over the America’s Cup circa 2010. They can put young, talented sailors on stage and show the world what the future of sailing looks like. Torvar Mirsky and Adam Minoprio are two of the sport’s best ambassadors who have invested time and money to reach the top. The decision by those in the ‘America’s Cup’ community to ignore the preferences of these sailors when making the choice of boat for the future shows a disregard for the system which people like Russell Coutts benefited from.

Had the America’s Cup been in monohulls, these young, talented sailors may have been in demand from teams who wanted the best match racing drivers in the world. While good sailors can adapt to new boats, it’s unlikely that Mirsky and Minoprio will be involved in the next Cup that has the stated aim of being about the future.

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Like NASCAR, which is the pinnacle event for thousands of grass roots oval track racers in America, the World Match Racing Tour is the top of a pyramid that is supported by match racing infrastructure at a local, national and international level. This infrastructure has a momentum that will take time to redirect to a multihull match-racing universe and in the mean time, the World Match Racing Tour continues to be the premier annual global match racing event, with the winner having the official title of World Champion.

The World Match Racing Tour has existed in some form or other for 22 years is extremely well positioned to showcase all of sailings positive attributes. Fair competitive racing, glamorous venues, media friendly competitors and a platform for sponsorship returns. With a commitment from the owners to invest in building the event, it should succeed.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

World Match Racing Tour Earnings 2010

It’s interesting to note that the Official World Match Racing Tour website does not list the prize-winnings of teams. Perhaps sailing is not a sport that is comfortable with its professionalism. The official NASCAR results page includes prize winnings as part of it’s championship table, as does the PGA Tour…

We asked the WMRT for a breakdown to date for prize-money of the top 3 teams to date in 2010 and here are the results.

1. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team – $USD 144,970.00 (Championship position 1)
2. Ben Ainslie (GBR) TEAMORIGIN – $USD 104,721.00 (Championship position 3)
3. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing – $USD 86,261.00 (Championship position 2)

As sailing becomes more professional, different business models and partnerships are being explored by promoters to deliver value to a wide variety of stakeholders. Around the world, governments are taking a bigger interest in sailing as a platform to deliver not just tourism, but other economic benefits including  jobs.

While working with government can provide extra resources and opportunities, it also brings increased scrutiny from those who might be seeking to generate political gains. Events that are reliant on public spending for sponsorship can’t point to increased sales of energy drink through the supermarket tills as proof of return on investment. Instead, promoters who work with governments and tourism authorities often have hundreds of metrics they need to report against.

The annual Monsoon Cup match racing regatta held in Terengganu, Malaysia  has reported a 30 per cent increase on its returns on investment for event, media and brand value this year compared with MYR539 million achieved last year. The event, which has become the model for other events on the World Match Racing Tour, is also a model for regions that are interested in using sailing as a tourism and development driver.

Peter Gilmour has revealed figures that show the cost of staging the Monsoon Cup was about MYRYR30 million, of which 60 per cent was borne by the government, with the rest supported by private funding. In return, the event is a significant contributor to the nation’s economy.

Gilmour said:

‘Basically, all the costs go into running and hosting the event and we get tremendous knock-on benefits like additional advertising. Thirty per cent is an average target that had been set for on a year-on-year basis. It has gone up year-on-year by over MYR100 million.

Event organisers report that The Monsoon Cup 2009 attracted 101,794 spectators, created 1,722 jobs and generated a print media value that was worth MYR24 million.

There’s a lot of economic spillover locally. Airport passenger arrivals increased from 300,000 a year to four million while a sports stadium and two brand new hotels were built in the state. All these happened during the Monsoon Cup season.

Malaysia has a eight-year contract to host the Monsoon Cup, organised by T-Best Events Sdn Bhd, the official event organiser for the competition. Longevity and certainty are important for investment and raising sponsorship from the private sector.

What we are doing now is targeting areas like attracting even more spectators and generate a higher turnover locally. So, when that starts getting measured into the local market, that is where we hope to lift the impact.

While the gross television numbers are over-inflated, the measure does allow comparisons to be made year on year. So while a figure in the billions is misleading in terms of the number of people who actually watched, the growth figure that can be calculated by comparing the same metric from year to year is useful. The Monsoon Cup reports:

Last year, 23,359 minutes was broadcast via 24 broadcasters, reaching a potential 2.1 billion households across 184 countries.

In 2008, 12,900 minutes was televised via 18 broadcasters, reaching a potential 1.3 billion households in 137 countries.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

The new management of the World Match Racing Tour have a goal to make the series more recognised outside of the sport of sailing. The WMRT has a whole bunch of things going for it that should help that task, after all it is the only annual professional global series that sailing has, with big prize money and some ‘rock-star’ names competing.

In April, the WMRT appointed Fast Track, a member of the Chime Communications Group to promote the new look series to a wider audience. Half way through the season, the job of making the tour more appealing outside of the sailing community has been awarded to Capitalize.

Capitalize worked with Puma during the last Volvo Ocean Race to ‘activate’ the apparel company’s sponsorship but the company works in a wide variety of sports. Their brief is to communicate to key global markets by targeting international news, business, lifestyle, specialist and broadcast media. The company describes itself as being fan centric – something that sailing desperately needs, so it will be interesting to watch how Capitalize apply their BrandFan knowledge.

There seems to be a paradox here though. WMRT want exposure outside of sailing, yet any fanbase that the tour currently has will be fans of match-racing and therefore not just casual spectators. Part of the solution then might be to use word of mouth channels (more fashionably called Social Media in the digital world) to build awareness and then convert to fans.

Indeed the official announcement says that

Capitalize will also manage the Tour’s social media channels and develop digital platforms to engage with fans and bring the thrill of match racing to a growing global audience with live video streaming and behind-the-scenes interviews and news features.

Capitalize have recently been involved with the social media output for cycling team HTC/Columbia who have an impressive 11,000 Twitter followers and 5,000 Facebook fans. Sports marketing people will tell you though that generating fan support for teams is very different to creating interest in a series brand – typically people don’t support the premier league, but the competing teams.  HTC Columbia also has the advantage of being backed by large consumer brands, something that the WMRT currently lacks.

The parallels between cycling teams who compete in events like the Tour de France and Match Racing are quite interesting though. In both cases, the team is vitally important, but ultimately pushes the leader to victory as an individual. In sailing the teamwork is more obvious, but the ISAF rankings are awarded to the skippers.

Jim O’Toole, Chief Executive Officer of WMRT, commented on the new appointment:

“The World Match Racing Tour is well established as the World Championship of head-to-head sailing and features the very best sailors year after year. What we are now focusing on is taking the series on to the next phase, by increasing the number of events, enhancing our commercial partnership proposition and increasing our multi media footprint around the world.

“We have set some ambitious goals to develop the series and Capitalize’s expertise in engaging both global media and new fans will be a key component in helping us achieve our objectives. We are looking forward to starting work with Capitalize immediately as we start the build up to the next round in St Moritz, Switzerland which runs from 31 August to 5 September.”

Jonathon Bates, Associate Director at Capitalize said:

“Sailing is one of the few sports to have a truly global footprint and also the genuine scope to increase its profile in both traditional and emerging sailing territories. We’re delighted to be working with the World Match Racing Tour and look forward to helping the series develop its footprint by generating engaging and inspiring media coverage and social media activations around the Tour.”

It is absolutely true that there is an opportunity to present sailing to emerging markets and the WMRT have been leaders in developing events in Korea and Malaysia with an event in China also announced. While having an event in France, the tour does not have events in major sporting markets like the USA, UK or Australia.

We know how we’d do it, but it will be interesting to watch how Capitalize go about their task.

More World Match Racing Tour News…

The series that was designed to give America’s Cup teams something to do between protocols has been wound up. The World Sailing Teams Association, together with Louis Vuitton and the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club have announced that the Hong Kong event, which was to be raced in January 2011, will not go ahead.

There is some doubt as to whether the final event in Dubai will go ahead either, though the success of last week’s 1851 Cup exhibition match between TEAMORIGIN and BMW ORACLE indicates that the Dubai regatta might provide a fitting finale and send off for the Version 5 America’s Cup boats.

The World Sailing Teams Association (WSTA), a partnership between several America’s Cup teams and Louis Vuitton, will now probably now morph into some kind of challenger organisation, though not all teams who would seek to compete in the next America’s Cup have paid the WSTA dues.

The collapse of the WSTA and the Louis Vuitton Trophy was perhaps inevitable, though things might have been different had Alinghi won the 33rd Cup. Once the America’s Cup process was back on track, the teams involved would focus their resources on their preparations for the 34th America’s Cup. The opportunistic nature of the regattas might have been known internally in the Cup community, but to some outsiders, the Louis Vuitton Trophy looks like yet another failed attempt to create a top level world tour in sailing. This is especially disappointing, since the LVT diverted resources from more established regattas and events.

The press release from the WSTA says:

Now, the America’s Cup is back on track as a multi-team event with fair rules managed by a neutral authority and multiple America’s Cup Championship regattas culminating in the next Match. The new holder of the America’s Cup, San Francisco’s Golden Gate Yacht Club, will confirm the venue of the 34th America’s Cup, and timing (2014 or 2013) later this year. A South East Asia venue is under consideration for one of these ACC regattas.

It will be interesting to see if the WSTA ever release any metrics about the three Louis Vuitton Trophy regattas. While the New Zealand event capitalised on a national passion for the sport, the European events didn’t seem to generate the same amount of interest or coverage. Trying to maintain momentum through a 2 week event format never really worked and the scary thing is that these are the same people who are promising revolution in the 34th America’s Cup.

We wait to see if the Dubai event happens. . .

More America’s Cup News…