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As the America’s Cup learns from their first World Series event in Cascais and starts to prepare for the second event in Plymouth, we’ve put together some of the news that has been published in the last week or so:

The Business Model of the America’s Cup

ORACLE Racing CEO, Russell Coutts has told Bloomberg that the 34th America’s Cup can be campaigned from between 30 – 60 million Euros. A 60 Million euro team has a chance of winning and a 30 million euro team is a budget team that is there for the experience only.

Paul Cayard, CEO of the challenger of record, Artemis Racing also told Bloomberg that the America’s Cup World Series is part of the commercial product that is the America’s Cup. That commercial product costs teams between 1.6 and 2 million euros for the first year. Cayard says that the cost of an AC45 is about 800,000 euros and the same amount needs to be spent to campaign it for a season.

And in return, the Cup is starting to release some media figures. The official site claims that the video of Russell Coutts capsizing in San Francisco has reached 1-million views on YouTube, while the full replay of Sunday’s ‘winner takes all’ fleet race is fast approaching 100,000 views.

Mitch Booth Leaves China Team

A little piece of news, that no doubt will have some more meat put on the bones in coming weeks and months. A statement from one of the America’s Cup challengers said last week:

China Team, the Chinese challenger for the 34th America’s Cup, has decided to part ways with its skipper Mitch Booth after the first AC World Series in Cascais, Portugal, last week.

China Team started the week on a strong note with many good results, notably coming 3rd in the speed trial, and had some of the mostmagic moments of the event. China Team is in the process of finalizing therecruitment of another skipper to be announced shortly.

Spinning the America’s Cup

While the America’s Cup celebrates 160 years of history today, the battle for a fanbase is playing out in many different ways. In BusinessWeek – Bernie Wilson uses phrases like ‘stodgy old regatta’ and ‘plodding monohulls’, while the following text used by a Plymouth hospitality company in a Groupon offer – to give fans 62% off an experience at the America’s Cup World Series in Plymouth – has to be read to be believed…

“The owl and the pussycat went to sea in a beautiful pea green carbon-fibre AC45 catamaran, because they were international sailing champions. Watch the copycats race cheek by owl with today’s Groupon.

…offer sea-hardened sailors and jellylegged landlubbers the chance to watch the race from the water, where they can appreciate the full glory of the day.

Groupon gunwale grippers can bring a friend or friendly parrot to watch the race with today’s deal. With a glass of bubbly in hand and a number of nibbles to nibble, Groupon spectators can board the boat to watch the Oracle-designed catamarans fly around the Sound.”

More America’s Cup Business News

The America’s Cup’s awareness roadshow will visit the place now branded the longest running host of the most boring sailing ever. Newport Rhode Island is synonymous with the slow, dull, monohull match racing that has been banished to the past by the new format of the Cup.

With the final race taking place on Sunday July 1, 2012 – there may be chance for American sailing fans to combine the America’s Cup World Series in Newport with the Extreme Sailing Seriesin Boston.

Newport will not be the first American city to host the scale-model America’s Cup boats – the AC45. The first event will be held in San Diego in late 2011. But Newport will have the strange PR claim to be the first American city to host the ACWS in 2012.

Governor Lincoln D. Chafee said:

‘Newport and Rhode Island have strong historical ties to the America’s Cup, dating back to 1930,’  ’Narragansett Bay, one of our state’s most spectacular assets, provides a perfect natural venue, and the ongoing infrastructure improvements at Fort Adams make Newport the ideal host for the final stop of the AC World Series. This exciting event will be a tremendous boost for the Rhode Island economy and continues the relationship between Newport and the America’s Cup.’

Newport will perhaps see the biggest clash of sailing cultures when the America’s Cup World Series ships into town. On the one hand, representatives of the ACWS have labelled the racing that took part in Newport and the stuff of prehistoric man, but perhaps not wanting to insult the hosts too much, the PR line has been spun to talk of ‘legendary’ cup battles.

There is no doubting that Newport is a great venue for one of the rounds of the America’s Cup lite format. The city is a chance to promote the new America’s Cup to a huge population base and one of the most important TV markets in the world. While Rhode Island probably doesn’t need more visitors in July, it will provide an economic boost to the city.

The event will certainly help the local politicians including Rhode Island Governor Lincoln D. Chafee’s who led an interagency collaboration between the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation, Department of Environmental Management and Department of Administration. The event will be supported by key public and private organizations including the City of Newport, Newport Chamber of Commerce, and the state’s hospitality, tourism, sailing and marine trades communities, as well many other organizations.

Richard Worth, Chairman, America’s Cup Event Authority said:

‘Newport is the cradle of the America’s Cup sailing, so we’re very pleased to bring the AC World Series to the city that first exposed the Cup to the world. We are building upon that rich history through this new professional circuit to accelerate the global appeal of the America’s Cup.’

But before that, the America’s Cup World Series heads to Plymouth.

• More America’s Cup News
• More Travel & Tourism News

The tie-up between PUMA Ocean Racing, Laird Hamilton and yacht designer Juan K has been recognised outside the yacht racing bubble by Outside Magazine.

The new PUMA/Laird stand up paddleboard (SUP) was selected by Outside Magazine for a 2011 Gear of the Show Award at the Outdoor Retailer trade show. The limited edition, carbon fibre board was the only watercraft to be included in the list of 10 awards.

The SUP board features the same design principles as the PUMA Ocean Racing Volvo 70 – both ergonomically and through the use of the same ultra-lightweight materials. Built in the United States by Clear Carbon and Components, Inc. and distributed by Surftech, the board marks the first time that boat hull design innovation have been used in stand-up paddleboards.

The PUMA/Laird Board is covered by red tentacle graphics matching PUMA’s Mar Mostro. Demo PUMA/Laird Boards will be available at each of the port stopovers during the Volvo Ocean Race.

Juan K is the mastermind behind PUMA’s Mar Mostro as well as the designer for the two previous winning Volvo Ocean Race boats – ABM-AMRO ONE and Ericsson 4. Kouyoumdijian is also the principal designer with Artemis Racing Team for the 34th America’s Cup. Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, his passion for sailing inspired him to study naval architecture, and he earned a degree in yacht and in small craft design. Today, his company, Juan Yacht Design, based in Valencia, Spain, is composed of a multicultural team specialized in the design of high performance racing yachts.

The collaboration between PUMA Ocean Racing and Laird Hamilton was announced earlier this month.

Meanwhile, PUMA Ocean Racing’s Skipper Ken Read has been testing the Volvo 70 in the Canary Islands. He said in a recent blog, before flying to Cowes Week to receive awards for the Transatlantic race:

The Lanzarote travel brochure has not fibbed to us so far – it is exactly as advertised. Which means wet, windy and sometimes crazy sailing. It is exactly what we need.

Getting used to the speeds in these boats is imperative. It’s not something that necessarily comes naturally. What you think is fast can always be faster. And, this place is hopefully going to bring that drive to each of us individually and collectively as a team.

After doing the Transatlantic Race, the sailors took two weeks off. In those two weeks, the shore team completely took apart the boat and put it back together again, checking every millimeter of it, and they set up a fantastic shore base here at the Puerto Calero Marina. We showed up and literally stepped onto the boat – it was fantastic.

More Volvo Ocean Race News

PUMA will replace SLAM as the Official Clothing Partner of America’s Cup defender ORACLE Racing. The ‘sportlifesyle’ brand will also kit out the organising personnel and be the official merchandise licensee for the America’s Cup.

There is no doubt that PUMA’s sports marketing expertise will benefit the California based team, but PUMA will be pushed hard by the ORACLE Racing sailors who are used to throwing money and technology at something until it is the best. Making caps for VIP guests is one thing. Making technical sailing apparel that allows the athletes to do their job the best they can is another.

James Spithill alluded to the development work that has to take place to make PUMA work as a credible technical sailing brand:

“This will be one the toughest briefs ever given to a clothing company. The guys onboard will have phenomenal aerobic work rate, with high body temperatures, whilst needing protection from drenching spray. Not only will boatspeeds exceed 30 knots (35mph/40kph) creating wind chill, but the clothing must be aerodynamically efficient for low drag.”

Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA said:

“For PUMA, this is a great opportunity to align with a team on the cutting-edge of innovation. ORACLE Racing is not only defending the Cup, but they are taking sailing to the next level – the boats are fast, the crews are dynamic and the racing is exciting to watch. This is the next step in developing the performance aspects of the sailing gear, along with connecting to a larger audience to spread the passion and joy of the sport.”

It will be interesting to see how PUMA align their Volvo Ocean Race and America’s Cup sponsorships. On the one hand, this is a great opportunity for a global sports brand to make sailing cool by bringing together PUMA Ocean Racing and ORACLE Racing and exposing PUMA’s fans to both disciplines.

The PR folk are still giving Russell Coutts the best lines though. In the statement about the partnership between ORACLE Racing and PUMA, he said:

“It’s fantastic to have the most recognizable brand in sport sharing the vision for a faster and more exciting America’s Cup and to have PUMA alongside us for the next three years in our bid to stay the champion team.”

Maybe there’s a brand recognition study that we haven’t seen, but we would have thought the most recognizable brand in sport was Nike.

More America’s Cup News

If you are going to have an event featuring big cats, you might as well get your sponsors’ iconography to match. The America’s Cup have announced that PUMA will be the Official Sportswear Partner for the next edition which includes the America’s Cup World Series.

It’s a good choice for the Cup, which is trying to reinvent itself to a new audience. PUMA showed during the last Volvo Ocean Race that they can teach the sailing world a lot about sports marketing and activation. If the America’s Cup really wants to appeal to a new demographic, then it is easier to see them walking in and buying a hoodie with the PUMA brand on it over a more technically based sailing clothing brand.

The deal with PUMA gives fans one reason to turn up the early America’s Cup World Series events rather than streaming it. PUMA will bring their expertise in merchandising to the events and operate the e-commerce element as well as ‘pop-up’ fan shops where merchandise will be available to fans exclusively in Cascais. (This is a positive spin on saying, the deal was done so late, we haven’t had time to build the online shop yet)

While PUMA will be kitting out the officials of the America’s Cup, the real stars – the athletes will be wearing other brands. It’s a typical kind of deal, and there will be some who will want to buy non-team related items, but it seems a little strange to want to wear the sailing clothing worn by the guys who do the marketing rather than the guys competing. Neverthless, as the official sportswear partner, PUMA will serve as the exclusive licensee of event-related sportswear for the America’s Cup Event Authority and America’s Cup Race Management teams, including their sailing performance gear.

It’s hard to think of another brand in the sailing clothing space that has the marketing muscle to help the America’s Cup achieve their vision. PUMA has wide appeal, not just in sport, but as a lifestyle brand. Moreover, they understand their consumers, which is something that the America’s Cup has not really demonstrated yet.

One of the guys who will be kitted out in PUMA is Craig Thompson – CEO of the America’s Cup Event Authority. He said:

“The new America’s Cup represents a radical shift in the way people will connect with the sport of sailing. We’ve looked at every component of the event from the viewer’s eye so we can create customized experiences for audiences around the globe. We’re committed to providing the ultimate in performance sportswear for our fans, and in PUMA, we’ve found a partner who can deliver on that promise.”

Just as PUMA provided a wake up call to other brands when they took part in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, PUMA has more imagination and willingness to take risks than most other sailing apparel brands. Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA said:

“PUMA’s approach to sailing has always been a little bit different. We’re the mavericks in the industry, intent on shaking up the sport with campaigns, products and partnerships that reach new audiences, dial up the ‘fun’ and push the boundaries of performance technology. America’s Cup embraces a similar philosophy and re-emerged as the hottest thing to happen to professional sailing in decades. We’re excited to come aboard as the official sportswear partner for the Cup.”

More America’s Cup News

An interesting juxtaposition in the latest news round-up by ORACLE Racing. Rather than back away from the ‘Facebook Generation‘ statement, Russell Coutts has brought it out again and once again said that the rules and format of the new America’s Cup are designed to make the event simpler and easier to understand. In the very next news item, ORACLE Racing introduce the new, simplified format that features 3 different disciplines, 4 different events and new courses.

So on the one hand, Russell Coutts is saying:

“Many of the rules changes we’ve made have been aimed at making the event more attractive to television and for non-sailors,” said Coutts. “It was obvious that we need a young audience; that we need to appeal to the Facebook generation. We prefer electronic boundaries that narrow alleys, so that the boats are forced to engage each other throughout the race. Now we will experience water blitz chess.”

And on the other hand, the organisers are putting out the following for the non-sailing Facebook crowd:

The course features a reaching start and gates at both the windward and leeward marks to be completed in this order: Start, M1 to port, Leeward Gate (M3/M4), Windward Gate (M1/M2), Leeward Gate (M3/M4), finish. The distance between the two gates will be lengthened to accommodate the longer fleet races and the start line repositioned accordingly.

Simple. But there is more…

The speed trials will be held over a 500-meter course, the length recognized by the World Sailing Speed Record Council for official speed records. A yacht shall start by passing to windward of the start boat within her start window. A yacht’s start window shall be the first 30 seconds of the minute allocated to her by the race committee. A yacht will be ranked on her highest average speed for a run.

Organisers have also released the ‘rules’ relating to spectator craft and the way in which the Facebook generation can watch the action from the water. Those with superyachts will get to park them along two sides of the course. Others will have to park their jet-ski’s, ribs, canoes and hobie cats 300 metres from the race-course.

Anyone who has attended an Extreme Sailing Series event will know that such measures are essential to stop accidents from happening at very high speeds, but some new fans who have been wooed to attend an event might not want to stay in one place or adhere to a 5 knot speed limit within a half mile of the course once racing has started.

More interesting is the rules relating to photography, video and advertising. Social Media has been highlighted as one of the way in which this Cup will be different from others, but the rules relating to photos and video seem to be written by the Flintstone generation of media rights people. It will be interesting to see how the ACEA police a piece of public space in relation to people filming the event with ‘home-type’ HD video cameras and posting it on YouTube.

It would also be interesting to see how the ACEA reacted to a boat like Hugo Boss being parked on the edge of the spectator area.

The Course Marshal Instructions say:

No vessel is to display any signage on or around the course area. The only signage that is approved is that of the sponsors of the Event and the bona-fide sponsor of a competing team.

In order to ensure that the rights of the Event Authority and the competitors are protected, the Captains of all vessels will ensure that no one on that vessel uses:

• any video recordinng or broadcast equipment in competition with the credentialed rights holders.

Still cameras and home-type video cameras are permitted for personal use only. No commerical exploitation on television, print, Internet or any other media (as news coverage or otherwise) of photographs or video taken aboard any Vessel, or transmission of any audio commentary of the races (including cellular telephone) from any Vessel, may be made without written permission of ACEA, except by credentialed media with rights to exploit such photographs, or video, or audio commetary, subject to restrictions imposed on such media.

More America’s Cup News

The America’s Cup is known throughout the world as the sport of billionaires and captains of industry. For 150 years, the people who have contested the cup have been those with enough disposable income to pursue the trophy as a hobby rather than a commercial enterprise. The goal for the future of the America’s Cup is to try and build teams that are sporting franchises, but that’s won’t happen overnight and it won’t happen while fundamental pieces of the commercial puzzle – like television deals – are not in place.

In the meantime, it’s business as usual for the America’s Cup. Despite a half-hearted attempt to woo a new audience through things like social media, the bread-and-butter of the event for the foreseeable future, will be the ‘superyacht-set’.

The clash between the stated aims and brand positioning of the new America’s Cup and the reality has been strengthened by a deal between the organisers and Fraser Yachts. Members of the Facebook generation with the cash to charter a superyacht to watch the action will benefit from the partnership.

Officially, Fraser Yachts, which is part of the Azimut Benetti Group, will be one of the operational partners for the 34th America’s Cup superyacht program. Patrick Coote, Marketing Director of Fraser Yachts, got on the right page of the PR script and made sure the obligatory reference was made to F1 when he said:

“We are really excited about our partnership with the America’s Cup and the opportunity for the superyacht community to truly engage in this world-renowned sporting event. The new course format is completely different to any previous America’s Cup, allowing superyachts to be a part of the racing action. This is America’s Cup meets Formula 1.”

Niccolò Porzio di Camporotondo, the America’s Cup Event Authority Superyacht Director, might be one of the only people on the ACEA team who actually understands the real audience of the America’s Cup. Rather than present the event as a new, mass-market, extreme sport, he is happy with the long term relationship between the luxury end of town and the event. He said:

“The 34th America’s Cup offers boat owners and charterers unprecedented on-and-off the water access to the America’s Cup. We are honoring the historical ties between the America’s Cup and luxury yachting, while providing the greatest access to the racing action that the Cup has ever seen. We have partnered with Fraser Yachts because they have experience and expertise necessary to deliver a truly amazing experience for superyacht owners, charterers, captains and crew with the 34th America’s Cup.”

More America’s Cup News

Multihulls are great for the America’s Cup. We get it. Sport changes and sports where technology is a driver become almost unrecognisable from one era to another. The new America’s Cup has the potential to be exciting, and spectators will come to see a new kind of sailing, however it is sad to see the ambassadors of the sport, denegrate the tradition that made the America’s Cup what it is.

It’s great to see Jimmy Spithill on ‘everyman’ sports shows like Chronicle Live, but the current PR spin that everything that has come before was “boring” is a little insulting to those who have built the brand that now allows sailors like Spithill and Coutts the opportunities they currently have.

Rather than denigrating past Cups, like the event which took place in Fremantle, which until the most recent re-invention of history was considered one of the most successful ever – ambassadors like Spithill should recognise that though different, the America’s Cup events that came before were fantastic, athletic, technology led competitions. Otherwise, the new America’s Cup has no soul.

If the new format for the 34th America’s Cup has a solid foundation in marketing fundamentals, then it should appeal to the markets that allow Oracle Racing and the America’s Cup Event Authority need to sell sponsorship and television rights against. It’s different and perhaps its better, but trash talking every America’s Cup event that has come before is not good for the America’s Cup brand and is not good for sailing.

Without the ‘boring’ America’s Cup events of the past, where the skill level was so low and the action so tedious that sailors ‘could read a book while competing’, leaders of the sport like Jimmy Spithill would not get invitations to live sports shows.

So let’s think a little more long term shall we. Let’s try to bring a few more people along for the ride and stop sticking two fingers up at the past. The new deal America’s Cup promises to make the sport of sailing a little more accessible to a wider audience. Catamarans with wing-sails will promote speed and technology over match-racing tactical skill, but let’s make the 34th America’s Cup part of the long tradition rather than a new event that just happens to have the same name.

More America’s Cup News

Puma Ocean Racing has announced a partnership with the ultimate waterman – Laird Hamilton. Given the Volvo Ocean Race strapline of ‘Life at the Extreme’, it’s hard to think of a better brand ambassador for the new Puma boat, Mar Mostro.

Hamilton is no stranger to sailing. He was one of the innovators of windsurfing and back in the day when windsurfing videos were sold on VHS to fans who couldn’t get enough of their sport on TV, footage of Laird sailing, and jumping a speedboard in the Neil Pryde video ‘Rigmarole’ inspired a generation of extreme sailors. Later, Hamilton invented ‘tow-in’ surfing, which allowed monster waves to be ridden.

Laird Hamilton’s personal facebook page has over 41,000 fans, which is more than the Volvo Ocean Race itself (though the page has no mention of the Puma tie up – yet). If done properly, the partnership promises to bring a new element to the race, but initial reaction (on Twitter at least) to the deal was luke-warm.

The exciting bit of the association between Puma Ocean Racing Team and Laird Hamilton, for surfers at least, is ‘monster waves’. The Volvo 70 that will be raced by Puma is named Mar Mostro (the monster of the sea) and the livery features vivid giant octopus and other creatures.

Laird and the PUMA Ocean Racing Crew will commence a search for the world’s monster waves during the upcoming Volvo Ocean Race 2011-2012. Skipper Ken Read and the crew will help track the world’s biggest rogue waves, which Hamilton will attempt to conquer. Using the weather and navigational teams onshore and onboard PUMA’s Mar Mostro, the crew will track wave patterns while sailing through the remotest reaches of the world’s oceans. As monster waves are found, Hamilton will fly in, prepared to surf them.

There is a further tie-up. The search to ride the world’s wildest waves will be helped by the design of a new “concept” surfboard. Juan Kouyoumdjian (Juan K), the designer of PUMA’s Mar Mostro Volvo 70, as well as the boat designer for two previous winning Volvo Open 70 boats, ABM-AMRO ONE and Ericsson 4, will collaborate with Hamilton on the surfboard development.

Laird Hamilton said:

“It’s been a life-long goal to push the boundaries and find these rogue waves at sea to ride. “When PUMA and the PUMA Ocean Racing crew approached me with ideas for how we might collectively make this happen during the Volvo Ocean Race, I was thrilled. We’re bringing the ultimate innovation to action water sports. It’s going to be a game-changer.”

That news alone would have been enough to get people talking, but the ‘riding giants’ message got a little lost yesterday in a series of announcements that talked about Laird as the ‘honorary’ 12th member of the PUMA Ocean Race crew and the development of a new stand up paddle (SUP) board.

Buried towards the bottom of a very long press release, Hamilton’s duties as honorary 12th crew member include him serving as a fitness and nutrition coach for the PUMA Ocean Racing team. This includes applying his proprietary regimen to get ‘the boys’ ready to face mother nature’s fury at sea. The nutrition and fitness regime specifics probably deserve a separate story….

Antonio Bertone, Chief Marketing Officer for PUMA AG said

“PUMA has a history of unexpected collaborations that change the playing field of the sports we engage in. The introduction of Laird Hamilton as the honorary 12th crew member on our PUMA Ocean Racing team represents an epic clash of prowess on the ocean. We’re bringing together the world’s most elite sailors with their counterpart in the surf and paddleboard sector to serve as a key fixture of our Volvo Ocean Race campaign.”

Which brings us to the stand up paddleboard (SUP) part of the release. Unlike big-wave surfing, which is the preserve of only the most experienced and fit surfers, SUP is a sport that is more gentle, more mass-market if you will. The difference between tow-in surfing and SUP is like the Volvo Ocean Race being compared to a Carribean cruise. But it’s hard to summon big waves to Newport R.I. harbour, so the photos of the day were of Laird on the new carbon fiber SUP board with a similar livery to Mar Mostro.

The SUP gives PUMA a consumer watersports product to sell.

Look in the merchandising brochure for :

Limited edition carbon fiber stand-up paddleboards (SUPs) will take inspiration from the Mar Mostro Volvo 70 hull design, both ergonomically and through the use of the same ultra-lightweight carbon fiber materials. Made in the United States, the boards feature the bright red tentacle design, matching PUMA’s Mar Mostro. This marks the first time that boat hull design innovation will be applied to paddleboards.

It’s great too see PUMA pushing the boundaries and bringing its sports marketing expertise to sailing. The ‘out of the box’ thinking that they applied to the last Volvo Ocean Race campaign made other sponsors have to think harder about how they would get attention. With Laird Hamilton on board, PUMA have the opportunity to expose the Volvo Ocean Race to a new audience, but the message needs to be more targeted and more integrated.

As sailing journalists, we know all about the story, but as fans of Laird, we haven’t heard anything yet.

More Volvo Ocean Race News