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

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

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

Yvonne Fletcher, Alex Thomson Racing Marketing Manager said:

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

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

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

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

More News from the Barcelona World Race

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.

Sailing Sponsorship Lessons from one of the UK’s top Open 6o Skippers.

While the business of yacht racing covers many commercial aspects, a large part of it is dependent on corporate sponsorship. Like most sports, there are more participants and rights-owners than there are sponsors, so differentiating yourself by having a working knowledge of what sailing sponsors are looking for and how they can activate and get the most return on investment (ROI) and Return on Objectives (ROO). One sailor who has had the benefit of sponsorship of a large brand in the past is Dee Caffari. She talked to the World Yacht Racing Forum (WYRF) about the lessons learnt.

WYRF: What lessons have you learnt on the subject of sponsorship from your partnership with Aviva in your last campaign?

Dee Caffari: “Aviva’s sponsorship was concentrated around brand awareness and the company name change from Norwich Union to Aviva, creating ‘One Aviva’. A visible return on investment is paramount in order to attract sponsors into the world of sailing and having clear communications early on in the campaign between the team and sponsor help ensure clear external messaging both to the public and the media. If the message is confusing the audience can drift or switch off. A clean, simple message is easier to communicate, more particularly in the ever increasing streams of new media. Often sponsors use sailing for internal communications, however, it is essential to be able to quantify returns across a broad area (ROI and ROO) when making approaches to new sponsors.”

WYRF: How should a sponsor in the sport of sailing make the best use of its investment in the sport?

Dee Caffari: “Sailing sponsorship gives a unique platform for marketing. It has global reach and the unique asset of a branded 800m2 billboard to display at a variety of media and public environments. In solo sailing there is also the opportunity to identify with the skipper and their journey at an emotive level. The chance to sail the same yacht the skipper has raced around the globe and to be able to learn exactly what he / she has encountered when at sea is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Sponsorship of sailing enables companies to align themselves with a sport that focuses on performance, determination and pushing limits in a competitive environment. Typically, these are all aspirations of large companies. A strong association can also be made with environmental responsibility and sustainability as sailing is perceived to be a ‘clean’ sport which harnesses natural power for performance and tackles nature at its rawest. Alternative power is an emerging reality in the sport of offshore sailing as we investigate solar, wind and hydro developments to reduce the amount of fuel required. Not only a good thing for the environment but also resulting in a reduction in the weight of the yacht and subsequently increasing speed.”

WYRF: What do you consider are the important points to consider when presenting to a sponsor?

Dee Caffari: “You need to have an understanding of what a company or brand is hoping to achieve through sponsorship. Once you have identified a likely market fit and direction for the potential sponsor then you can focus on this area. Common reasons for sponsorship are:

• Brand awareness – branding of the yacht and the team working around the campaign are key to conveying a consistent message.
• Marketing a new product or increasing a company’s standing in the market place.
• Corporate hospitality – a unique platform for entertaining clients.
• Internal communications – which is increasingly important for large multi-national corporations to bring employees together around an event or relationship.

Introducing or highlighting a name, product or message in the media and public forums can be achieved more easily when it is wrapped around an event. As a sportswoman taking part in an international yacht race, I can very simply weave a sponsor’s message into interviews about my boat and sailing campaign. A company new to sailing sponsorship can sometimes be unaware of the many opportunities that surround a campaign, so identifying the variety of options available is key at presentation stage.”

WYRF: You will be attending the WYRF in December, how valuable do you think it is to have a Forum like this?

Dee Caffari: “I was present at the WYRF in 2009 and think each year the event is developing due to the organisers really listening to and addressing the feedback. To have sports professionals, sponsors and event organisers together in one place allows a good flow of information and ideas to be raised, discussed and worked on. In order to attract new sponsors into the game and be comparable to other big investment or mainstream sports, we all need to work together to increase the profile of sailing and guarantee delivery of objectives. For too long, and indeed still today, there are similar events trying to fill the same points in both calendars and classes. The WYRF is providing the best opportunity we have for showing a united and organised structure.”

Yachtsponsorship will be a media partner of the World Yacht Racing forum in Estoril in December. As well as Open 60 sailors, the conference will feature leaders from the America’s Cup, Volvo Ocean Race, World Match Racing Tour and others.

More Open 60 News…

Regular readers of YachtSponsorship will know that sailing is an attractive sport to those wishing to promote destinations to tourists. Government tourism agencies have invested heavily in recent years to attract top level sailing events and more venues are sought by rights owners like the World Match Racing Tour, Extreme Sailing Series and even the America’s Cup.

Winning the right to host an event is one thing – delivering a great tourism experience to visitors is another. Translating the increased exposure of the venue into an ongoing tourism dividend is something that takes even more planning and execution.

Sports tourism is growing fast. The term applies to people travelling to participate as well as those travelling to be spectators. According to Taleb Rifai from the UN World Tourism Organisation, both sport and travel are set to become even bigger in the next century. At a global level, both activities allow people to experience something new and worthwhile, but despite the opportunity, which was identified up to 10 years ago, the linkages and body of knowledge are not in place yet.

This observation is evident at an event like World Travel Market, where destinations promote themselves to the travel trade. While many sailing venue deals are publicised as being primarily for tourism purposes, the message doesn’t travel down the supply chain very well.

In recent years, sailing has been invisible at WTM. In 2010, sailing properties such as the Barcelona World Race, Volvo Ocean Race and the Oman Air sponsored Oman Sail Trimaran Majan had a small presence.

Oman Sail is a long term campaign that has many goals, one of which is to promote toursim. The Oman Sail project was not visible at the Oman stand at WTM, but Oman Air had a few shots of the 100 foot multihull that began the Route Du Rhum recently.

The sponsorship is highly targeted. Philippe Georgiou, Chief Officer Corporate Affairs for Oman Air said:

Oman is a distinctive and unique destination. It is for a discerning traveller and so the sponsorship of Oman Majan was chosen on purpose to appeal to a specific kind of audience. France is also a very important market for us, which is another reason that Oman Air backed this campaign.

Oman Air also sponsor an Omani driver in the Porsche Carrera Cup. That car was on display at WTM. It’s a lot easier to get a car on a display stand than a 40 foot or 100 foot boat.

Elsewhere at World Travel Market, Alicante had a poster advertising the start of the Volvo Ocean Race and Barcelona had a small cataloge of sports events that listed the Barcelona World Race as an event, but that was about it. Perth 2011 had no visible presence.

It’s not just sailing that needs to understand the sports tourist. Other sports are struggling to understand the needs of travellers who are spending money to visit an event.

The experience for the visitor is paramount. Chris Foy, Head of 2012 Games Unit, VisitBritain outlines the success factors for London 2012 which many sailing events could learn from.

1 – The Welcome. This includes everything from visa processing before people leave their own countries to airport advertising. Importanltly, it also includes the customer service recieved for all transactions during the visit. This is something that event organisers have little control of once the visitor has left the race village, but can have a huge impact. For example, closing the resturant at the Deville Hotel in Southampton at 10pm on Thursday night during Cowes week can wreck hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of investment elsewhere.

2 – Image. Again, this might be something that is at first glance outside the organiser’s control, but can have a big effect on the long term value. This is the piece that America’s Cup rights holders are trying to reinvent for the 34th edition. Whether the image of enormous multihulls with ‘wing-sails’ is preferable to the well established image that would be recognised by the majority of fans remains to be seen. Image also feeds into peer to peer reccomendation which is of growing importance if a tourism dividend is to be achieved from hosting an event.

3 – The economic impact. If host venues can get factors 1 and 2 right, then there is a better chance of creating a long term tourism benefit. Many destinations are now holding back up to 50% of their advertising budget for after the event to keep the momentum going rather than have a huge spike and then nothing.

If tourism is a stated aim of an event, then the tourism infrastructure has to be aware of it.

Based on an article written by David Fuller for Sports Business Radio.

More Sailing Tourism News…

Most sports promoters know that you can have the best platform in the world, but if you don’t have enough competitors, the excitement is going to be limited. Striking a balance between the number of teams that make a race interesting and creating too much sponsorship noise is one that all promoters have to keep in mind. Organisers of the Barcelona World Race have announced another entry for the next event.

A Spanish sailing duo of Jaume Mumbrú and Cali Sanmartí will team up as We are Water for the double handed ocean racing event.

The team members and Open 60 yacht will act as ambassadors for solidarity projects from different organisations. The We Are Water Foundation is supported by the Roca company and works towards raising awareness and creating new attitudes towards water as a precious resource. The foundation aims to carry out activities designed to ease the negative impact of a lack of water resources. The areas of activity include the intervention of infrastructures, education, health and research.

We Are Water will activate their message using the platform of the Barcelona World Race with a global reach to promote the We Are Water Foundation name and objectives around the world. The IMOCA 60 livery will display the brands and logos of other NGOs (Vicente Ferrer Foundation, Intermon Oxfam, Unicef,  Educación Sin Fronteras and Zero Limits.

Jaume Mumbrú is a lawyer with long career as a solo sailor and is one of the most active Spanish sailors in the Mini class, but also sails on larger yachts, such as in the Round Europe 1999 on board the IMOCA Open 60 Optral.

Sanmartí is an engineer but since 2003 he has been a professional yachtsman, specialising in large racing yachts. He too is a past competitor in the French Mini fleet but has also raced on larger yachts such as in the Voiles de St. Tropez and the Rolex Sydney Hobart, as well as a double-handed ARC regatta on board the 63 footer, Grand Filou.

Andor Serra, Director General of FNOB who organise the Barcelona World Race said:

“Having new teams join this competition is crucial for the Barcelona World Race. For the future of an event like ours it’s as important to have the world’s experts onboard, as well as sailors starting off in the elite ranks of sailing competition. Also the presence of solidarity projects in the Barcelona World Race framework means that this regatta transcends the realms of sport”.

More Barcelona World Race News

The latest edition of the Barcelona World Race has managed to attract some new sponsors into sailing, proving that the activation of a yacht racing sponsorship campaign is more important than the platform. That the Barcelona World Race can provide return on investment for companies as diverse as hearing aids and skincare as well as dairy products and men’s suits shows that the audiences for this kind of sport are not just ‘Flistones’ or ‘Facebook Friends’ but a diverse group of people around the world.

Germany’s Boris Herrmann and Ryan Breymaier from the USA will be sponsored for the Barcelona World Race by Neutrogena, the dermatological skincare brand.

Ignacio García Cano, Director General of Johnson & Johnson’s Southern European Market said:

“This is a thrilling adventure in which we want to play an active part. The sponsorship of a Barcelona World Race team by our Neutrogena Norwegian Formula brand marks an unprecedented venture for us. It’s a great opportunity to join forces with the sailors to face the challenge of an incredibly demanding competition, requiring maximum efficiency and strength when faced with the most adverse conditions. There is no doubt that these values reflect the Neutrogena identity”.

“It is a real privilege for our brand to join forces with Boris and Ryan in an event such as the Barcelona World Race, as well as a fantastic opportunity for us to bring the benefits of our range of products to a top level oceanic competition”.

Boris Herrmann is the first German sailor to compete in the IMOCA Class and he is looking to complete this campaign with an entry in the Vendée Globe 2012.

“It’s a real privilege to represent a brand with the prestige of Neutrogena, which is so well-known in the whole world, especially in Europe and the USA. I’ve used the brand’s hand-cream since I was a child, as my father always used it, both when he sailed in summer and when he was carrying out boat repairs in winter. I’ve grown up with Neutrogena and I’ve used it throughout my life as a sailor; so the fact that Neutrogena will be with me, throughout the tough round the world conditions is very exciting for me”.

Ryan Breymaier is an ocean sailor from Annapolis, the USA’s East Coast sailing capital. He said:

“Neutrogena is a company with a great vision for the future and a great reputation in my country. I am very happy to associate myself with this brand. I am also sure that their line of male skincare products are going to keep my skin in optimum condition during these 80 days we’ll be at sea! I think that the brand’s core values link in perfectly with those of a sailing team and I think that this will be the start of a great relationship”.

More Barcelona World Race Business News…

Groupe Bel will compete in the Barcelona World Race with French duo Kito de Pavant and Sébastien Audigane on board. The ‘laughing cow’ brand is one of the best at activating their sailing sponsorship to a wide audience.

Guillaume Jouët, Communications Director of Groupe Bel said:

‘We want to share an extreme, inspiring and international adventure in the Barcelona World Race with our teams of workers, our clients and our partners.’

Bel is an international group which sells its products in 120 different countries, and generates 80% of its income outside of France. For the whole group, to take part in a truly global event like the Barcelona World Race enhances both the internal and external benefits of their sailing partnership.

Jouët continues:

‘We want to offer our clients and partners an extreme international adventure and that is exactly what the Barcelona World Race is about. This development corresponds to that of our own group, its saling sponsorship programme and its skipper. Especially Sébastien and Kito have a lot in common and bringing their skills together is excellen

Andor Serra, Director General of the Barcelona Foundation for Ocean Sailing (FNOB), organizer of the Barcelona World Race, welcomed the participation of a team of such standing in the race:

‘We are delighted to see another French team with such outstanding skippers as Kito and Seb joining the Barcelona World Race. The event has been considered a good international platform to project themselves globally by Groupe Bel which gives us considerable satisfaction and encouragement to continue on our course. ‘

More Barcelona World Race News…

Alex Thomson has announced his co-skipper for the double handed Barcelona World Race. Volvo Ocean Race sailor, Andy Meiklejohn, will join Alex to the 2010 edition of the race.

Andy (34), from Auckland, New Zealand has over 100,000 ocean miles to his name, and has sailed extensively offshore, including the round the world 2004 Oryx Quest and the 2005/06 Volvo Ocean Race.

Alex and Andy have known each other for many years, having first raced together in The Commodores Cup in 2004. Andy joined the Alex Thomson Racing team earlier this year with overall responsibility for the boat performance and he has been a key part of the team that has launched and developed the new Hugo Boss. Together with Alex he has now covered over 10,000 miles onboard the yacht.

Alex is positive they have created a winning formula,

‘Andy is a confident, professional sailor with broad experience in the racing field. He has accumulated many offshore miles and has invaluable on-board technical experience within an offshore race environment. We compliment each other’s abilities and both have the attitude and drive to win.’

Andy has been professionally racing for over ten years. Starting in dinghy sailing, and progressing up to the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race, Andy is used to extreme racing conditions.

Referring to his recent appointment, Andy commented,

‘I’m excited to be accepting the Co-Skipper role on-board Hugo Boss for The Barcelona World Race and to be able to do this race with a good friend. The boat itself is incredible, it has the same power and sail area as a fully crewed VO70, so the challenge of racing on the boat with only two of us when I’m used to ten will be a demanding but exciting prospect. Alex and I can both learn from each other and I will be able to help enhance the boat’s capability and performance for The Vendee Globe in 2012.’

Stewart Hosford, Managing Director at Alex Thomson Racing commented,

‘I believe the partnership between Alex and Andy teamed with the speed and capability of Hugo Boss, creates one of the strongest entries in this year’s BWR. We had a couple of candidates in mind for the position but we were always gravitating towards Andy as his skill set was the perfect fit against Alex’s.’

More Open60 news

OC Group, the company behind the Extreme Sailing Series, has announced today that it will merge with European based ThirdPole. The non-cash deal will bring together the two companies’ competences to form a broad based outdoor sports and events company. The two brands will remain, OC continuing to specialise in professional sailing teams and events, and ThirdPole in outdoor events ranging from running, cycling and biathlon, to more extreme sports including adventure and trail running races.

OC and ThirdPole combined aspire to become a world leader of outdoor events on all playing fields: oceans, lakes, mountains, forests and deserts and city centres.

The new business will fully own the existing operating companies in France, Switzerland and the UK, and will continue their work with global brands, host cities and regions, sporting federations and other promoters all over the world. The combined business already has events in place for 2011 in more than a dozen countries in Europe, USA and Asia.

Mark Turner, who has been rumoured to head up the next America’s Cup organisation, will remain fully engaged in the overall business as Executive Chairman. He said:

“The merger with ThirdPole is a really exciting new venture for us. OC Group has a great team of people who have delivered first-class events and sailing programmes worldwide over the past decade and our clients can rest assured that we will continue to do so in the future. ThirdPole already manages some outstanding outdoor event properties and we can combine our skills and experience to enhance what we do already in sailing, and help build some great new events together as well.

Those who know me well know I have a passion for a number of outdoor sports beyond sailing – that’s certainly been a key factor for me in this new development. The Outdoor Events sector has been developing fast, particularly in France, where I’ve spent most of my time these past years and it’s an exciting diversification for our company. This will not affect our determination for OC to remain as a leading player in professional sailing. Both sectors are well positioned at a time when strong sporting values, accessibility for the fans, and the importance of our natural environment are valued more than ever by brands and venues in the sports sponsorship world. We’ve never been afraid to push the boundaries in sport or to challenge tradition and these values, along with a very strong work ethic, will remain core to our strategy.

There have been a number of new and interesting opportunities recently on a personal and business level, but this one will allow me to get closer again to the incredible sportsmen and women that take on amazing challenges. Motivating people to push beyond their limits has always been the most rewarding aspect of sport business for me.

ThirdPole was created by Rémi Duchemin and Benjamin Chandelier, both former employees at Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organiser of the Tour de France, the Paris International Marathon, the Alstom French Golf Open and other major events. As Head of Business Development, Rémi was responsible for the creation and management of the Merrell Oxygen Challenge and worked across all the sports that ASO are renowned for.

Although a young company, ThirdPole has already organised its own mass participation events in the endurance sports arena, such as the Geneva Marathon for Unicef, and has delivered consulting services to other events like the Merrell Oxygen Challenge (unique outdoor festival with mountain-biking, trail running and orienteering in the Cantal, France), the Biathlon World Cup 2011 in Annecy-Le Grand Bornand, and also for brands attracted by the strong values and potential of these disciplines. ThirdPole is developing several new projects and events in Western Europe and beyond, especially in the fast-growing market of running and cycling.

Rémi Duchemin said:

“We are very proud of the marriage of sailing and endurance sports, two worlds which maintain very close relations and common values, such as, nature, humility, facing adversity and conviviality. The new business born from the merger of OC and ThirdPole aspires to become a world leader of Outdoor Events on all playing fields: oceans, lakes, mountains, forests and deserts but also city centres. The new group has the privilege to work with a dynamic, international and multicultural team, driving the evolution towards more sustainable business practice. The skills convergence of OC and ThirdPole, in particular event management, logistics, communications, sales and office management, will allow us to set up a strong strategy to reach our ambitious objectives. “

OC Events, which is part of the OC Group is a major player in the sport of sailing. The list of projects and campaigns that it is involved with is extensive. As well as the award-winning and groundbreaking Extreme Sailing Series™, the company is co-creator and consultant to the Barcelona World Race, owner of The Transat™ single-handed transatlantic race, and Organiser, on behalf of Artemis Investment Management, of The Artemis Challenge.

Offshore Challenges, the sailing team division, will continue putting together effective racing campaigns, in the IMOCA circuit (most recently with Artemis Ocean Racing and BT Team Ellen), with Extreme 40s, and with the development of the Artemis Offshore Academy.

OC Group also remains strategic and technical consultant to the Oman Sail project, that uses sailing to contribute to the development of Oman and Omanis, which OC helped create and develop in 2007. OC also continues to advise and work with other brands in sailing, such as, Nespresso with the Nespresso Cup.

The strapline on the top of the official IMOCA website claims it to be “The Most Successful Ocean Racing Class”. There’s no asterisk or footnote or link to any substantiating evidence for this claim, but success can be whatever you define it to be – so why not boast about it.

Whether or not the class will continue to be successful depends on whether budgets can be kept under control and whether sailors outside of France can convince sponsors that the activation opportunities outside the Vendee Globe are enough to justify the investment. IMOCA has released an update that reports a “sizeable fleet for the end of 2010″.  9 boats are set to compete in the Rhum and at least ten for the Barcelona World Race. This compares with 30 boats starting the most recent Vendee Globe.

New Open 60 Projects

While UK IMOCA sailors struggle to raise money for new boat campaigns, across the channel, four major projects are underway. Vincent Riou’s new PRB has been on the water since the spring, and Jean-Pierre Dick (Virbac – Paprec 3), is moored up in Lorient. Michel Desjoyeaux (Foncia) is completing a race against the clock so as to make the start of the Route du Rhum, before gearing up for the Barcelona World Race. The three sailors have all opted for a Verdier – VPLP design, acknowledging the respective performances of Safran and Groupe Bel. Bernard Stamm (Cheminées Poujoulat) is continuing with the construction of his Kouyoumdjian designed boat at the Decision yard in Switzerland.

Other Happenings in IMOCA Sailing Class

Roland Jourdain (Veolia Environnement) has traded in his Lombard design for the Farr designed boat (Ex-BT) previously skippered by Sébastien Josse during the last Vendée Globe. Bilou’s aim is to defend his title during the next Route du Rhum. Roland will once again be competing against Kito de Pavant (Groupe Bel), who is continuing to optimise his monohull, as well as Marc Guillemot (Safran), who is keen to repeat his performance from the last Transat Jacques Vabre.

For this year’s Route du Rhum, Arnaud Boissières (Akena Vérandas) is now in possession of a boat which once belonged to Vincent Riou, while Armel Le Cléac’h (Brit Air), winner of the Solitaire du Figaro, will be racing on his Finot designed boat again.

Looking ahead to the Barcelona World Race, Dominique Wavre and his new partner Mirabaud will be at the start; while Dee Caffari will be teaming up with Anna Corbella (GAES Centros Auditivos). Alex Thomson (Hugo Boss) will also be at the start of the race, aboard a boat previously skippered by Brian Thompson (Pindar).

The Barcelona World Race has had significant investment from Spanish organisers to allow skippers to be on the start-line. IMOCA say that by aligning themselves with the Barcelona World Race for the next 3 editions, the class is gambling on internationalisation. The choice of 2-handed non-stop racing is at the expense of the Clipper Ventures backed single handed stopping Velux 5 Oceans Race.

While the development of the ECO 60 class should be seen as a welcome compliment to offshore racing, it seems that the two organisations are not ready to talk to each other about being stronger in partnership.

The short term goal for IMOCA is to make the Barcelona World Race look like a successful event. When the reputation of a city is on the line, budgets can be found to ensure start-line images with lots of sails. So the Spanish will be out in force. Alex Pella is teaming up with Pepe Ribes (Estrella Damm) on Loïck Peyron’s former Farr design; Pachi Rivero is partnering Tonio Piris (W Hotels Nova Bocana) on Jean-Pierre Dick’s former boat, while Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez (Movistar) are benefiting from the advice of Michel Desjoyeaux after purchasing the winning boat from the last Vendée Globe.

IMOCA allude to the deals being done between BWR organisers and skippers by saying in their statement: ”A few other projects will also be taking part in the next Barcelona World Race and they are discreetly being finalised.”

IMOCA Sailors in Coming events

Those taking part in the Route du Rhum – La Banque Postale

• Arnaud Boissières – Akena Vérandas
• Armel Le Cléac’h – Brit Air
• Christopher Pratt – DCNS 1000
• Michel Desjoyeaux – FONCIA
• Kito de Pavant – Groupe Bel
• Vincent Riou – PRB
• Marc Guillemot – Safran
• Roland Jourdain – Veolia Environnement
• Jean-Pierre Dick – Virbac Paprec 3

Those taking part in the Barcelona World Race

• Jean-Pierre Dick – Loïck Peyron, Virbac – Paprec 3
• Michel Desjoyeaux – François Gabart, Foncia
• Dominique Wavre – Michèle Paret, Mirabaud
• Anna Corbella – Dee Caffari, GAES Centros Auditivos
• Alex Pella – Pepe Ribes, Estrella Damm
• Pachi Ribero – Tonio Piris, W Hotels Nova Bocana
• Iker Martinez – Xabi Fernandez, Movistar
• Alex Thomson – ?, Hugo Boss
• Juan Mederiz – Fran Palacio, Central Lechera Asturiana
• Boris Herman – Ryan Breymaier – (VE1)