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Sailing does a pretty bad job of appealing to a female audience. You’d think that sailing would be more attractive to women than a sport like NASCAR, but the America’s Cup Facebook page has an estimated breakdown of the gender demographics being about 74/26 in favour of men while NASCAR has a ratio of  54/46.

The audience for a sport obviously impacts upon the sponsorships that are available. Brands that are looking to develop relationships with women may have better options than sailing, though there are big exceptions. There are real opportunities for brands who are willing to back the female stars of the sport.

Team Tunnicliffe, a trio of Olympic sailors: Anna Tunnicliffe, Molly Vandemoer and Debbie Capozzi have announced a sailing sponsorship deal with Maclaren. Maclaren is a global lifestyle brand leader for parenting products. For nearly 50 years Maclaren has stood for excellence, empowerment and innovation, and is best known for the creation of the first umbrella buggy which revolutionized baby transport.

It is the first time the brand has sponsored the sport. The Team will now be re-named Team Maclaren.

Sailing of course has all the elements to promote a brand like Maclaren, but it is not a obvious choice for the mostly male sponsorship hunters who are looking to earn big commissions from financial services companies. Like many companies that sponsor sailing, the fit between a commitment to excellence and a platform to promote lifestyle, attributes, and heritage comes together in one place.

The sponsorship is the beginning of a larger initiative for Maclaren to align with the sport of sailing globally.

Team Maclaren is one of several major international programs within sailing the company has planned this year. As influential young athletes, Tunnicliffe and her team are perfect to represent the Maclaren lifestyle. They will serve as a visible reminder of exceptional women who believe it is possible to accomplish great things and also maintain a balance and quality in their active lives.

Tunnicliffe, who hopes to lead her team to a gold medal in 2012, says

‘We are very excited to partner with such a great company. Maclaren embodies the same values of performance, quality, empowerment and safety that we sail by every day. We’re just thrilled to be welcomed into the Maclaren family.’

The three members of Team Maclaren are currently balancing a busy schedule training for the Olympic Games and competing in premier regattas around the world.

More sailing sponsorship news

Sailing is too complicated. We need to simplify it. Right?

One of the best sailors in the world is saying we should rewrite the rulebook and replace archaic nautical terms with language that is easier to understand.

Russell Coutts said the following in an interview about changing the rules for the America’s Cup recently.

It’s too complicated. We have a rulebook that is like this (holding up his fingers to show a thickness of about an inch). Frankly, I think people have got better things to do than sit at home at night and read the rulebook. Once upon a time, I used to read the rulebook quite a lot – now it bores me to tears to sit down and read a book of sailing instructions before a regatta. We’ve tried to simplify it. We’ve got all these archaic terms, all the nautical terms and all the yacht club BS and we need to get away from that if we are going to encourage more people to participate in the sport.

It makes sense on the surface, but is there a real need to change the rules, or does sailing just need to get better at communication?

Yes sailing has rules and jargon, but all sports have rules and jargon. Formula One racing has two rulebooks – one of sporting regulations which is 37 pages and one of technical regulations which is 63 pages.

Rugby has only 22 rules, but rule 20, which relates to a scrum has 12 parts and some of those parts have 9 sub-parts. Russell Coutts, a New Zealander who by his nationality should understand Rugby, should try explaining the difference between a ruck, a maul and a scrum to people who don’t follow the game.

Here’s an example from the official rules

A maul begins when a player carrying the ball is held by one or more opponents, and one or more of the ball carrier’s team mates bind on the ball carrier. A maul therefore consists, when it begins, of at least three players, all on their feet; the ball carrier and one player from each team. All the players involved must be caught in or bound to the maul and must be on their feet and moving towards a goal line. Open play has ended.

But Rugby is an old fashioned game, what about the sports that excite the facebook generation? Well skateboarding includes terms like Nollie, Fakie and Indy and snowboarding features phrases like caballarial, crossbone method air and Elgeurial.

An Elgeurial(BFM) is an invert where the halfpipe wall is approached fakie, the rear hand is planted, a 360 degree backside rotation is made, and the rider lands going forward.

So that’s simple isn’t it.

You can’t really imagine Tiger Woods coming out and saying ‘let’s get rid of all this golf club BS, we need new terms for caddie, tee and eagle. Bunker is too hard to explain, so let’s dumb it down to sand-trap.’

Coutts’ argument is echoed by broadcasters trying to make Olympic sailing more accessible for a TV audience. Some think that having an event where the first person across the line is not always the winner is too hard to explain, yet hugely popular events like the Tour de France don’t seem to have a problem with it.

There are many events in the Olympics where this happens – shooting, decathlon, diving, gymnastics and most field events in the stadium.

While it’s great that sailing is finally thinking about the people watching and not just the people competing, it would be a great shame to dumb the sport down while other relatively complicated activities help their audience understand. Poker has managed to educate millions of people about blinds, flops and rivers

The idea that sailing needs to be simplified is a lazy alternative to making the effort to teach the rules to a new audience.

It could be argued, that having a distinct terminology, that celebrates proud nautical heritage of most countries’ history is a great thing for the sport and that having invested the time to understand the rules, a fan is more likely to be a long-term supporter. If a spectator doesn’t have to learn the rules, then they can switch their attention away from the sport more easily when the event is over.

One of the reasons that Russell Coutts is such a great sailor is that he spent the time to read the rulebook. The best athletes of all sports are the ones that know the rules better than the others. The best F1 teams are the ones that interpret the technical regulations most cleverly, the best rugby teams are the ones that understand the differences between the way northern and southern hemisphere referees interpret the rules.

Sailing should be proud of it’s terms. Rather than being ‘yacht club BS’ they permeate our everyday lives without us realising it. The phrases of business and teamwork borrow heavily from nautical tradition – phrases like; all hands on deck, as the crow flies, and perhaps the most used sailing phrase in recent times, bail out.

Sailing should remind audiences, both new and old that when they use phrases like; above board, by and large, carry on, high and dry or overhaul, they are nautical phrases. Why would we give up these terms and replace them with what some marketing or broadcasting person thinks would work better?

What do you think? Is sailing too complicated? Should it be dumbed down?

While the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy must be in line for some of the newly announced Marine Industry Awards, the venue has recognised outside the industry by being shortlisted for a 2011 Sport Industry Award.

The WPNSA, which will host the sailing events during the London 2012 Olympics has been selected as amongst the best entries in the category ‘Sport Participation Event of the Year’.  Other shortlisted events include: Deloitte Ride Across Britain, Bank of Scotland Great Scottish Run, Bupa 30th Great North Run, The Royal Parks Foundation Half Marathon and The Sainsbury’s Sport Relief Mile.

The Academy was nominated on its youth event involving a large number of Optimist dinghies which received a Guinness World Record for ‘largest parade of boats’.

The Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy which is supported by sponsorship from SSE Energy, Charles Russell LLP and Musto has been shortlisted twice in the 10 years of the awards and has won the ‘Environmental Concern in Sport’ category in the past.

John Tweed, Chief Executive of WPNSA says:

‘Our wall of awards builds year on year adding to global awareness of what a truly unique environment we cultivate at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy and how we always aim to include so many different sporting enthusiasts within the activities offered. It is particularly pleasing that, in addition to our work with the elite sailors, an event involving young people participating in the sport has been recognised. The Sport Participation Event of the Year is a very high achieving category to have been shortlisted in and for our hard working team at the Academy a very much deserved recognition for the consistent hard work they put in year round to generate such satisfying results’.

While many of the Olympic venues are still under construction, the WPNSA has already staged  successful major events and will host several National Championships and other sailing regattas in 2011.

More Olympic Sailing News…

Following on from their recently announced sponsorship of Australian Olympic 470 champions Belcher and Page, Sunsail have shown their increasing commitment to the sport through a deal with Team GBR 49 sailors Dylan Fletcher & Alain Sign.

With a new fleet of racier F40 yachts, it makes sense for the yacht charter company to back the professional end of the sport. Both Dylan and Alain have sailed with Sunsail over the years, in the UK during Cowes Week, and also overseas at their Beach Clubs.

Sunsail Head of Marketing, Simon Conder said:

“We are delighted to be supporting Dylan and Alain in their bid for a place in the 2012 Olympics, both are very skilled sailors and have huge potential, we will be backing them all the way and providing them with as much support as we can, to ensure they get the results they need. Both Dylan and Alain will be joining us throughout the year as part of Sunsail Racing to help deliver some of our key events during the year and we will be offering the chance for customers to meet and Sail with these two outstanding sailors.”

Dylan & Alain added:

“It is great to have Sunsail on board helping us with our campaign for gold In London 2012. It means we can concentrate on doing what we need to do to reach our goals for the season. We look forward to working with Sunsail and meeting their customers and showing them what sailing is all about and giving them an insight into our campaign”

Although sailing travel or marine tourism is often cited as a reason for destinations backing major sailing events, there seems to be an opportunity for those in the travel sector to optimise their marketing for sailors. Sunsail have a good head-start on those who want to participate in the sport, but the spectators are still being left to fend for themselves.

More Olympic Sailing Sponsorship News

The structural problems with the sport of sailing are pretty well known. The vast majority of ISAF revenues come from the International Olympic Committe (IOC) and the sport itself is fragmented into thousands of disciplines.

Sailing, like shooting in the Olympics is based on the equipment rather than the athlete. Obviously this leads to lots of personal politics and preferences. Running is running. Whether you run 100 metres or 1500 metres, the spending on equipment by Olympic countries doesn’t have to change to much. Building fleets of competitive boats on the other hand is something that has a longer lead-time.

There is a sense that Olympic sailing needs to change and finally, the slow moving governing body is taking steps to make some decisions that are hard for some to accept. The imperiative is partly commercial. According to a detailed analysis by Richard Gladwell, ISAF are under big pressure from the IOC to get the sport in order. He reports…

The International Olympic Committee statistics published by the Olympic Commission are damning. Yachting was the least popular Olympic sport in 2004 and 2008 in terms of number of hours per day of competition coverage. To compound that statistic, yachting was the sixth most expensive to produce for television. Costs of TV production by sport for the 2008 Olympics – Yachting is one of the most expensive, yet get the lowest broadcast time. So you have a relatively expensive sport to produce, which doesn’t get broadcast by the rights holders.

Yachting does not fare well when the IOC conducted a further analysis of the number of Federations represented on the World body of sailing and their distribution. Yachting was the sixth lowest in 2004, and after baseball and Softball were dropped from the Olympic Program after 2004, Yachting was down to fourth to last. In terms of universality of the sport – measured by IOC membership compared to sailing national body membership. Yachting is also way out of balance in Africa (53 IOC nations are members and just 15 nations are ISAF members); and seriously out of balance in Oceania, Asia, and the Americas. Only in Europe does the equilibrium come into play with 49 IOC member nations and 46 ISAF member nations.

In recent weeks, ISAF have been meeting to decide the future look of sailing at the Olympics. There is a real sense that it was a mistake to remove the only multihull from the games and it looks like that decision will be reversed. The Multihull lobby has been well organised and vocal, but reinstatement of the catamaran will mean other, more traditional classes will miss out.

One of the classes that has been designated as redundant is the Star keelboat. The boat has been sailed by some of the sports most recognisable names including British medalist Iain Percy.  Percy, who recently became a brand ambassador for Clarks deck shoes,  has described the decision to scrap the Star as  ’misjudged’ and ‘misguided’.

He told the Telegraph’s Kate Laven,

“I totally disagree that there shouldn’t be a technical element to the Olympics which seems to be ISAF’s philosophy and I think it will harm the sport long term if they don’t have it. Already there aren’t enough trimmers in the America’s Cup and if the Olympics do not test technical abilities, that skills shortage will worsen. It will leave a difficult transition from Olympic sailing to big boat sailing so is bound to harm professional sailing careers.”

The disconnect between Olympic sailing and the ‘professional’ side of the sport is large and there seems to be a lack of long term vision that combines brand ‘Sailing’ despite the governing body’s attempts to create visible career pathways.

The Star Keelboat is a million miles away from a kiteboard, but they both come under the most general definition of sailing as a sport.

Bearing in mind the statistics that show sailing is not universally participated in by IOC member countries, the £100,000 a year campaign cost of the Star can’t help its case, but perhaps there was also a little bit of complacency by those who sail the boat. Perhaps the big names thought the momentum of the class was enough to keep its place in the games. On the other hand, the sailors who had already lost their careers and livelihoods through the scrapping of the Tornado Catamaran had everything to play for and organised a global campaign that proved successful.

It’s easy to have a go at ISAF. The organisation moves slowly as a result of it’s bureaucratic structure and has to manage hugely different positions and interests, but there is a sense that ISAF were forced to act this time – a reluctant kind of decision making rather than a bold move in one direction or another.

The yacht racing industry will get to discuss the impact of the Olympics on sailing a the World Yacht Racing Forum. Last year’s debate provided some of the best sound-bites of the conference, but there has been little visible action. Iain Percy’s good friend Ben Ainslie will be part of the discussion as will ISAF’s Jerome Pels.

More Olympic Sailing News

In many sports, there is a big difference between the technical clothing that is required by professionals and those who ‘do’, and the more fashion-based apparel that is sold to those who want to look the part. Sailing is a sport where understanding the requirements of participants means the difference between success and failure.

Brands that have the respect of sailors have been tried and tested in anger in demanding competition,  the theory being that if Jacket Y keeps sailor X warm and dry during the Vendee Globe, it will be more than enough for winter in the Solent or the waters of Rhode Island. Technical research and development and testing then provide a barrier to entry for sailing apparel that means new entrants are relatively uncommon.

On the fashion side of things, Camper are positioning themselves to sailors via their Volvo Ocean Race project, while on the technical side, Clarks are bringing a new product to market.

Clarks, a name more associated with school shoes and desert boots, have announced that they will enter the sailing market with a new technical boat shoe. British Olympic Gold Medallists Iain Percy and Andrew Simpson will be brand ambassadors for the product range.

Unlike PUMA, who have had mixed success with their entry into the sailing market after being technically excellent in other sports, Clarks see sailing as the perfect sport in which to entry into elite level sports product.

An un-named Clarks Sport Marketing Manager said in the press statement:

“We are delighted to be working with Iain and Andrew. We have developed a highly technical best in class boat shoe as a flagship product for the nautical Clarks collection and we could think of no better people to work with than a team which has won European, World and Olympic titles. We are keen to support British sporting talent and Iain and Andrew have proved over many years that they can compete on a global stage and continually deliver success. Elite level product, worn by the best athletes in the world puts Clarks at the forefront of footwear innovation.”

Iain Percy, British Double Gold Olympic Medallist, who has recently been wearing Henri Lloyd gear as part of America’s Cup challenger TEAMORIGIN said:

“The Clarks sailing range is perfectly suited to the challenging environments we face as athletes. The ‘Rock’ technology ensures that no matter what conditions we encounter as a team we have confidence in our footing at all time. The Atsu footbed ensures that as well as being functional the shoes give maximum comfort through the constant massaging of our feet. This ensures when we are spending hours at a time on our feet that we are kept feeling revitalized”

Andrew Simpson, British Gold Olympic Medallist said:

“Often the issue sailors face most with their footwear is when it gathers water and becomes heavy and cumbersome. With the AquaDX technology in our Clarks boat shoes, we never have this worry as the water is constantly drained through the shoe without affecting the weight or grip.”

More Sailing Clothing and Footwear News…

By Lynn Fitzpatrick

Australian 470 Men’s World Champion sailors, Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page have two new girls on their team. Australian World Champion gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, joined the team to officiate at the christening of Belcher and Page’s new 470 Olympic dinghy and bestow a name to the boat that they are hoping will win them an Olympic gold medal and other trophies along the way.

After having taken delivery of their new boat and getting to know her better, Belcher, Page and their coach, Victor Kovalenko, settled on a name. The name was unknown to the crowd gather at The Royal Perth Yacht Club Fremantle Annexe until Mitchell poured champagne over the bow and christened her My Life while Kovalenko wrote her name on the transom.

The Australian gymnast, Lauren Mitchell, joined Belcher and Page to celebrate a year of triumphs. She earned her mark in Australian sports history annals when she won gold in the floor exercise at the 2010 World Gymnastics Championship in Rotterdam, which was the first world championship title for a female Australian gymnast. Earlier this summer at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games, Mitchell won 4 gold medals and a silver in the team, all-around, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise, respectively. Her gold medal count matches an achievement held by gymnast Lori Strong of Canada since 1990.

The bubbly gymnast was happy to give her Institute of Sports and Olympic colleagues, Belcher and Page a hand with the christening. ‘I met Malcolm during the run up to the 2008 Olympics and know what an effort he has put in to become a five-time world champion. I hope that Mat, Malcolm and I will continue to share good luck and good fortune all of the way to London. Besides, I’m eager to learn some of Mal’s techniques on the trapeze,’ said Mitchell, who will christen Belcher and Page’s new 470.

Page has won two 470 World Championship titles and an Olympic gold medal with Nicole, named after Australia’s favorite actress, Nicole Kidman. Page, like many sailors is bit superstitious and considered Nicole and Sunday Rose among other names for the boat that he and Belcher will use for upcoming world championships, Olympic qualifiers and possibly the 2012 Olympics.

‘We’ve been dreaming about this new boat for nearly a year and she is exactly what we hoped for. We couldn’t be happier,’ beamed Page as he ran his hand over her smooth deck. ‘It took us longer than we expected to agree upon the right name. In the end, we settled on My Life. It’s the name of a movie that Nicole Kidman starred in, but My Life also speaks to how consuming an Olympic campaign is. Sailing right now is our life. It takes all of our time, commitment and financial resources. We have made a lot of personal and team sacrifices to achieve our goal. Once again, we took our guidance from Nicole Kidman and My Life seemed appropriate.’

Belcher and Page plan on sailing My Life at the Perth International Regatta, the Rolex Miami Olympic Classes Regatta and the European Olympic classes regattas. Nicole is nowhere near ready for retirement. We will use her for training and competitions in New South Wales and Queensland.’

Belcher and Page are in Fremantle practicing for the Perth International Regatta, which starts November 16th -21st and has attracted over 230 boats representing 40 nations. The regatta is the test event for Perth 2011 where 75 percent of the nations to participate in the 2012 Olympic sailing events will be selected.

Shortly thereafter, Belcher and Page will leave for Athens and the 2010 ISAF Rolex World Sailor award ceremony. They are among six male nominees for international sailing’s prestigious award.

The Belcher & Page London Challenge 2012 470 Olympic sailing campaign appreciates all of its sponsors and supporters, especially those who have contributed to the Belcher & Page Dream Raffle. Grand prizes include the use of an Audi of the winner’s choice for a fortnight, a 6-night Sunsail bare boat charter from its Hamilton Island or Tahiti base, or a 5-night stay at qualia Great Barrier Reef, Hamilton Island’s ultra luxury resort. Raffle tickets can be purchased through a secure online site through BelcherPage2012.com. Tickets are also on sale at yacht clubs and sailing clubs throughout Australia. The drawing will be on March 15, 2011.

More Olympic Sailing News…

UK sailors have a good chance at the ‘London’ 2012 Olympics. Team GBR have performed consistently well in recent editions of the games and with a significant home-side advantage, should do even better next time around.

While sponsorship is increasingly driven by spreadsheets and the need to demonstrate return on investment (ROI) and return on objectives (ROO), there is still a large part of the sponsorship market that is based on more emotional decision making.

Solicitors Payne Hicks Beach will back the campaigns of several British sailors. The company has a direct link to the sport through Head of Dispute Resolution and Sports, Richard Butcher.  Butcher is a former World Champion and five time British National Champion. He says:

“I know how tough it is to compete at these high levels. We are keen to do what we can to support our sailors and financial sponsorship is a natural extension of the work that I have been doing for many of them for a long while. The arrangement we now have will enable us to work even more closely with a number of the sailors in further support of their endeavours.”

Managing partner, Simon Pizzey, also has an affinity with the sport of sailing.  A keen windsurfer, he said:

“As a firm we are delighted to be supporting many of our top British sailors. We look forward to having opportunities to introduce them to our staff and our clients over the next three years. Above all, we wish our sailors all the very best in their campaigns.”

The sailors within the team who are receiving additional support from Payne Hicks Beach as part of this initiative are:

• lain Percy and Andrew (‘Bart’) Simpson: Percy has been a key member of the TEAMORIGIN America’s Cup Team and like Ben Ainslie, now gets to concentrate on the Olympics after the Cup team announced it would not challenge for the 34th edition of the trophy.
• Sarah Ayton and Saskia Clark: Also members of Volvo Team for Life, Sarah won when crewing for Shirley Robertson in the Yngling class in Athens and then repeated that success, this time as the helm, in Beijing. With the Yngling class being withdrawn, Sarah teamed up with Saskia early this year to compete in the 470 Women’s 470 class, finishing fifth overall in their first ever World Championship together. Saskia is a world class 470 crew having competed in Beijing and there are high hopes for success at London.
• Paul Goodison: Also a member of the Volvo Team for Life sponsorship. Victory in Beijing was followed by repeated success in the Laser class regattas including the subsequent World, European and British Championships. Paul has every intention of securing gold once again.
• Nick Dempsey: Another Volvo Team for life sponsored athlete. Third in Athens and fourth in Beijing Nick went on to be the RS:X Windsurfer World Champion and no one is more motivated than him for 2012.
• Bryony Shaw: Bryony is Britain’s leading women’s wind surfer. She memorably w on bronze in Beijing and is aiming for the top at Weymouth.

More Olympics sponsorship news

Nothing helps raise sponsorship like winning. You can quote the media figures from the series promoter all you like, but it’s better if you have a CV that shows that you have a fair chance of standing on the top of the podium and getting your sponsor’s picture on the back page of the mass-market press.

Australian Olympic sailors Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page have added leisure sailing brand Sunsail to their list of sponsors. Sunsail is the largest operator of recreational yacht charters, watersports clubs, flotilla holidays and corporate yachting events in the world, and aligning themselves with the competitive side of the sport is a smart move.

The timing of the announcement coincides with the southern hemisphere sailing and holiday season warming up, with Sunsail’s bases in the Whitsundays, Thailand and Tahiti popular regional choices.

Sunsail’s COO Cheryl Powell stated:

‘Sunsail is proud to support Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page, Australia’s 470 Men’s sailors in their quest for Gold at the 2012 London Olympics. With over 40 years of experience in the sailing industry, Sunsail has always been a firm supporter of the competitive side of the sailing lifestyle as exemplified by their sailing schools and Sunsail Racing programs. Mat and Malcolm’s extensive successes will continue to grow as the sailing industry gets behind them, and Sunsail is proud to support them to the 2012 London Olympics.’

Said an appreciative Queensland native, Mat Belcher:

‘Malcolm and I are so fortunate that the Great Barrier Reef and the Whitsundays, the best cruising and diving grounds in the world, are easily accessible to us. Sunsail provides first class service, a first rate fleet and a variety of programs that make sailing and cruising throughout these special islands available and keeps people active in sailing. We are proud to be associated with a winning brand for our Olympic campaign.’

Malcolm Page added his ‘on brand’ thoughts:

‘Cruising gorgeous islands on a large, comfortable boat with good friends and family is what I dream about on when I am chilled to the bone from racing in freezing cold conditions. Sunsail’s equipment is second to none and they have bases in the nicest cruising grounds in the world, including Thailand, Malaysia, Tonga, Seychelles, Italy, Greece, Croatia, Turkey and now Belize and Grenada. Being associated with them will inspire me no matter where I am sailing.

If done properly, this sponsorship should lend itself nicely to some great activation.

More Olympic Classes Sailing News…