The World Yacht Racing Forum has taken place again, with some of the sailing industry’s top people in attendance, talking about the business of yacht racing. Over the next few weeks, we will be transcribing some of the sessions that took place at the forum and giving you the chance to learn some of the best practice and insights from the panels.

Does Sailing Deliver Sponsorship ROI? : Featuring Mirabaud, BT Global Services and Kevin Roberts from Sportsbusiness as well as David Fuller from YachtRacing.biz. More…

Driving The Growth of Sailing Through Digital : Featuring people who are doing it, making apps, building Facebook pages and interfacing TV from boats to global TV networks. More…

Also at the forum, the Extreme Sailing Series announced its calendar and venues for 2012. We caught up with OC Thirdpole Chairman Mark Turner and asked him about a wide variety of issues. Watch the video here…

Recent Sailing Business Related News

If you still haven’t switched over to YachtRacing.biz, then you might have missed the following stories – and our particular take on them.

• Ben Ainslie clashes with cameraman at Perth 2011 World Championships – What does it mean for the sport?
• Audi pulls the sponsorship plug on the Med Cup. 
• Sam Davies announces new sponsor for Vendee Globe campaign
• RC44 Announces 2012 Calendar – Minus San Diego.

TAGS: ICOYC, INTERNATIONAL COUNCIL OF YACHT CLUBS, ROYAL HONG KONG YACHT CLUB, ROYAL NEW ZEALAND YACHT SQUADRON, ROYAL NORWEGIAN YACHT CLUB, ROYAL PRINCE ALFRED YACHT CLUB, SPONSORSHIP, ST FRANCIS YACHT CLUB

The protocol governing the 34th America’s Cup contains a few rules that seem to go against the stated goals of developing America’s Cup teams into commercially viable and sustainable businesses. While the America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) uses Formula 1 as it’s model when it comes to PR, the mechanism it has settled upon to control the dissemination of information via the internet seems to have more in common with the big American sports like MLB, NBA and NFL. Now, arguably the only commercially based team, Emirates Team New Zealand, is seeking mediation in relation to rules that govern the team’s web communications.

The paragraph in question says:

51.1. By 1 July 2011, Competitors shall use the domain www.americascup.com as their sole online presence. By 1 June 2011, the Event Authority will provide Competitors with as much space as they reasonably require within the website for exclusive use and control of all their content. Furthermore, by 1 July 2011, Competitors that have existing domain names shall redirect all online traffic to www.americascup.com.

For the purposes of this Article 51.1 “online presence” means an internet website, but does not include social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and such other social media as may be advised by the Event Authority from time to time. Refer amendment 8

The intent of this Article is to substantially grow the online audience for the benefit of the Competitors and the Event.

51.2. Article 51.1 does not apply to content that is not linked in any way to the America’s Cup in relation to other (permitted non America’s Cup) events.

The concept of centralising the web presence of America’s Cup teams has some merit. The official site of the New York Yankees, yankees.com redirects to http://mlb.mlb.com/index.jsp?c_id=NYY. Interestingly, if you look closely at the MLB site, you will notice that it is ‘powered by ORACLE’, which might give a hint as to where the idea came from, but there are some big differences between MLB teams and America’s Cup teams.

Emirates Team New Zealand, and to a lesser degree ORACLE Racing and Artemis Racing are more like Penske Racing than the Yankees. Penske competes in two types of NASCAR series and the Indy Car championship, with occasional forays into the American Le Mans Series too. Expecting a team like Penske Racing to redirect its website to nascar.com for example doesn’t make a lot of sense for its sponsors or its fans.

Similarly, you can’t really imagine UEFA mandating that Manchester United or Real Madrid redirect their URLS to UEFA.com

While Oracle Racing and Artemis Racing have little or no business model, Emirates Team New Zealand rely upon sponsorship to fund their campaign(s). Team managing director Grant Dalton says that one effect of the internet rules is to stifle the ability of commercially funded teams to raise sponsorship, and that affects all commercial teams. He said:

“I would have thought an ACEA objective should be to help teams secure sponsorship, not hinder them. For example we are an established team which has been in continuous operation since the 1987 America’s Cup challenge at Perth. We have a campaign for the Volvo Ocean Race and we are competing in the Extreme Sailing Series. We need to be able to project ourselves to the public as we see fit, not controlled from within someone else’s web site.”

Similarly, Dalton know what anyone who has ever worked in sports marketing knows :

“People follow teams, not events…. people are not fans of the Rugby World Cup… they support the teams within the Rugby World Cup.”

Taken to its extreme, the policy adopted by the ACEA should force individual athletes to forward their URLS to the America’s Cup site too. Why not redirect http://www.russellcoutts.com and http://www.cayardsailing.com/ to the official site too…

If the America’s Cup really wants to be the F1 of sailing, then its should behave like F1. Create a great series site that has top level, useful, relevant information about events, results and series news. Centralise the live timing and scoring, provide some decent event information for fans and allow teams to build their brands on their own sites.

More America’s Cup news.

You might imagine that with the return on investment tourism authorities are looking for from sailing events, there would be more end-to-end thinking about how to link travel with sailing. In reality, even though the name of the host-city is on the website or the bow or the spinnaker, there is almost no joined up thinking between event promoters and tourism promoters to actually convert the interest in the event into hotel bed nights or spending in local restaurants.

The Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships have announced a partnership with QANTAS holidays. According to the statement:

Travel and accommodation sporting packages in Perth for the ISAF Sailing World Championships in December have become much easier to book… Travellers to Perth will be able to book accommodation, flights and membership packages through Qantas Holidays, with the company being the Official Travel Partner of the Perth 2011 World Championships.

It’s a great idea, and more sailing events really should be working more closely with their partners and travel affiliates to help fans and visitors attend the event. In reality, this deal, as far as we can make out, means that QANTAS will sell VIP hospitality tickets ranging in price from $AUD 280 (Crew Club) to $AUD 1013 (John Bertrand Club Membership). This is confirmed by the statement released - Perth 2011 Chief Operating Officer, Darren Beazley, welcomed the participation of Qantas Holidays as a benefit to visitors coming to Perth, saying:

“Qantas Holidays will help raise awareness of our exciting John Bertrand, Gold Medal and Crew Clubs, which give members a range of access and other privileges during the event.”

The site navigation from a visitor to the Perth 2011 website goes like this: Homepage -> About WA -> Getting to Western Australia -> QANTAS Australia Homepage. If you then search a little around the QANTAS website you can eventually find the page where they are selling the tickets, but they are not attached to any travel products.

The site navigation should go: Homepage -> deep-link to QANTAS Perth 2011 travel packages.

The official statement ends:

The dream begins in Perth, the journey begins with Qantas Holidays. For more information, call Qantas Holidays on 13 14 15 to book membership and accommodation packages.

So we did…

Calling QANTAS Holidays (From London), we got exactly what we expected. The incredibly professional folks didn’t have any information to hand and hadn’t been briefed – but that’s  not their fault. They were happy to go and find out all they could about the deal.

For international visitors, the process is not straightforward. A bit of research by one of QANTAS’ super-friendly people suggests that the packages are on the Australian systems and not easily offered to international travelers. They are going to get back to us with more details.

If events like this are actually going to deliver tourism, and not just have it as a headline, then different parts of the supply chain need to work more closely together.

More Sailing Tourism News…

Pilote Media are working to make the sailing travel experience easier for promoters and spectators. If you would like to talk to us about this initiative, please email partners@pilotemedia.com or call +44 7900 975 413

As sailing becomes more closely aligned with developing venues, specifically marine infrastructure and waterfront property, more property companies are getting behind the sport. High profile examples include the Monsoon Cup, finale of the World Match Racing Tour and partnership between Muscat the Wave and the Extreme Sailing Series winning Oman Sail boat.

At a local level, the Warren Jones Regatta in Perth was supported by property companies and trend seems to be spreading in Western Australia.

The Perth2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships have announced support from national property group, Peet Limited, which will become a Silver level sponsor.

Originally established in Western Australia and with more than 115 years of property experience, Peet is focused on acquiring, developing and marketing land under a funds management model. The company will be associated with the national promotion of the Perth2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships and be closely involved with the John Bertrand and Gold Medal clubs whose members are supporting this exciting international event.

Peet Limited Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Brendan Gore, said the company was extremely pleased to partner Perth2011 and help focus national and international attention on Western Australia.

“In its early years, Peet was instrumental in opening up some of the very prestigious suburbs around Perth’s most popular sailing clubs and we’re looking forward to sharing our story and our future plans with the thousands of participants, spectators and visitors who come to Perth for this outstanding sailing event. Peet will be giving its full support to Perth 2011 and wish the organisers every success.”

Perth 2011 Chief Operating Officer, Darren Beazley, welcomed the Peet Silver level sponsorship as a major boost for the ISAF Sailing World Championships.

“We are particularly pleased to have attracted the support of a company that was established in Western Australia and has now expanded to become a national success story,” Mr Beazley said. “It is important to have the strong backing of a major enterprise in an event of such national and international importance.”

Despite Perth 2011 being an international event hosted in Australia, the vast majority of sponsors announced so far have been Australian companies.

More Olympic Sailing Sponsorship News.

Latent audience demand for competitive sailing has been helped by advances in technology that allow even the most niche events send real-time scoring, commentary and video to the world, but even though the costs of cameras has come down, and satellite links have been replaced by the internet, the infrastructure required to give all forms of media what they need can be expensive. Even if you are using the ‘free’ hosting provided by YouTube and Facebook, people still have to be able to connect and get content onto those platforms.

The Perth 2011 ISAF World Championships have added iiNet as a Silver level sponsor. The Western Australian company will provide essential telecommunications support to the organisers, media, participants and spectators.

Michael Malone, Chief Executive Officer of iiNet, said the services provided in the International Broadcast Centre and the nearby Media Centre in Fremantle will enable Journalists and broadcasters to accurately cover the complexities of the ten racing fleets, 850 boats and 1400 athletes taking part in the year’s biggest international sailing event.

“iiNet may have grown to become the second largest DSL internet company in Australia, but this is our home. We were understandably excited to be chosen as the communications partner for Perth 2011 and to use our expertise to promote our home city on the world stage.”

Perth 2011 Chief Operating Officer (COO) Darren Beazley said the digital platforms provided by iiNet would carry the new and innovative technology that allowed officials, the media and the public to follow closely the sport of sailing.

“The racing fleets can now be followed by the Swiss Timing tracking system that shows the position of each boat on a computer or television screen“, Mr. Beazley said. “The internet can also stream live television pictures and commentary from the course. New media such as live blogs, facebook and Twitter will also keep the athletes and general public in close touch with the event.”

Eventscorp Executive Director David Van Ooran said it was fantastic to see a WA business supporting such an important event for WA.

“The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships will be the biggest sailing event in this State since the America’s Cup defence. The benefits, both social and economic, to the State will be enormous. It is great news that a home-grown WA company is lending its support in this way.”

More Olympic Sailing Business News…

Update: The Yacht Racing Facebook League Table will be updated here…

There is no doubt that digital technologies that allow sports fans to get closer to their favorite teams and players have changed the communications landscape. But for all the hype, all the self appointed social media gurus, has sailing got it right yet?

At the World Yacht Racing Forum in December, Richard Worth of the Americas Cup Event Authority suggested that social media would be the vehicle to bring the new deal cup to the masses – perhaps making a promise to deliver Russell coutts’ vision of sailing for the Facebook Generation.

At the same event Richard Hosford from Hugo Boss racing told the audience that the sponsor put a value on a Facebook fan – the reasoning, which makes sense, is that a Facebook fan is a known individual who can be communicated with personally over time.

For most sailing properties, the interactive nature of social media – at least on the platforms that are most recognisable – like Facebook and Twitter, is not utilised or embraced.

Most sailing communications departments are staffed by old-school PRs who have a broadcast mentality. Some have come around to an idea of ‘narrow-cast’ but few are comfortable with the ‘back-channel’ which invites praise and criticism alike, in real time to a mass audience. For example – the recent Zhik Moth Worlds, which delivered exciting sailing, amazing photos and thrilling video never provided me an answer to my Facebook question – “where is the best place for spectators to watch the action?”

If an event is going to put social media on its media plan, then they have to be prepared to respond to questions from fans. Pushing out tons of content on another channel is only half the job.

While pure numbers is not everything in social media, we thought it might be interesting to do a quick Facebook League Table for sailing… Sorry if we’ve missed some, we’ll continue to build this and maintain it if people find it useful.

Yacht Racing Facebook League Table

1. Volvo Ocean Race – 35,187 fans
2. Sailing Anarchy – 12,464 fans
3. BMW ORACLE – 12,413 fans
4. Giovanni Soldini – 7,093 fans
5. Oman Sail – 5,989 fans
6. Extreme Sailing Series – 4,155 fans
7. US Sailing Team Alphagraphics – 3,949 fans
8. Quantum Racing – 3,869 fans
9. America’s Cup (Official) – 3,521 fans
10. Barcelona World Race – 3,254 fans
11. Scuttlebutt – 3,251 fans
12. Alinghi – 3,088 fans
13. Michel Desjoyeaux – 2,293 fans
14. World Match Racing Tour – 2,257 fans
15. Velux 5 Oceans – 2,196 fans
16. Alex Thomson Racing – 2,000 fans
17. Ben Ainslie – 1,896 fans
18. Cammas Groupama – 1,789 fans
19. Australian Sailing Team – 1,651 fans
20. Loick Peyron – 1,486 fans
21. Artemis Racing – 1,456 fans
22. Paul Cayard – 1,296 fans
23. St Francis Yacht Club – 1,113 fans
24. Perth 2011 – 761 fans
25. Zhik Moth Worlds – 746 fans

Comparitive numbers

• Lance Armstrong (Cyclist) –  1,569,532 fans
• Dale Earnhardt Jr (NASCAR) – 748,363 fans
• Venus Williams – 654,805 fans
• Jimmie Johnson (NASCAR) – 487,161
• England Rugby – 169,647 fans
• Jenson Button (F1) – 147,228 fans
• Red Bull Racing (F1) – 117, 914 fans
• Jessica Watson (Sailor)- 11,356 fans

The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships has announced several local partners over the last few months, but the event is an opportunity not just for Western Australian and Australian businesses, but for global brands who want to be seen via the platform presented by the regatta. Organisers have appointed Sports City as its exclusive global commercial partner to search for worldwide partners and to promote the event internationally.

Darren Beazley, director of commercial partnerships at Perth 2011, said:

Perth 2011 is a major international sporting event that will reach a significant television audience. We know that the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships will be especially attractive to European companies seeking to convey their commercial messages. We look forward to working with Sports City to secure international commercial partners over the next 14 months”

Nuno Sousa, chief executive of Sports City, added:

“I am thrilled with this partnership as I truly believe in the value that such an event will add to future partners and sponsors. Sailing is a sport that offers brands a platform to target a very specific segment and in the case of this event, on a global scale.”

The Sailing World Championships are talking up their numbers. They claim that the event will attract some 500,000 spectators to the city of Fremantle over the 16-day programme. One can only imagine that this is a cumulative number. The Australian Rules (AFL) Grand Final, Melbourne Cup and F1 GP attract single day crowds of 100-120,000 people, and even with sailing being a sport that ranks in the top 10 in the country, half a million people is a big number for the most remote city on earth. The 500,000 number divided over 16 days gives an average daily spectator number of 31,000.

The TV numbers are also being given out as gross figures. Organisers are selling a TV and online audience of 500 million, which doesn’t seem to stand up.  The commercial opportunities are extensive, but overselling the benefit doesn’t do anyone any favours.

More Olympic Class sailing news...

Almost every sponsorship proposal looking for backing for yacht racing includes a bullet point or a slide about how the sport is environmentally friendly. Sure the main power source for the yachts is the wind, but what about the bigger picture? How many gallons of diesel are swallowed during an America’s Cup or Volvo Ocean Race start; how clean is it to build a boat; how many crewmembers are flown from New Zealand to the major sailing events?

The World Yacht Racing Forum talked to Andrew Pindar OBE, Chairman of the Pindar Group and Board Director of Earth Watch to share his thoughts in preview of a session to be held in Estoril in December.

The panel entitled: “Can Sailing Be Promoted As an Environmentally Friendly Sport?” will also feature Open 60 sailor Sam Davies, Isabelle Jahlan, Head of Sponsorship, Veolia and Joe Royle, Skipper, Plastiki Project.

Is the sport of sailing environmentally friendly?

Andrew Pindar: “The perception is clean, with often very powerful imagery of ‘man vs nature’, showcasing some of the most skilled sailors in the world taking on the elements; however the reality can be different. Yacht racing is a huge business, which like many sports involves using the most technologically advanced (and not always the most environmentally friendly) materials and widespread logistics including the transportation of boats, crew equipment and event infrastructure all over the world. It is clear that more and more companies associated with sailing, have become more environmentally responsible and there are some great campaigns that are genuinely seeking to make improvements, but there’s clearly a lot more that can be done.”

What are the key issues the sport of sailing faces from a sustainable development perspective?

Andrew Pindar: “The key is to hammer home that the responsibility lies not just with the professional teams, but to everyone associated with the sport – from the shore crew, sponsors, fans and the thousands of people who enjoy sailing on a day to day level. Simple practices like recycling and reusing materials needs to become second nature, along with a general awareness of our carbon footprint. It’s not just about the bigger issues of using carbon materials to build boats, but being conscious about everything that we do on a day-to-day level. The simplest measures like sharing a lift to an event or reusing the same water bottle, can have a long term big impact. You wouldn’t drive a car nowadays without wearing a seatbelt – it’s a similar concept that takes time to become the norm. The responsibility also lies with the event owners who need to encourage more sustainable practice and incentivise teams/ entrants to follow their lead. OC Group is a front runner in this type of activity.”

In which areas should the yacht racing industry focus in order to reduce its footprint? Can you suggest any concrete measures?

“Everyone needs to be more accountable. When Brian Thompson sailed around the world in the Vendee Globe for Bahrain Team Pindar, he set out to be carbon neutral – the Open 60 underwent a refit and was modified with key environmental issues in mind, including solar panels and wind generators. It’s was a big challenge, especially with the high consumption from the hydraulic motor used to cant the keel, however the point is that we all need to become more aware about what we are doing and how we can improve.

First of all it is important to understand the issues. The closest experience I have, has been through running my fourth generation international printing business, Pindar, which by its very nature, made us acutely aware of the impact our work was having on the environment. When we embarked on a 5-year change management programme ‘Respect the Planet’, in 2007 it became an integral part of our Corporate Social Responsibility plan and we enlisted the help of experts to advise on sustainability issues. They helped us to put together a solid remit to minimise waste, promote recycling, reduce energy consumption and harmful emissions and where possible, ensure we work with suppliers who themselves have sound environmental policies.

British yachtswoman and environmental expeditionist, Jo Royle was also a huge inspiration. We first met her following her second trip to South Georgia in the Southern Ocean, where she had returned to see the devastating effects caused by global warming. She spoke at our AlphaGraphics conference in the United States and through her experiences, challenged the way we operated.

To aid our internal communications, we formed a ‘Green Team’ consisting of employee representatives to help implement the campaign across all our sites and we also drafted a ‘Best Practice Guide’ covering the whole paper handling process, to educate colleagues throughout the business. I think the sailing industry could benefit from a similar blue print and steering committee.

To help spread the message further, we formed a partnership with EARTHWATCH, one of the world’s leading environmental organisations. They offer ongoing support and advice with our programme, whilst we help raise awareness of its Sustainable Oceans appeal, via our yachting campaigns.

It’s been a steep learning curve and we have only scratched the surface in terms of where we want to be, but to give you an example, at one of our plants we managed to reduce the volume of waste going to landfill from the factory to just 5% in 2 years. As well as ISO14001, we’ve also achieved FSC & PEFC chain of custody certification at our main printing sites, which we hope to obtain across all our sites in the near future. If the sailing industry embarks collectively on a similar journey, I’m sure we can achieve great things.”

Do you think the World Yacht Racing Forum audience – the yacht racing community – is aware of those issues, and ready to take concrete measures?

Andrew Pindar: “Absolutely, there are already many great campaigns in place, from TEAM ORIGIIN’s ‘Race for Change’ programme, Perth’s ambitions for the 2011 World Championships, the VELUX 5 OCEANS ‘Taking on the elements’ right through to individual sailors. I believe ‘measurement’ is the key issue and whilst there’s much goodwill and talk, it would be beneficial to see more results from campaigns like these. We also all need to be mindful that sailing is a commercial business, so it is important to be realistic about how quickly our ambitions can be achieved.”

What do you expect from this debate?

The World Yacht Racing Forum is the ideal platform to discuss these issues and I’m looking forward to a lively debate that will generate a better understanding of the issues we face. Collectively I hope we can set out some tangible goals to ensure that the professional sport of sailing leads the way in environmental best practice, for other sports to follow.

Follow all the news from the 2010 World Yacht Racing Forum

The debate in sailing circles about sporting entertainment being related to the number of hulls a boats has is a bit like the debate between Apple and PC fans. There is a lot of ideology, but many of the arguments don’t really make sense to an outsider. There are parallels in other sports though. F1 has four wheels and MotoGP has 2. They are different disciplines, different audiences, different products that entertain in their own right.

Certainly catamarans can provide great excitement, and when marketed properly, like in the case of the Extreme Sailing Series can also provide great entertainment. On the other hand, monohull classes like the 18 foot skiff, 49er and International Moth can also deliver great sporting spectacle. But can the two live side by side at the same event, or are fans of multi-hulls a different breed altogether? Mixed car and bike races aren’t attempted very often because the crowds are very different.

It’s hard to say if multihull fans and monohull fans exist, or whether there are just fans of exciting sailing. If the latter is true, then combining the two disciplines in the same event should give a better sports entertainment experience.

The Extreme Sailing Series™ and the International 49er Class Association have announced a strategic partnership to help broaden the media appeal of sailing. Starting in 2011, the Extreme Sailing Series™ will see the 49er racing alongside the Extreme 40, as part of the ‘Stadium’ showcase format.

OC ThirdPole’s Sailing Events Director, Gilles Chiorri, commented:

“The Extreme Sailing Series™ combines top professional racing with challenging and innovative short-course race formats that are also entertaining for a growing fanbase around the world – at the events and online. The 49er is the current Olympic class that offers the most attractive way for us to add another small boat ‘act’ in support of the Extreme 40 racing – as part of a strategy of providing up to 8 hours of entertainment for the public and VIPs who visit our events around the world. The 49er is also a class that has been a stepping stone for 2009 and 2010 Extreme Sailing Series winning helmsmen Chris Draper and Paul Campbell-James. The collaboration with the 49er Class is an exciting addition for us as we scale up the event for 2011 and beyond.”

Malav Shroff, President of the 49er Class commented:

“This is a very exciting partnership for us. Kids today want to sail fast boats and from the Optimist Class, kids are straight away jumping into the 29er class, the junior class of the 49er and an ISAF Youth World Class. At an early age they are exposed to high performance sailing and have no fear of the high speeds and performance of these classes. By 18 or 19 years of age they are already moving into the 49er. These high performance classes give them a unique exposure at an early age which they can adopt to various other sailing disciplines.

The 49 class is been trialling ”Theatre Style” racing in Perth, Australia. The goal is to trial a style of racing that results in competitive racing and gives close access to media and the general public.

Designed to last only 8-10 minutes, 5 fleet races will be run on a width restricted course, framed by swimming lane lines which will keep the competition tight  The top 2 boats will move on to a match race final to determine the winner.  Within a 2 hour time slot the top 8 boats from qualifying will face off to determine a champion with nerves of steel and a broad skill set for ‘Theater Style’ sailing and match race skills.  Given the prevailing breeze typical for Fremantle, the racing will be highly exciting and entertaining.

The first test was held in Weymouth, England in September of this year with favourable reports from the sailors, coaches and the sailing media.

More Extreme Sailing Series News…