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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monsoon Cup Sponsorship Manager Ramya Raj said:

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

More World Match Racing Tour news.

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

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

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

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

Gilmour said:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

More World Match Racing Tour News…

The structure of sailing as a sport is largely determined by the fact that it is an Olympic event. Investment, training and elite athlete programs are geared towards the pursuit of gold medals in an almost arbitrary range of dinghy classes. For most non-Olympic disciplines, it’s harder to identify new talent and develop the future elite sailors (single handed offshore racing being an exception).

With the announcement of a new era in the America’s Cup, where nationality rules may be introduced for crew, development of non-olympic sailors is starting to be lo0ked at. In the UK, the British Keelboat Academy has been relaunched with an eye to creating the America’s Cup and Volvo Ocean Race competitors of the future, but elsewhere, non-Olympic sailing has been identified by governments as a way of not just developing talent, but national pride.

This week, Malaysia announced a development plan to help develop the nation’s sailing fraternity and raise its international potential on the professional yacht racing circuit. The new initiative, spearheaded by Malaysia’s Youth and Sports Minister Dato’ Ahmad Shabery Cheek, is aimed at accelerating the progress of local athletes in the sailing arena and propelling them towards international sailing events. These prestigious global yacht racing events include the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), the Volvo Ocean Race and the America’s Cup as “Special Events” in the sport as sanctioned by ISAF (International Sailing Federation).

The athletes enrolled on the programme will have access to the world’s top racing events that will also provide the most intense test of a sailor’s character.

This new professional sailing programme for Malaysia is of particular importance for talented sailors looking to move into more professional and challenging yacht racing disciplines. Currently, the country supports a healthy following of sailors in the Optimist, Laser and 470 dinghy classes. Dinghy sailors are regular competitors with support of the Malaysian Yachting Association in the SEA Games, Asian Games and the Olympic Games.

Malaysia has identified the big void of talent when it comes to racing in keel boats and on the professional world circuits. Dato’ Shabery agrees that this situation is due to the lack of a planned development route that sailors could follow and move up to the professional global circuit.

He said:

The Sports Industry Division of the Malaysian Youth and Sports Ministry is to be commended for bringing forth the idea that a dynamic programme is needed, where amateur sailors will receive high level coaching. Currently Malaysia is focusing on the medal sports but I would like to one day, see our athletes taking part in professional sailing events such as the ISAF World Match Racing Tour and possibly the America’s Cup”.

Dato’ Shabery informed the media at a press conference that the programme will involve an initial four-year plan which will see the participation of 10 athletes. This programme will run closely with the organisers of the Monsoon Cup, the final event of the WMRT.

“We will work closely with the organisers of the Monsoon Cup as they have the expertise to train and provide opportunities to our sailors. They are delighted to support the programme as it fits in nicely with their own development work which they have been carrying out for the past several years.”

World Match Racing Tour Finale, live from Malaysia.

Get World Match Racing Tour business news updates, including 2011 calendar dates, sponsorship and venue deals, team announcements and more.

Perhaps one good thing to come out of latest F1 scandal is that the phrase ‘the F1 of sailing’ will be used less often. While entrepreneurial promoters continue to create new races and events in sailing – announcing themselves as the best in the world before a race is sailed – one event has a legitimate claim to being a world class, World Championship.

The World Match Racing Tour is, in our opinion, one of the most undervalued properties in sport. The WMRT visits more markets in a single year than any other annual sailing competition and is a recognised ‘must have’ for any skipper with America’s Cup ambitions.

More recently, the Tour has run successful events in Malaysia and Korea, taking match racing to a completely new audience.

Yesterday the World Match Racing Tour announced that private company Regal Faith Ltd has acquired from F10 Holdings Ltd their interest in ProMatch Tour Ltd, the exclusive rights holder of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT).

The involvement of Regal Faith Ltd and its consortium of private equity investors from Australia, Malaysia and Australia will see increased focus on developing world class venues around the globe, whilst adding stability and structure to the existing professional sailing circuit.

Outgoing President Scott Macleod from F10 Holdings Ltd commented:

“After over 20 years involvement with Tour from its early stages then through the Swedish Match Tour up to its current status as the ISAF sanctioned World Match Racing Tour I have taken considerable pride in the development of the sport. I am very happy to be passing the control of the World Match Racing Tour to the team at Regal Faith Ltd who have the experience and investment to realise the full potential of the Tour, I wish them and Peter Gilmour all the very best for the continued development of the Tour.”

Match racing veteran Peter Gilmour has been appointed Acting President and will become the Tour Advisor once a full time replacement has been found. Peter Gilmour commented:

“Our sport is rapidly expanding in the commercial area, with the backing and support of a significant balance sheet to build this Tour we are delighted to be able to make this long awaited announcement. It has taken over three years to finalise this transaction and we will see considerable new plans develop over the coming months. The sport has seen aggressive development in events, America’s Cup and independent team participation, spectators, media interest and sponsors. We are looking forward to developing the WMRT further as the leading match racing World Series for professional sailors.”

For all WMRT events it will be business as usual. Tour Director Craig Mitchell said:

“Regal Faith Ltd’s investment in the WMRT demonstrates the value that has been built up in the Tour over the last three years. The investment will enable us to continue to expand and develop the Tour and we look forward to delivering the vision of our new investors.”

The WMRT will be holding the annual Tour Summit for all event organisers on the day immediately following the World Yacht Racing Forum in Monaco on 11th December 2009.

Following consultation with the Tour’s event promoters and stakeholders a detailed presentation laying out the re-energised ambition and vision of the Tour will be unveiled during the opening weeks of 2010.

Don’t be surprised to see new venues, and new sponsors in the coming months.

The Monsoon Cup reports on its Facebook page that diversified Malaysian conglomerate Cartrade Group is set to increase it’s support level for the Monsoon Cup this year, after sponsoring more than RM8 million worth of cars previously.

The four-year sponsorship deal signed in 2008 will see the company continue to provide all on the ground transportation solutions and logistical management in Pulau Duyong, Kuala Terengganu during the Monsoon Cup, to be held 1- 6 of December 2009.

The group is already well associated with sponsorship of many prestigious sporting events and will also be sponsors of the upcoming MotoGP at Sepang Circuit.

Dato’ Ilyas Mohamed Executive Chairman of Cartrade Group said the Monsoon Cup is however the most interesting and exciting event to sponsor.

“The Monsoon Cup is unique as it is our first sponsorship of an event on water. Providing logistical solutions to the event during the monsoon season in Terengganu in itself is a complicated process. Last year for example we experienced flooding of up to a metre in some areas. It makes for some interesting challenges.

This year that is expected to increase that to up to 60 vehicles that will be branded as “MonsoonWagen”.

Meanwhile, Monsoon Cup Race Advisor Dato’ Peter Gilmour commended the Cartrade Group for it’s continued support of events such as the Monsoon Cup which he said shows a commitment to the development of the sporting industry amongst others.

“Cartrade Group’s sponsorship goes beyond the traditional methods of advertising, it is engaging and we appreciate the group’s ability to think in broader terms, with a complete understanding of the needs of the event. It allows for a more impactful partnership.”

For the Cartrade Group that includes a unique opportunity to raise awareness of the brand and it’s association with an exclusive lifestyle sport. This also benefits its clientele who are invited to attend the event and enjoy the benefit of sponsorship packages.

Dato’ Ilyas said:

“The event held during Monsoon season in Terengganu allows us an opportunity to provide our customers with a lifestyle experience of international sport. We invite our customers to join us in Terengganu for the event,”

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Peter Gimour is also the Chairman of the World Yacht Racing Forum in 2009. This information could win you a free delegate pass to the event in December in Monaco. Enter our competition to win.

The finale of the World Match Racing Tour, the Monsoon Cup, gets underway in Malaysia on the 3rd of December. Apart from deciding the championship, this event uses some of the latest technology to get the message around the world.

Apart from the Americas Cup, the Monsoon Cup is the only yachting event to utilise Virtual Eye; a real time, 3D sports graphics package for television and the big screen.

During the races, the technology tracks the boats live, by installing custom-built trackers in each yacht.

Virtual Eye helps the ‘unskilled eye’ to see the position of the yachts during races to allow spectators to keep track of the action, aided by computer graphic overlays.

Supporting features such as grid lines showing the yacht’s position, and circles indicating changes in speed, help viewers to understand the subtleties of match racing.

Like a video game, there are an endless range of camera angles, with fast-forward and rewind functions available for post race analysis.

For more information on the Monsoon Cup, visit: http://www.monsooncup.com.my/