Back on Deck – Rolex Sydney Hobart Thoughts.
There is a tendency to become addicted to the constant feeds of information coming from thousands of sources around the world, even during holidays. We’ve turned down the noise for the last few days to spend time with family and friends and while we weren’t watching, a couple of you might have noticed that we got hacked in the process.
Yachtsponsorship.com is back on desck today, taking a look at the only real news in yacht racing at this time of the year, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race.
The biggest story of the pre-start was the race for Etihad Stadium to source, transport, step and test a new mast after losing one during the delivery trip to Sydney. Grant Wharington and ‘Wild Thing’ doesn’t have much luck when it comes to the Sydney Hobart Race. But new sponsors, Etihad Stadium, who won the title sponsorship of the yacht in an innovative raffle will probably get a decent return on ivestment as a result of the mishap with the mast.
Etihad Stadium retired before leaving Sydney harbour, preventing any chance of winning the on-the-water race, but in terms of pure media coverage, the team will do ok. Little consolation to a hard-core sailor like Wharington, but that’s yacht racing.
The other story that got a lot of coverage before the start of the race was the return of Ludde Ingvall, a previous winner of the race on a boat named YuuZoo. The Big Boat Racing Team have been experimenting with social media, with big hopes for live streaming video during the race.
Despite relatively mild conditions, the reality of trying to sail a maxi yacht and updating youtube seem to be a little bit too much for the video technology. The facebook feed though has more activity and fan support is strong, with 1000 people signed up to the team’s Facebook page.
As the technology gets better, it will become easier for smaller teams to own their own media and communicate their sponsor’s messages to niche audiences of fans, but the Rolex Sydney Hobart Race has something that no other Yacht Race has. National recognition by the public and buy-in from one of the established free-to-air broadcasters.
This year, like all years, there are only two sports stories in Australia on the 26th of December. The cricket and the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. Sailing doesn’t just lead the sports news on Boxing Day – in many cases it leads the news. Even though a cold and grey day prevented many spectators from lining the cliffs for the start, Channel 7 streamed the start live around the world via the internet and are providing regular updates via their website and partnership with Yahoo! in Australia.
So what’s the secret? Well as one speaker at the recent World Yacht Racing Forum put it – it’s about storytelling consistency. The race is that same date every year. This one small detail allows competitors, fans, media, sponsors and other stakeholders like local hotels, resturants, airlines ferry companies and the public to come to expect the event, to look forward to it.
As we go into 2010, many of the commerical events that are vying for sponsorship money and fan attention have yet to finalise their calenders. While sponsorship windows close, many series have not confirmed venues or fixed dates for their events. It’s the little things that need to be done better if sailing is to compete for attention with the world’s greatest sports.
$10K To Sponsor Sydney Hobart Line Honors Contender?
There are not many yacht races that get the mass media attention and coverage as the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. It’s not just thousands of people on the cliffs and in the spectator fleet – it’s live TV coverage for 3+ hours all over the country.
If you haven’t been in Sydney on Boxing Day, it’s hard to imagine the importance of the race to the Australian summer sporting psyche. Boxing Day is a day for eating Christmas lunch leftovers and watching the Boxing day test match (Cricket) and the Sydney Hobart Yacht Race start.
While there will be 116 boats on the start line, most of the attention will be on the Super Maxis – the race to the ‘heads’ and the right hand turn south.
As sponsorships go, the naming rights for these super-maxi yachts is pretty good value. Using the old fashioned ‘equivalent media value’ measures, the names of the brands are mentioned over and over again during coverage of the start and the race and coupled with huge spinnakers gives great recall and recognition. Think of ICAP Leopard, Wild Oats, Alfa Romeo and Australian Skandia.
But before there was Skandia, there was Wild Thing and since the financial services company changed ownership in Australia, the company has pulled out of sponsoring ‘Geelong Week’ and Grant Wharington’s Super Maxi.
Wharington though, has an interesting concept for finding a new title sponsor. A raffle – where every $AUD 10,000 ticket could win a chance of naming rights for the boat including the Sydney Hobart Race.
Here’s how it works.
Step 1: You buy a Wild Thing Corporate Sailing package on the 100 footer for $10,000 and you get to take 25 people out sailing on the boat for the ride of their life in your choice of location: Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Brisbane, Newcastle and Port Stephens.
Step 2: For that same $10,000, you also go into the draw for your company and your brand to win the naming rights of the boat until mid 2010 – the launch of which will be the start of the Rolex Sydney to Hobart on Boxing Day – the great race that attracts huge national and international exposure.
Wharington says:
“The Wild Thing Yachting team has always had incredible support in the wider community, and it’s that support we’d love to underpin the new future of the boat and the crew” he said.
“We don’t have the million dollar budgets of our competitors, and never will have…we run a Corinthian sailing team where everyone commits to getting the yacht to the start line on Boxing Day – but without some corporate support, it’s really tough to compete at this level…”
“It’s a great opportunity to join the Wild Thing team, in the pursuit of one of Australia’s most sought after sporting trophies. I can’t guarantee you that we will be first to Hobart, BUT, I can tell you that as always we will bust our guts trying “
The draw for the new Naming Rights sponsor of Wild Thing will be conducted under the strict supervision of the President of Yachting Australia Mr Andrew Plympton , on the 8th of December, live on 3AW Breakfast program with Ross Stevenson and John Burns and streamed live on the 3AW website.
For more information contact Jody O’Brien on +61 416 222 899
ICAP Leopard Wins Heinneken Cape Bahia Race in Record
100ft British supermaxi yacht ICAP Leopard, owned by Mike Slade, took line honours in the Heineken Cape to Bahia Race, setting a new course record. Having left Cape Town on 10th January, she crossed the finish line off the coast of Salavador de Bahia, Brazil, at 17:46:35 (UTC), completing the 3,330 nautical mile course in just 10 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 35 seconds. ICAP Leopard’s closest rival Rambler was approximately 230 nautical miles behind when she crossed the finish line in light and tricky conditions.
Mike Slade, owner of ICAP Leopard and Chief Executive of Helical Bar plc, said shortly after the finish:
“This has been a truly fantastic race and I am delighted that we have set a new course record. We have pushed ICAP Leopard hard throughout the race and we now believe that the modifications we made last summer have turned her into the ultimate record breaking machine. It is a great feeling to add yet another course record to our collection.”
Chris Sherlock, Boat Captain, commented on ICAP Leopard’s performance and tactics:
“We knew we had to get out of the blocks fast to get a jump on Rambler, which we were able to do as the stronger reaching winds favoured us. Once we were ahead, our navigator and afterguard did a fantastic job keeping us in phase with the breeze right through to the finish. The record is what we came for; hopefully it will stand for some years to come.”
ICAP Leopard currently holds 10 records, including four World Speed Sailing Records and six course records. This will be her 11th record since her launch in 2007 and with a full race schedule in place for 2009, there is no doubt that she will be looking for more. Following on from the Heineken Cape to Bahia Race, ICAP Leopard will compete in the RORC Caribbean 600 and Antigua Sailing Week, before heading to North America for a number of corporate events. She will then return to the UK for the summer racing season and her corporate charter commitments.
ICAP Leopard to Start Heineken Cape to Bahia Race
January 9, 2009 by admin
Filed under United Kingdom
At 1400 local time, Saturday 10th January, ICAP Leopard, the British 100ft supermaxi will begin the 2009 Heineken Cape to Bahia Race from Cape Town, South Africa. With two days to go before the start, final preparations are being made across the fleet, for what should be a classic offshore race. Having undergone a full refit and optimization treatment since her last race, owner Mike Slade and his world class crew are looking forward to getting out on the water and setting a record pace.
Mike Slade, owner of ICAP Leopard and Chief Executive of Helical Bar plc, commented:
“We are all really looking forward to getting underway on Saturday. The crew has done a great job getting the boat up to scratch for the start. Cape Town has been a fantastic place to be over the last few days and I cannot believe the amount support we have had from the public and the press. It is going to be a long and tough race, but I am really excited about competing in this prestigious offshore challenge.”
When asked about the weather conditions expected during the race, ICAP Leopard Navigator, Rosco Monson, said:
“It looks like a quick exit from Cape Town with a 25 knot southerly, however this will quickly drop to around 12 knots on day two or three. The toughest part of the race for us, will be this period of light winds, so we will be actively seeking stronger winds wherever we can. The second half of the race looks more stable with 13-18 knots of trade winds, so it will be important for us to reach these trade winds as soon as possible.”
ICAP Leopard will compete in this traditionally downwind race with a seasoned crew that includes Whitbread and Volvo Round the World Race sailors Jan Dekker (RSA), Gordon Maguire (IRE), Jason Carrington (GBR) & Paul Standbridge (GBR), as well as members of America’s Cup syndicate Team Shosholoza, David Rae (RSA) and Joey Heywood (RSA).
Coville Beats 24 hour record on Sodeb’O
December 8, 2008 by admin
Filed under France, Other, Record Attempts
Thomas Coville has beaten the single-handed 24 hour distance record on a multihull this Sunday evening at 1815 UT with a total distance of 620.80 miles covered at the average speed of 25.87 knots.
The maxi trimaran Sodeb’O is making headway beam onto the wind in a 22 to 26 knot NNW’ly air flow with waves of 4 metres. Coville has just broken his previous record set in the same zone on 6th January 2008. At that time he covered 619 miles in 25.80 knots.The wind is filling in so the record is set to continue to increase over the coming hours. Naturally, this new record has yet to be approved by the WSSRC.
