In December 2010, the Extreme Sailing Series announced that it would expand to become a global tour of events. Taking the ‘stadium sailing’ format out of Europe and into new markets, some with immense populations starved of sailing content, had to lead to an increase in the media value for sponsors and partners.

As the Extreme Sailing Series continues to test their business models with regards to media, streaming the Cowes round live to the internet, organisers OC Thirdpole have released an independent interim media evaluation report covering the first three events (Muscat, Qingdao and Istanbul) of the 9-Act global 2011 tour.

Commissioning such reports is expensive, but it is vital that sponsors and media analysts have independent research to base decisions on. There is still too much hyperbole in the industry about the real size of the audience for sailing – no matter what format.

Mark Turner, Executive Chairman of OC ThirdPole recognises that the PR headline figure is worthless to anyone serious about sailing as a commercial enterprise and says:

“First and foremost, we aim to be totally transparent with our methodology and results – and we’ve been using the same quite harsh methodology for three years now. We want our figures to be as realistic as possible, therefore no talk of ‘reach’ to billions of households – even if we are very happy with our expanded global TV footprint. Media evaluation figures are always treated with a level of scepticism – the most important thing for us is the continued strong progession of our global media results.

Compared with the first part of last year’s series, the coverage has increased by nearly 90%. Havas Sponsorship Insights project that the series will generate €23m of media value for the full year – nearly two and a half times the 2010 result. This number is considered conservative and discounts exceptional ‘one-off’ coverage of Act 2 in China, where capsizes generated significant interest.

Coverage included in this report includes over six hours of live television coverage across Turkey and the Balkans on the national broadcaster TRT which followed coverage of the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Alastair Macdonald, Director of Sponsorship Insights at Havas commented:

“This interim media evaluation report for the Extreme Sailing Series 2011, illustrates the level of media coverage the series has gained after the first three events. There has been a significant increase in the volume of coverage compared to the first three events of the 2010 series, including some outstanding exposure in Asia. We have used the amount of coverage gained so far this year to make a projection for exposure for the full nine-event series, and the value that this media coverage may deliver.

Mark Turner commented on the results:

“We are pleased with this continued upward progression in the level of media coverage achieved by the circuit. It’s obviously only one measure of the value of the event for sponsors and host venues, but it remains an important one for us to deliver ever increasing returns on investment for our different stakeholders.”

• More Sailing Media News
• More Extreme Sailing Series News

While some ‘old’ media struggle with the emergence of digital platforms, Radio is not one of them. In fact, as broadband becomes more widespread, and radio stations can broadcast via the internet to larger audiences than ever before, audio is more important than ever as part of the suite of tools that sports rights holders have to communicate with fans and to promote sponsors.

Unlike visual media, which requires eyeballs to be focused on a screen, radio can be consumed while doing other things. Radio also allows the provision of live commentary for spectators at an event, which makes the fan experience completely different to watching it without.

The Volvo Ocean Race, which has always had a holistic view of media has appointed USP Content as the official radio provider to the next edition of the race, which starts on 29 October in Alicante, Spain.

USP will provide live and pre-recorded audio coverage for the entirety of the race directly from Race Headquarters in Alicante, ports of call en route and from on board the boats themselves. Hundreds of radio stations across the continents are being accredited to update millions of listeners on the latest news, conditions and race standings – in multiple languages reflecting the diversity of nationalities taking part in the Race.

Adam Binns, Director of Radio & Television for the Volvo Ocean Race said:

“We are delighted to be working with USP Content – a company with an outstanding track record in the field of sports broadcasting. In 1973-74 we had a weekly phone call to the fleet. Now our Race will be consumed when the listener wants, on all kinds of devices so it is essential we work with someone whose experience in live commentary, traditional radio and digital audio streams is unrivaled.”

USP Content also provides the back-end for BBC Radio 5 Live’s Formula 1 coverage, producing live, pre-recorded programmes and podcasts for the entire race calendar. The company’s portfolio of sports broadcasting includes NFL, Major League Baseball and Premier League football.

Rob Jones, Managing Director of USP Content said:

“Obviously I am delighted to be aboard such a prestigious project. We have devised a very sophisticated and comprehensive broadcast plan which will ensure many millions of people around the world will be able to ride every single wave!”

More Volvo Ocean Race News

A war is on for the hearts, minds and screens of sailing fans around the world. In a few short years, the sport has gone from being almost invisible, except for the occasional record breaker and America’s Cup, to being streamed 24 hours a day in HD via the Internet.

Whether or not there is a sustainable business model for such media production is still to be seen, but people who want to watch yacht racing and the back-stories of pro sailors can choose from a multitude of YouTube channels, video aggregation sites and IPTV platforms.

The World Match Racing Tour is one of the series that is using IPTV to engage fans through video. The WMRT has created the ability for fans to download all the Tour’s latest multimedia content free from iTunes. (Make sure you are on wifi though – at 82mb per episode, you don’t want to be using your mobile network.)

World Match Racing Tour Sales Director Matt Strachan said:

“World Match Racing Tour video content will now go straight onto iTunes, giving fans worldwide access to top quality content which they can watch on the device of their choice at a time of their choice.

“It’s the next step in our IPTV strategy which we have launched this season allowing fans to watch live streaming of racing from events for two hours each day or watch it on-demand. The coverage of racing accompanies The Morning Show and The Today Show, our daily magazine programmes. The shows have proved very popular, not just with audiences but also with the sailors, the event promoters and with sponsors. It increases our digital footprint and reaffirms the World Match Racing Tour as a leader in providing multimedia content for fans.”

Unlike the new ‘America’s Cup Uncovered’ programme, which is narrated off a script by a faceless voice, the World Match Racing Tour is creating personalities out of the competitors but also the hosts of The Morning Show and The Today Show. Hannah White’s impromptu, live style is in stark contrast to some series who polish (and get sign-off on) every line before having them voiced-over after the event.

More World Match Racing Tour News

How do you make your sailing event touch the widest group of people possible?

One way is to make as many spectators as possible engage through social media like Twitter or Facebook. The other way is to engage as many participants as you can. Of course, the more participants you have, the more engagement on social media you have…

The entry list for the 2011 J P Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race featured 1908 boats. Assuming an average of 6 people per boat, that’s about 11,000 stories.

Some of those stories feature the current and past rock-stars of the sport, and as if that wasn’t enough to get the masses interested, other stories featured celebrities, brought in to create a story that might be interesting to someone editing the entertainment pages rather than the sports section.

Either way, the Round the Island Race exposes the sport of sailing to a huge audience, and for many of the participants, the experience of getting up early, being on the start line with thousands of other boats is unforgettable. Many of those participants are journalists – and many of those are journalists that usually write about ‘other things’.

The result, scanning Google a couple of days later is an incredible level of coverage for a sailing event. News outlets like the Financial Times, BBC, The Guardian, The Telegraph and Eurosport have all given time and space to the 2011 Round the Island Race and many more stories will follow in journals that run to a weekly or monthly deadline.

One journalist I spoke to had only bee given 250 words to play with and given his story on the day, he could have written 5000. Another features editor had been given a bit more leeway –  5 pages of a glossy magazine to fill, and 5 pages in a magazine that never covers sailing is a big deal.

For a sponsor of the race, having 11,000 stories might seem like a very noisy media landscape to generate awareness in, however the J P Morgan Round the Island Race is actually a great exercise in micro-segmentation. Rather than treating the audience of the event as a big monolithic block of ‘sailing fans’, each brand has a constituency who are looking for something different.

Given the conditions for this year’s race, there are some guests who may never set foot on a boat again. But while they might not become participants, those people will have a much greater appreciation of the skill and character of the people who sail at the top level of the sport. There are others who reveled in the fact that this was “real sailing” – not just a cruise in the sun. These people will become (social) brand ambassadors for the sport.

It’s events like the Round the Island Race that give you confidence about the future of sailing. Unlike the cynicism, politics and posturing that sours some parts of the sport, the Round the Island Race seems to combine racing with charity, competitiveness with participation and commercialism with Corinthian ideals. Legends of the sport mingle with ‘newbies’ in the  beer tent and share stories in a manner that just doesn’t happen in many other sports.

The Round the Island Race has had 80 years to get it right. Organisers have stuck to a formula that gets better with every edition. Rather than change the ‘product’, the Island Sailing Club, its sponsors and partners, manage to educate and promote the benefits of the offer to a wider and wider group of ‘customers’. It’s a strategy that seems to work, and sailing is better for it.

Video from the media day…

Three very different female round the world sailors talk about the Round the Island Race

The America’s Cup communications team have stepped up a gear, now that Oracle Racing is back home in San Francisco. The Media and VIPs are being treated to rides on ‘America’ while Jimmy Spithill and Russell Coutts show off the AC45 on San Francisco harbour. There’s no news as such – nothing that hasn’t been said before – but repeating the same message over and over again will help sell the new America’s Cup to a wider audience.

Just in case a couple of cats wasn’t enough for the Reuters of the world, Coutts capsized his AC45 yesterday, underlining the extreme messaging and allowing for a bit more sensationalism to help push the story up a few places – the promise of injuries to crewmen not a bad thing for ratings in a ‘car-crash’ television culture.

We’re not saying that the capsize was on purpose – but such an incident on such a day, with all the cameras pointed at the boat will give the TV guys some great clips for promos. Just as the Extreme Sailing Series still use footage of capsizes in Cowes from 3 or 4 years ago, the America’s Cup has some nice ‘wreck’ footage to help re-position the America’s Cup as “NASCAR on steroids.”

But underneath the show, behind the matching uniforms and well rehearsed statements, the organising comittee seems to be struggling to find cash. The San Francisco Examiner reports that only 2 of the 12 million dollars promised by the ‘America’s Cup Organizing Committee’ to the city of San Francisco has been paid.

The hitch? Tax-Exempt status. The new deal America’s Cup is not a commercial sporting event, but a charity. Rather than convince commercial partners of the ROI to be gained, private donors will fund the cup in return for tax breaks. Tax-exempt approval is expected in August. America’s Cup organisers expect that  donors will become more comfortable writing seven-figure cheques.

With just weeks to the first America’s Cup World Series event in Cascais, Portugal, there are no sponsors other than long time supporter Louis Vuitton, and entry fees for teams have been slashed to get some teams on the start line for the opening round of the upstart series.

According to the Examiner:

Some $12 million is budgeted in the coming fiscal year for the Mayor’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development to conduct environmental planning and get necessary state and federal permits. Yet the nonprofit responsible for offsetting The City’s $32 million in costs has only $2 million on hand to mitigate the bill. If the America’s Cup Organizing Committee can’t come up with the other $10 million, it would have to come from San Francisco’s general fund, which is dedicated to basic city services such as police, fire protection and road construction.

The article reports Kyri McClellan, executive director of the America’s Cup Organizing Committee, saying:

“I have every confidence we will meet our obligations in the host-city agreement.”

A Board of Supervisors Budget and Finance Committee hearing on America’s Cup funding is set for June 20.

More America’s Cup News

The World Match Racing Tour has begun its 2011 season with Match Race France in Marseilles. Having visited in 2009, we returned to see how the event stacked up against the statements of vision of the tour and against other world class events.

To make comparison easier, we are developing a scorecard that we plan to use for events visited in 2011 and beyond. Areas that will be measured include – media output, marketing, hospitality options, fan experience, management & logistics and an overall score.

The success of an event like Match Race France has to be measured differently from different points of view. The experience of a fan with access to high speed internet is very different to one who travels to watch the event live. In 2011, that was even more so.

You should have been here yesterday – but here’s one I prepared earlier.

One of the stated reasons that the America’s Cup has changed its format is to allow for an event that can be broadcast by live TV without missing its window. If the breeze is too light or too strong, then racing can’t take place.

Faced with the prospect of a 45 knot Mistral wind in Marseille on the final Sunday, the race committee decided to accelerate the program for Match Race France. This meant that by Friday night, Semi-Finals were already underway. By Saturday night, after a long day, the final was decided.

On Sunday, the wind did indeed reach speeds that would have made racing almost impossible for anything but a windsurfer. The Mistral reached speeds that would have been way outside the wind-range specified for the new America’s Cup boats and even if the competitors had braved the seas – the umpire and media boats would not have been able to operate.

So the race committee got a result, but the prize was awarded 24 hours earlier than advertised. Fine for those watching via computer screen, but not so good for anyone who had planned to see racing on Sunday. Had the event been ticketed, there would be plenty of refunds to issue.

In the end, for an event like Match Race France, it doesn’t matter much because very few people turn up to watch anyway.

The Greatest Unwatched Show on Earth.

Had there been tickets for the Saturday at Match Race France, fans would have received more than their money’s worth. The day featured semi-finals, a sponsor race and the finals as well as the prize giving ceremony. The hastily arranged final even included two French sailors. But despite banners on the side of the road and posters in shop windows, spectators have to really want to watch Match Race France.

The event website invites the general public to visit, but the Yacht Club base of the event is tucked away from the road and once the boats leave for the races, the club is almost deserted.

Watching from the water is the only way to really follow the action, but getting onto a boat can be a mission (even for media).

If you do get onto the water, then you have to be a match racing expert to follow what is going on. While the Internet audience get real-time commentary, fans on the shore, or on a boat, have no elegant way of knowing what is happening. You can tune into the live-blog or tweet stream via a smart-phone, but that’s is not really recommended for anyone visiting from outside France unless they want to face hideous data roaming bills.

This got us thinking about radio – which is something Le Mans has been using to keep fans informed for years. It’s an overlooked technology – and something we’ll return to in a different article.

I Want My IPTV

The World Match Racing Tour is investing heavily in media. Much of the action from Match Race France was streamed live via the internet, complete with live commentary from on and off the water. Alongside the video coverage was the live text blog, Twitter updates and other social media.

A global fan, with a fast connection, an HDMI lead, a big screen TV or perhaps a Roku Box, would have had a better spectator experience than someone who had made the journey for the event. Given the lack of event atmosphere, there is no benefit to actually being there.

At some point on Saturday, the live blog was being viewed by about 250 people. We don’t have any numbers yet on the live streaming, but even if there were 150 people watching, it was about 100 more than were watching from the shores of Plage de la Pointe Rouge in Marseille.

This mix of digital fans versus physical fans has an impact on the ROI of the event. If local sponsors and partners have signed up knowing that they may gain awareness of people watching via computer on the other side of the world in Malaysia, then that’s great. But if they have signed up because they are expecting an upturn in hotel room nights, inbound flights or local restaurant trade then Match Race France is not delivering.

Of course there is a small influx of athletes, officials and media, but this is not enough to raise sponsorship on the back of.

One World Tour – Some Not so World Class Events.

It’s important to remember that the history of the World Match Racing Tour has been to bring together existing, separate events under an umbrella brand. The future vision of the World Match Racing tour is to create a world class, global sporting event that can deliver to all stakeholders - including sponsors, athletes, media and fans.

It would be a good bet that Match Race France is not one of the events that WMRT is using as a model for future host ports or promoters of World Match Racing Tour slots.

While the best sailors on the 2011 tour provided great racing action, the race officials did a fantastic job of making hard decisions to make the most of the weather and Red Handed TV’s new lineup delivered a polished product to online fans – the event doesn’t cater very well for anyone who turns up expecting to experience a World Tour event.

Just as F1 has a couple of events (fewer each year) who are there for legacy reasons, the WMRT in 2011 still has some events that have their place on the tour for historical reasons. As new events are announced, and modeled along the lines of Match Cup Sweden or the Monsoon Cup, events like Match Race France will have to improve significantly to maintain their spot on the WMRT calendar.

Scores

Scoring takes account of over 40 scoring items in 5 groups, from the point of view of different stakeholders.

• Marketing –  1.8/5
• Visiting Fan Experience – 0.8/5
• Remote Fan Experience – 3.2/5
• VIP Experience – 2.3/5
• Other Factors – 2.5/5

Overall –  2.1/5

More World Match Racing Tour News

The America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA) has announced that SIS LIVE has won the contract to design, build and deliver High Definition (HD) agile cameras and digital RF microwave links for the 34th America’s Cup. Every press release from every spokesperson for the Cup talks about the importance of reinventing the viewing experience, specifically through television, so SIS LIVE have a lot to live up to. The “multi-million pound” contract will cover on-board camera systems for a three-year period.

David Meynell, Managing Director, SIS LIVE, says:

“This is a very important strategic contract that allows SIS LIVE to develop cutting-edge solutions for the America’s Cup Event Authority. We have already started the process, having been to New Zealand to look at the boats. SIS LIVE is unique in its ability to offer a complete solution including the design, build and delivery of the highest specification HD agile cameras and RF microwave links. We also have the technical and operational personnel to operate the cameras in race conditions. SIS LIVE has extensive experience of designing and operating small on-board HD camera systems and RF links for motorsports, sailing in Beijing and other sporting events, and we are bringing all that expertise to the America’s Cup.”

Given the speed and scale of the new event, the technology will be pushed to the limit. Capturing multiple 72ft vessels travelling at 30knots as well as on board footage, sound and umpiring decisions will be a challenge. Add the complication of salt-water and SIS LIVE will need to work hard to live up to the huge expectations set by America’s Cup organisers.

Gary Lovejoy Head of Media Production, ACEA, speaks not just of coverage, but of transforming coverage of sailing as we know it:

“We are transforming the television coverage of the 34th America’s Cup to make it more comprehensive, more dynamic and more engaging for our viewing audience. We want to enable viewers to feel like they are on the boats – feeling the power of the waves, seeing the split-second decisions being made, seeing these athletes in action – so on-board cameras are a key part of our strategy.”

According to the statement issued by SIS LIVE, the three-year contract covers two America’s Cup World Series, which begin this summer and include 16 regattas around the globe.

So that’s the tech done, but what about the personalities that will front this new world of broadcasting excellence? We’ll wait and see.

More America’s Cup News

The new America’s Cup organisations have a big challenge. ACRM and ACEA are creating a world class sporting series from a standing start to flawless execution in a matter of months. While spectators are still in the dark as to where the events will take place around the globe, regatta personnel are using Auckland to test how the America’s Cup World Series will work from a logistical and media point of view.

The America’s Cup Event Authority (ACEA), who are responsible for the commercial, marketing and brand aspects of the America’s Cup and the people responsible for the media success of the event, will test what they call “next-generation broadcast images and graphics that change the way people will watch sailing on television.”

Following on from a long tradition of sailing innovating the way in which sports have been shown on television – from 18 foot skiffs in the 80′s on Sydney Harbour with on-board sound and cameras sailed on tight courses with massive terrestrial television audiences to the introduction of translating telemetry into 3D images in real-time during several versions of the America’s Cup – ACEA will introduce a new audience to how exciting televised sailing can be.

Richard Worth, Chairman of ACEA says:

“At each event, we want the viewer to not just see the action, but to really be part of it. Through our new on-board cameras and microphones, you will get to see the quick decisions being made, the athleticism of the sailors, the raw power of these boats – you will be right there with the teams as they fly over the water. Our new graphics overlay goes beyond being a viewing aid. This system will connect viewers to the racing in a way that has not been possible before.”

And for the anoraks, America’s Cup Race Management (ACRM) will use the test days to experiment with race course configurations aimed at delivering tight, tactical racing. There will be testing of umpiring and race management.

Iain Murray, CEO of America’s Cup Race Management said:

“We are launching a new racing product in July. We have developed new rules and now we need to test those rules on the water. We learned a lot of things about the performance of the AC45 during sea trials in New Zealand, but now we need to see them in simulated race mode. We will also test new race course configurations to make the racing more engaging for competitors and fans alike.”

The America’s Cup Event Authority continue to focus on the what rather than the who. Maybe it’s the influence of ORACLE that makes the America’s Cup World Series sound like a technology sell. It seems that fans should be wowed by the techniques used to bring the action to screens rather than the athletes who are competing in what is supposed to be sport at the end of the day.

We still haven’t seen how Mark Bullingham is going to turn the sailors into stars, but perhaps that’s going to be tested too.

More America’s Cup news…

While the America’s Cup aims to make sailing cool for ‘young people’ by promising a youth America’s Cup sometime after the current guys have moved onto the 72 foot version of the AC catamaran, Jessica Watson, who is arguably the best known sailor in Australia at the moment has launched a campaign to compete in the 2011 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

Watson will be joined by Michael Perham, who in 2009 became the youngest person to sail around the world. The average age of the crew for the Sydney Hobart Race is just 19.

The campaign is an interesting juxtaposition against other parts of the sport and shows how personality and human interest can appeal to a wider audience while talking about the technology can leave people behind. While Olympic sailors have their heads down trying to qualify for 2012 and the ‘stars’ of other pro series are mostly reluctant media performers, Watson is in her element sharing her passion for sailing with a wide demographic.

Some in the sailing media criticised Watson’s round the world voyage on technicalities, but there is no way to underestimate or denigrate the sporting challenge that is the Sydney Hobart Race.

Garry Linacre, Commodore of the The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA), the host of the iconic race said:

‘We look forward to Jessica’s participation in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Jessica has been able to bring together a talented and committed crew that includes Alex Paton, an active member of the CYCA’s Youth Sailing Academy. It is passionate sailors such as these that are the future of sailing in Australia and we wish them all the best in their training and preparation for Australia’s most iconic yacht race, which commences at 1pm on Boxing Day.’

The full crew is Michael Perham (19),another solo circumnavigator from the UK, Peter Woodward (21), Will Broughton (19), Cameron Dale (20), Leigh Thorne (21), Alexandra Paton (20), Levi Curtin (18), Sean Lindsell (21), Genevieve Warlow (19).

More Australian Sailing News…

It doesn’t matter what kind of sailing event you are running, or what platforms you are trying to distribute media on or communicate to fans with, capturing the action and getting it off the boat is something that all yacht racing promoters have to deal with.

It’s pretty easy if you are the America’s Cup – you could almost use 3G to get media off boats sailing around San Francisco Bay, but the Volvo Ocean Race has a racecourse that is, as the strapline says. extreme – and that means being on the edge of the communicable world.

There are technologies however that do enable high speed, HD quality communication from almost any point on the earth. The Volvo Ocean Race has once again teamed up with Inmarsat to provide essential voice and data connectivity for the next edition of the ocean racing event. Inmarsat FleetBroadband will be used to deliver broadcast quality high-definition television (HDTV) and rich multimedia content from the competing boats to the world’s media. Inmarsat has increased its involvement in the next edition of the race and is now a Race Partner.

Knut Frostad, CEO Volvo Ocean Race said:

“I am very pleased to announce this continued and enhanced partnership with Inmarsat. FleetBroadband has proved it can deliver a flawless performance in tough conditions and that is absolutely essential for us. We need to be able to get reliable and high quality material off the boats and deliver it to the world with immediacy. You could say that the DNA of the Volvo Ocean Race is really based around moving images. And to be able to transmit these images from the boats is core to our communication and story building around the race. In many ways you could say that the Inmarsat’s FleetBroadBand has revolutionised the sport of offshore sailing.

And by enabling us to be so connected to the boats, we can monitor them 24 hours a day from our Control Room in Alicante. This is crucial for our safety procedures and the onboard safety equipment is a vital tool for the crew in emergency situations.”

Each Volvo Open 70 will be equipped with a SAILOR FleetBroadband 500, providing voice and high-speed data communications. Also onboard is a compact SAILOR FleetBroadband 150 for crew voice calling and IP data, plus two SAILOR Mini-C systems for constant positioning data and global safety communications. For the first time and after extensive evaluation, Inmarsat’s new global satellite phone, the ISATPHONE Pro, will be included in the safety kit of all the race yachts.

Andrew Sukawaty, Chairman and CEO, Inmarsat said:

“FleetBroadband gave a flawless performance during the last Volvo Ocean Race in 2008 – 09 and will continue to take media coverage of the race into a whole new era. Faster transmission speeds deliver better quality broadcasts bringing all the action onboard into people’s homes around the world. It is undeniably the world’s premier global race and one of the most demanding team sporting events in the world and we are delighted with the global endorsement of ISATPHONE Pro, with its inclusion in the yachts’ safety equipment.”

You could just mount cameras to different parts of the boats and have ‘TV execs’ pick the best bits, but the Volvo Ocean Race realises that offshore sailing is as much about the human element than the boat, perhaps more so. The interactions of team members at the extremes, the highs and lows can be captured by someone embedded in the action, not just watching from a studio. Therefore the race will once again include Media Crew Members and an (MCM) Award for the best material.

This award will also be sponsored by Inmarsat. In addition, on each leg, an MCM will win a €1000 cash prize for outstanding excellence in communicating across all media from their boat, as judged by a specialist panel. When the race concludes in Galway, Ireland, in July 2012, a €10,000 prize will be awarded to the MCM judged to have made the best overall contribution to race coverage.

Knut Frostad firmly believes the MCM is as much a key player as the helmsman, tactician and the crew.

“No story, no sponsorship, no race. It’s as simple as that.”

More Volvo Ocean Race Business News