Martin Hill is CEO of Estate Master and one of the greatest Belcher & Page London Challenge 2012 supporters. Malcolm Page is the logistics manager and trimmer for Estate Master’s flagship marketing vehicle, its Farr 40 team. Both teams compete in Asia, the Middle East, Australia and Europe where over 1,300 companies use Estate Master’s real estate valuation software. The teams also compete in North America, which is an expansion market for Estate Master.

It’s no coincidence that the company uses sailing as a marketing platform. A passionate sailor, Hill, is theEstate Master Farr 40 team’s skipper and he and Page won a gold medal in the Tasar at the 2009 Master Games in Sydney. Page rates the win right up there with his other medals. “Martin spent two months training in the boat, and we sailed a textbook style regatta. It was a credit toMartin to show his skills and commitment in an unfamiliar environmentand a perfect example of the business innovation and skills that he uses everyday.”

Says Hill of the Tasar experience; “The old man’s gold medal is definitely a highlight for me as it shows our quickness to take on challenge, our preparation effort (both in Malcolm’s research, preparation and fine tuning of the boat), our training and our attitude in the regatta. Mal’s philosophy all along was, ‘Let us just sail our race and do our best.’ I didn’t even know wehad won the gold medal when we crossed the line.”

Page has been working with Hill and Estate Master for 5 years. “I’m extremely fortunate to have such an understanding employer,” says Page. “As you can imagine, training and competing at this level in the 470 Class is time consuming and keeps me away from home and out of the office for extended periods of time, especially as the Olympics draws near. Martin (Hill) understands and is as flexible as Gumby when it comes to preparing for the Olympic regatta. He is one of the first to say that to be competitive in sailing you need the backing of a team. All of the sailors on his team are grateful for his support, friendship and dedication to the sport. He is a great mentor.”

Page manages the team logistics from a mobile phone and his laptop when he is home in Australia or traveling. There have been times when major Farr 40 regattas overlap with 470 regattas, as was the case with this year’s Farr 40 Word Championship in Caso de Campo, Dominican Republic. It was early enough in the quadrennium that Page raced with the Estate Master Farr 40 team while Australian 470 training partner, Will Ryan, substituted for him in the 470. Belcher and Ryan won Semaine Olympique Francaise, one of the ISAF World Cup regattas.

While Hill and Estate Master understand and tolerate flexible schedules, they demand dedication, preparation and application of science from the sailing team and in the powerful and easy to use property software solutions for property acquisition,disposition, development, management, appraisal and valuation that theyhave developed. Estate Master and its sailing team are leaders in their fields and play a significant role in showcasing Australia’s sailing talent on a world stage.

More Olympic Sailing News…

UPS, as an Official Supporter of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, is responsible for virtually all the distribution and logistics services for the London 2012 Games. The company has completed delivery of the first set of safety and competition officials’ lifeboats to the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy, which will serve as the host venue for London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing events.

The twenty-one rigid inflatable boats (RIBs), which have been transported from Valencia, Spain where they were deployed during the 33rd America’s Cup, will play an active part in all of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing events.

Over the course of the next two years, UPS will transport a number of sailing items to the Weymouth & Portland National Sailing Academy in time for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, ranging from larger items such as competition boats to flags and signage to be used across the sailing venue.

Alan Williams, UPS Director London 2012 Sponsorship & Operations, said:

“Organising the logistics for an event as equipment-intensive as sailing requires a lot of precision in both the planning and execution phases of delivery. Knowing that these boats will play a vital role in the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games sailing events adds an extra layer of pressure, but it’s a challenge we continue to relish as we count down to the Games.”

More Olympic Sailing News…

Australia’s Golden Boys, Mat Belcher and Malcolm Page, are a traveling billboard for Audi. By the time this year’s ISAF World Cup circuit comes to a close in Weymouth at the 2012 Olympic sailing venue, they will have hoisted their spinnaker, which is emblazoned with the Audi rings in Australia, USA, France, Spain, Holland, Germany and the UK. Last week they were in Holland, not far from the frigid North Sea and next week they will be in Germany, the home of Audi.

While the Audi rings bear some resemblance to the Olympic rings, Olympian Malcolm Page says, with a straight face, that seeing them billow out in front of him every time the spinnaker is launched “makes me think about the amazing drive I have experienced in the Audi. It also makes me want to get to the finish line quicker so that I can get into the car and warm up. In Holland the seat warmers are a necessity and bring us back to life after a cold day on the water.”

Page has the privilege of driving an A4 in Australia and the Belcher & Page London Challenge 2012 Men’s 470 Olympic sailing campaign has been traveling throughout Europe this season in an Audi Q7. Says Page of the Q7; “It’s a life saver for the four months that we are in Europe this year. The larger car allows us to cart our ‘lives’ from country to country, and the single best thing about the Q7 is its ability to tow the coach boat and our two 470′s around Europe. The ride is so smooth that we don’t realize that all of our equipment is attached to or on top of the car.”

Belcher and Page estimate that they will only drive about 8,000 kilometers throughout Europe in 2010 because their regattas are relatively close together this year. During the remainder of the year, when they are home in Australia, both sailors will put nearly 25,000 kilometers on their A4′s. “They are a work of art, not just a motor vehicle,” says Page. “They seem to have the best balance between style and performance.”

Speaking for his teammates, Page continues, “We feel very privileged to have the support of Audi. We are trying to achieve the same standards of excellence in our campaign that Audi has attained with its cars. They have developed reliable, industry-leading equipment that is attractive… although looking good is a little bit beyond our control.”

Arriving in Marseille, France in our lovely Q7 3.0TDI. Photo taken by Victor Kovalenko

The Belcher & Page London Challenge 2012 campaign is sponsored in part by AUDI, Acuity, Estate Master Sailing, Sands Resorts, Australian Sailing Team, Australian Institute of Sport, Austin Brothers, Professional Investment Services, Ronstan and generous employers, family and friends. Join the Challenge contact them at http://www.belcherpage2012.com/

More Audi Sailing News…

Despite the global event status, and large corporate backing of many of the teams competing, event organisers continue to announce relatively small, local sponsorship deals. The latest is Western Australian brewer Little Creatures, who will receive great benefits from their association.

Perth 2011 Director of Commercial Operations Darren Beazley said:

“Little Creatures produces Western Australia’s favourite beer at one of Fremantle’s favourite destinations, which makes them a natural fit as the Official Beer of the Sailing World Championships. Come December 2011, this Fremantle ‘institution’ will be located in the epicentre for the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. Little Creatures will have the chance to promote their quality beverages to an audience that will provide them with tremendous local, national and international exposure. Perth 2011 is delighted to have a partnership with a brewer that is ‘best of breed’, uniquely Western Australian and mirrors our youthful approach to promoting the World Championships.”

Little Creatures Head of Creative Development Miles Hull agreed that the marketing and promotional prospects are exciting and that Perth 2011 and the brewer had today formed a mutually beneficial partnership.

“Given our Brewery’s location in the heart of the World Championships, we are very excited that one of the biggest sailing events in Australian sporting history is coming to Fremantle. We trust that visitors, tourists and locals alike will enjoy our great beer, amongst the fantastic atmosphere that this world-class Event will bring to the Fremantle waterside.”

Perth 2011 is a great opportunity not just for Western Australia but Fremantle, in particular, and we’ll be highlighted on the national and international stage. Fremantle has such a terrific community and Little Creatures is very proud to be playing a major role in partnering with Perth 2011 to promote it to the world.”

More Perth 2011 News…

Leeuwin Estate Founder and Chairman Mr Denis Horgan is excited about the new partnership.

“Given our strong positioning in the global marketplace, we are delighted to have joined forces with Perth 2011, which truly is a world-class international sporting Event. Teaming with an Olympic qualifying Event of the international calibre of the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships, complements our brand profile across Australia and internationally. Leeuwin Estate has enjoyed a previous association with sailing through our activities with the America’s Cup when it was held in Fremantle and our sponsorship of the sail training ship, The Leeuwin.”

“This is a great opportunity to retain our connection with the international sailing community. We plan to have a signature Perth 2011 wine available promoting our association with the World Championships, but this is just one element of what we have planned for the next two years.”

Acting Event Director Darren Beazley commented

“I am delighted that Denis Horgan and the dedicated team at Leeuwin Estate have signed on as the official wine partner to the World Championships. Leeuwin Estate is synonymous with Western Australia and is internationally renowned for producing wines that rank alongside the world’s finest, whilst also being recognised as a leader in wine tourism. Leeuwin’s quality products, combined with their well-established reputation in the wine and tourism industries, provided a perfect match to align with the World Championships, to be staged in Perth in December 2011.”

Paralympic hopeful Ame has just launched ‘Ame’s Army’, a way for supporters to get involved in her goal to represent Australia at the 2012 Paralympic Games.

The remarkable 21 year old university graduate was born with Phocoamelia, meaning she has only the lower half of her left leg, a small foot and three toes – no other limbs. She uses her toes for eating, writing, playing the trumpet and fulfilling her passion for sailing. Barnbrook, who started sailing as a seven year old, could be the world’s most profoundly disabled sailor going for Paralympic selection in London 2012.

In a sport where private banks and luxury watch companies compete for attention with automakers to extend their brands into the lives of consumers, the human stories are often lost by the algorithms that count logos on screens for milliseconds. Sailing struggles to appeal to a wider audience partly because of a lack of diversity, which is why Ame’s campaign is so important.

Barnbrook has set big goals for herself :

“It’s about what I can do, not what I can’t do. My disability is continually judged before my abilities have been recognized – and I like to prove people wrong!”

Ame has already achieved notable sailing results, including fourth place at the 2009 IFDS World Championship in Singapore and third at Sail Melbourne, (Grade 1 Olympic and Paralympic Classes) with her crew Lindsay Mason. In January, 2010, the duo achieved second place in Australian Access Championship, a class sailed by able-bodied and disabled sailors.

Her choice of ‘weapon’ for the Games is the two-person SKUD, a fast skiff-like Australian designed boat sailed by both able-bodied and disabled sailors.

It’s not until you sit down with Ame’s team that you realise just how complex a campaign like this is. It’s not about ‘just getting on a plane’ – most modern day aircraft do not cater for people like Ame. A team of experts and an array of specialist equipment needs to be transported half way around the world – a world that is set up for the average and struggles with exceptions.

Ame Barnbrook’s campaign is a reality check. When she succeeds, she helps to reposition the sport of sailing as accessible and diverse. She helps to put into perspective the merits of spending tens of millions of dollars on a silver mug or racing a converted floating palace around a Caribbean island.

You can join Ame’s Army at www.amesarmy.com.au

Olympic sailing is more likely to appeal to a larger audience due to its nationalistic nature, and as such provides sponsors with mass market exposure that most non-olympic sailing can never hope to achieve.

Marinepool is has announced a 4 year partnership with Greek sailing superstar Sofia Bekatorou and her team.

Sofia Bekatorou was the Olympic gold medallist in Athens 2004, Olympic bronze medallist of Beijing 2008, manifold world and european champion, two-fold Rolex ISAF sailor of the year.

Marinepool is very glad that Sofia and her crew joined the Marinepool team and has signed a cooperation agreement until the end of 2013, thus including the preparation and the London Olympic Games 2012. Bekatorou has changed from the Yngling, in which she won bronze at the Beijing Olympic Games and is now sailing the new Olympic match race class Elliott 6m. In her debut on the Marinepool squad she showed her class immediately. While she was not taking part in the Worldcup start of 2010 in Miami, she started with an impressive win at the Athens Eurolymp regatta into the season, a great result against an international panel including the highly regarded Dutch and Russian teams.

Sofia will bring her vast experience into the product development of new technical lines for ladies and – as a young mother – shows also special interest in the development of technical gear for children.

What does sponsorship mean for professional sailors? The bottom line is that the less a competitor has to worry about money, the more they can concentrate on training to be better. When that training is full-time on the course that will used for the Olympic games, the advantage is significant. But sponsorship is a two-way street and athletes need to give back to the brands that are investing in them.

Sarah Ayton, one of the original ‘three blondes in a boat’, has today unveiled her bid to become the first British woman to win three successive Olympic gold medals.

With the start of the London 2012 Olympic Games now less than 30 months away, Sarah Ayton has announced her plans to campaign for a third gold in London, in the two person 470 dinghy with her team-mate confirmed as seasoned 470 campaigner Saskia Clark. Their long-awaited news was revealed in conjunction with the announcement that Volvo Car UK will be backing their campaign as part of the Team Volvo for life sponsorship programme in addition to their support from Skandia Team GBR, the British sailing team.

Duncan Forrester, Head of Public Affairs, Events and Sponsorship for Volvo Car UK believes that sailing is the perfect fit for a the brand and that new technology like Social media can be used to activate campaigns for the benefit of athletes, fans and the desired audience.

For Forrester, sailing is an ‘underutlised’ sport, which means that there are less brands competing for the attention of a desirable audience. His audience is a broad one including the Volvo Car dealer network and those in the market to buy a vehicle to tow their boats and the ‘Team for Life’ concept promotes the brand strapline – “There’s more to life than a Volvo, that’s why you drive one.”

Of course Volvo is still known for it’s safety message, no matter how many ‘Life at the Extreme’ positioning statements they make. Supporting the UK’s sailors fits into the ‘caring for people’ aspect of the brand. The sponsorship consists of financial support and transportation and goes a long way to allowing athletes to focus entirely on training and being the best they can be.

Also announced as part of the new-look Team Volvo for life was Sarah Ayton’s husband, windsurfing world champion and Olympic bronze medallist Nick Dempsey. He is basing much of his time in 2010 training in Weymouth with his goal to win the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta in August.

“2012 will come around really quickly and by getting as much practice in Weymouth as possible it will really improve my chances for a successful Olympics.”

Volvo Car UK has backed Paul Goodison to glory since 2005 and will continue to do so as the proud Sheffield lad is aiming to become the cities first double gold medallist in 2012. Paul also happens be Saskia Clark’s partner, with the pair being neighbours to the Sarah and Nick in Weymouth.

“I am really happy to have the backing of Volvo for another Olympic campaign. I want to replicate what I have done in the past by securing gold at the games here in 2012, as well as successfully defend my European and World Laser Championships.”

Volvo Car UK has also pledged to continue their support for leading Paralympic sailor Helena Lucas. Now she is working tirelessly to turn disappointment to success in 2012. Helena has started her 2010 season off well winning a silver media last month at the Princess Sofia Regatta in Palma. Ben Ainslie is also part of the Team for Life.

Sponsoring brands like Volvo are moving faster on innovating their marketing than the sport of sailing. Some PR companies that specialise in sailing have dismissed social media, or grudgingly adopted it at the request of clients. Duncan Forrester believes that social media is the future of PR, especially for a brand that is focussed on a young, enthusiastic audience.

The new look Team Volvo for life will be inviting the public to become more involved in their campaigns in the build up to London via a new Team Volvo for life website and Facebook page. The Facebook page will feature monthly videos of the sailors including their views, coaching and expert tips, Fans will be encouraged to give their views as well as asking questions directly to the sailors on during their monthly live chats. This is the payback – for sailors to take this kind of support from companies, they will have to give up part of their lives to participate in marketing activities.

The Team For Life campaign is just part of Volvo’s commitment to sailing. The company supports the sport at a grass roots level through backing of the RYA and Optimist regattas, they participate in events like the Round the Island Race and arrange regattas for internal purposes. At the elite level, there is Team For Life and of course the Volvo Ocean Race.

While not directly involved in the Volvo Ocean Race, Volvo Cars UK is already planning to make the most of the race finish in Galway.

The social media part of Team for Life can be accessed via – http://www.facebook.com/VolvoCarsSailing – Photos from yesterday are already there…

Our video from the announcement is below…

Unlike the big-boat world,  where manufacturers can’t see the point of using racing to sell more boats, LaserPerformance is using the USSTAG sponsorship to strengthen its position as the world’s largest supplier of recreational and high performance sailboats. The company will strengthen their commitment to the teams by providing direct funding and, in addition, donating two ready-to-sail Laser sailboats annually, which will be auctioned at future fundraisers. The proceeds will directly benefit Olympic and Paralympic hopefuls.

Since 2001, LaserPerformance has shown a strong commitment to supporting the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics, as well as the pipeline programs for developing young talent in the Laser and Laser Radial, the men’s and women’s singlehanded dinghy sailboats selected for the 2012 Olympic Games. In 2008, LaserPerformance also sponsored the five-person youth team that competed at the Laser Radial Youth World Championship in Takapuna Beach, New Zealand.

Dan Cooney, USSTAG’s Commercial Director said:

“LaserPerformance is a critical player in the sailing industry and we have been fortunate to have had their long-term support. We are delighted that, after seeing the changes we have made to the Commercial Program, LaserPerformance has decided to step-up their commitment and become a Silver Partner. It’s just a great match between two organizations that are both driven to obtain the highest levels of performance.”

LaserPerformance’s long-time partnership with the USSTAG serves as a valuable opportunity for both organizations to raise the profile of sailing, and ultimately, introduce more people to the sport across the country. Chip Wilkerson, Vice President of Marketing for LaserPerformance said:

“We’re very excited to support the team again. We look forward to working with US SAILING, the US Sailing Team AlphaGraphics and the US Sailing Development Team to showcase the sport and get more people involved in sailing.”

The venue, that last year hosted the Skandia Sail for Gold regatta, has been shortlisted for a prestigious 2010 Sport Industry Award. The Awards are Europe’s largest and most prestigious commercial sports awards that recognize the best the sport business has to offer in marketing, PR, sponsorship, new media, publishing, advertising and design.

After a rigorous selection process and competition from a high volume of entries, the Academy is now in the running to win the ‘Sport Venue of the Year’ Award and faces competition from the likes of Twickenham and Wembley Stadiums as well as the O2 and the Brit Oval. The WPNSA previously won the esteemed ‘Environmental Concern in Sport’ Award back in 2008 and was the first 2012 venue to be formally completed, demonstrating the importance this forward thinking venue has had on not only the South West but the whole of the UK.

The 16 strong judging panel selected the WPNSA for the shortlist through offering a flexible and meticulous approach to event services, the commitment it has as a venue to serving the needs of its visitors, a distinct improvement in all aspects of the venue from the previous 12 months of activity, demonstrable financial growth and proof of creative innovation in the approach to hosting and marketing sporting events. Judges include; BBC Broadcast Journalist John Inverdale – Former Chief Press Secretary to the Prime Minster Alastair Campbell – Paralympic Athlete Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and Chief Executive Officer of LOCOG Paul Deighton. The final results will not be announced until May 13th at a star studded ceremony.

The Academy was selected through submission of case studies detailing how the venue hosts a successful calendar of international mass participant water sports events as well as instigating activities accessible to the local Weymouth and Portland communities. Being nominated for this award highlights the calibre of the venue and the facilities it has to offer for yacht racing to dinghy sailing, triathlons to corporate functions and weddings.

John Tweed, Chief Executive of the Weymouth and Portland Sailing Academy commented;

‘Everyone at the Weymouth and Portland National Sailing Academy is delighted to have been shortlisted for this prestigious Sport Industry, Sport Venue of the Year 2010 Award. We work tirelessly to improve the quality of services and events and it is incredibly rewarding to be recognised for this commitment’.