Savvy sailing sponsors know that return on invesment (ROI) for sailing can be increased by using the asset – the boat – for as many days in as many events as possible. Multiple boats, with different capabilities allows you to spread your sponsorship across multiple territories and different audiences.

The concept of the sailing ‘Superteam’ has been emerging for a few years now, partly because of insecurity surrounding the America’s Cup, but also because sports marketing people have recognised the benefits of multiple platforms. Teams like Emirates Team NZ and Groupama compete with multiple boats in multiple competitions and gain huge value as a result.

Over the last couple of years, Oman Sail has been steadily building into a real force in sailing. The most recent example of the team’s success has been a demolition of the Round Britain and Ireland record by Sidney Gavignet (FRA) onboard OMAN AIR MAJAN.  The A100 trimaran broke the existing record held by Thomas Coville by a massive 1 day 15 hours 30 minutes and 44 seconds.

This incredible achievement also means Sidney has beaten the existing fully crewed record time by 1 hour and 7 seconds. This record was set by Steve Fosset onboard Playstation in 2002.

Philippe Georgiou, Chief Officer, Corporate Affairs, Oman Air, the sponsors of the boat said:

“As part of Oman’s Air sponsorship of Oman Sail at the Route du Rhum, the iconic sail regatta which will take place at the end of October, we are excited to be witnessing that all the preparatory stages in the run-up to the race get under way. Following the display of the 100-meter Arabian Trimaran Oman Air during Cowes Week at the Isle of Wight, world famous skipper Sydney Gavignet now readies himself for the single-handed Round Britain and Ireland raid and his attempt to break yet another record. We at Oman Air are both proud and thrilled to be part of the Route du Rhum, this very special event which offers us a great opportunity to promote our airline offering and its unique destination, the Sultanate of Oman.”

Oman Air Majan is built by BoatSpeed.

Image Credit: Lloyd Images/Oman Sail

More Sailing Record News…

You might think that there would be more airlines involved with the sponsorship of sailing. At the top end of the sport, airfares and air travel make up a large part of a professional sailing team’s expenses. The rise of sailing as a sports-tourism driver should also help make the case for more airlines to back the sport – after all, what is the point of promoting a destination if you don’t know how to get there.

As the Oman Sail project moves into its next phase of promoting the sultanate as a tourism destination, Oman Air has announced that it will sponsor the programme’s Arabian 100 trimaran – Majan.

The initial platform for the sponsorship will be the 2010 Route de Rhum is a transatlantic single-handed 4,000-mile yacht race that takes place every four years. Most of the media exposure will be in France, which suits Oman Air who are trying to increase their brand awareness in the European market, building on Oman Air’s services to France, Germany, and the UK. From September 2009, Oman Air began direct flights between Paris and Muscat. The sponsorship aligns Oman Air, Oman Sail and the Ministry of Tourism’s marketing strategies in Europe, with all three taking an active role in the Route du Rhum project.

Said Peter Hill, CEO of Oman Air said:

“With Oman Air’s ongoing initiatives in promoting Oman as a unique destination throughout Europe, our sponsorship of the Route de Rhum blends well with our efforts to both position Oman as a destination of choice and Oman Air as an exclusive brand amongst our target market in France. The timing of the event coincides perfectly with France’s premier travel trade show (Top Resa) which takes place towards the end of September, giving Oman Air, Oman Sail and the Ministry of Tourism the perfect opportunity to actively promote Oman as a business, trade and tourism destination.”

There is no doubt that the event is big in France, however it is a bit of a stretch to believe the claim by race organisers that

…the race is held second in popularity to the FIFA World Cup by the French Media.

David Graham, CEO of Oman Sail said

“We are delighted to have Oman Air as Majan’s sponsor as she will symbolise Oman’s vitality and innovation as she competes in one of the most prestigious and challenging offshore races in the world. Within the Sailing fraternity, we have spent two years promoting Oman as a destination. This is now amplified with Oman Air on board.”

Assembled in Salalah and launched in the summer of 2009, Majan is a 105ft trimaran classed as one of the fastest offshore multihulls in the world; she was given the honour of being named by HM Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.

The racing yacht took part in the Arabian Tour in 2009 with stopovers in the UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and Qatar. Majan also crossed the Indian Ocean in the 5 Capes Race early this year with stopovers in the Maldives, South Africa, Australia, Malaysia and India before returning to Oman.

More Oman Sail News…

It’s perhaps surprising that mobile phone network operators don’t use yacht racing more as a promotional tool. With the exception of Telefonica in the last edition of the Volvo Ocean Race, it seems that network operators get more value from football, rugby, cricket and music and entertainment sponsorships. Now Vodafone in New Zealand have decided that sailing would be a good thing to promote marine coverage and network performance.

Vodafone has taken naming sponsorship of the ORMA trimaran previously Team G3, to launch ‘TeamVodafone Sailing’ with the boat’s major rebranding about to start. The associations of speed are important, but there is also the old fashioned billboard factor that will give the brand presence in one of the most well known racing harbours in the world.

Vodafone’s Director of Sales Grant Hopkins says:

“We have invested heavily in our Extended 3G network to cover 97% of where kiwis live, work and play – and a whole lot of kiwis play on the water. Whether you want to send a PXT of your award-winning snapper to a mate, keep the emails at bay or in the case of TeamVodafone check the weather to be in the best position for the wind, this partnership is about showing boaties you can still use all of our great data services at fast speeds on the water.”

Moored just 100 metres from the Vodafone HQ at the Viaduct in Auckland harbour, TeamVodafone is the fastest mobile billboard in town. As well as racing in Auckland, TeamVodafone intends to compete in numerous regattas and races in Oceania – Coastal Classic, Sydney- Hobart, Auckland – Fiji to name a few…and will challenge a few records getting there and back. Watch out for it overtaking the Waiheke ferry in the Auckland harbour.

In August next year TeamVodafone will also enter the ‘Round Australia Race’ – the last time it was raced it was won was by kiwi’s Sir Peter Blake and Mike Quilter in Steinlager 1, back in 1988.

TeamVodafone Sailing is owned and skippered by Simon Hull with an experienced professional crew. Simon has owned and campaigned a succession of race boats, the most recent the Transpac 52, V5 – recent wins include the Coastal Classic yacht race in 2007 and 2008, and the Bay of Islands Race Week in 2009.

Simon commented

“It is fantastic to have a brand as strong as Vodafone to back the team. Bringing one of the fastest sailing boats on the planet all the way down here from France has been a dream of mine for some time. It takes sailing here to a new level, and Vodafone’ support enables us to go for the records that we know she is capable of.

Hopkins ends:

Of course this partnership is not just about coverage, let’s face it this boat is fast, it’s innovative and it will push the boundaries to break records – you can’t get more Vodafone than that.

More New Zealand Sailing news.

Sailing and motorsport are similar in the sense that anyone (with enought cash) can just decide one day to create a new class and a new series. As if there weren’t already a bewildering choice of boats and events competing for sailors, sponsorship money and media exposure, promoters continue to try and carve out niches.

This week it has been announced that a Swiss company will attempt to resurect the MOD70, a trimaran design based on the ORMA 60 class. It’s been tried before, but last time, sponsors weren’t interested. Now the new owners plan to manage and promote the MOD 70′ multihull professional circuit comprising a crewed, multi-leg round the world race and a European championship comprising a mixture of offshore and inshore races.

Meanwhile, the OC Group are trying to create a different series with 100ft One Design triamrans like the one built for Oman Sail.

The planned MOD 70 calendar for a new circuit would be a fully crewed round the world race from October 2013 to April 2014 and repeated on a 3 year cycle. In addition an annual European Championship would try to find space in the busy summer months, starting in June 2012.

As with all these things, “the aim of the class is to be international and elite, attracting the world’s very best sailors.”

But haven’t we heard it all before? In 2007 Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard announced plans to create The World Sailing League (WSL). A dozen teams would compete in identical, state-of-the-art 70ft catamarans, with events held at premier sailing locations around the world.

No doubt, the new management team have done their homework and have a business plan that makes it all stack up. Perhaps they know something about the state of the sponsorship market that we don’t. Perhaps they have in-depth consumer data that shows a huge pent up demand for more round the world racing, however it is highly unlikely that such a series would attract new sponsors or viewers to sailing. Therefore the only place to get backing is to cannibalise existing programs.

Pro-sailing has to change. Instead of proliferation, now is a time for consolidation. Yacht Racing promoters need to think about the sport as a market, with products and segments and consumers. Moreover, promoters who are pushing basically the same product need to think about the bigger picture and instead of breaking a niche into smaller and smaller parts, combine to provide a compelling product to the widest audience possible.

The Golden Gate Yacht Club and BMW ORACLE have released a statement, 5 days after the New York court of appeal awarded the title of ‘Challenger of Record’ in their favour. The team principals; Larry Ellison and Ernesto Bertarelli are talking to each other, trying to come to a deal that will work for everyone. The statement reads:

The Golden Gate Yacht Club and its team, BMW ORACLE Racing, remain committed to negotiate with the Defender, Société Nautique de Genève/Alinghi, a conventional mutual consent protocol for the next America’s Cup that would involve all teams.

This follows the April 2 decision of the New York State Court of Appeals confirming the Golden Gate Yacht Club as the Challenger of Record for the 33rd America’s Cup.

BMW ORACLE Racing’s owner, Larry Ellison, and the President of Alinghi, Ernesto Bertarelli, have communicated with each other since the court ruling.

At this stage the club believes it is best to keep communications between the parties private in the interests of reaching a successful conclusion as quickly as possible.

It seems crazy that it took a panel of judges to create a situation where these guys would sit down and talk about the future of the Amerca’s Cup.

Both have a lot to gain, but perhaps more to lose from this round of talks. Neither man would want to go down in history as the guy who wrecked the America’s Cup for all time.

Frank Cammas has relaunched Groupama 3, just 12 months after it capsized near New Zealand.

The title sponsor of the team and vessal, Groupam, are standing behind Franck Cammas and his team. Frédérique Granado, Director of External Communication said then:

‘The adventure we’ve been involved in with Franck Cammas since 1997 has comprised some really great moments as well as some difficult periods at times… This capsize doesn’t call into question the harmonious collaboration and the trust we have in Franck’

The true extent of their commitment and solidarity, the mainstays of the principles of action developed by the Group from the start, really became evident in this new challenge…

The trimaran was returned to France in record time and ten months in the yard and 50,000 hours of work later, Groupama 3 is returning to its natural element for a 2009 campaign of record attempts, which will take her into the Mediterranean, the Atlantic Ocean and finally around the World in November for the Jules Verne Trophy.

Stéphane Guilbaud, team manager of the Groupama trimarans says:

‘Last winter, we really came close to catastrophe and losing the boat. Seeing Groupama 3 back in her natural element today takes us back to June 2006, and the date she was first launched. Two and a half years have gone by and we are even stronger today. This is initially due to the fact that we’ve learnt how to get the full potential out of her, but also because we have made her stronger.’

‘Some time on the ocean is now called for in order to test out the various elements which have been optimised. In the meantime, Groupama 3 will return to her base in Lorient in Southern Brittany, where her mast will be stepped and the boat will be fully kitted out for an initial sail scheduled for 23rd February, following static tests.’

The four records held by Groupama 3:

• The Discovery Route (Cadiz – San Salvador) in 7 days, 10 hours and 58 minutes at an average of 21.7 knots
• Miami – New York in 1 day, 11 hours and 5 minutes at an average of 27 knots
• New York – Lizard Point in 4 days, 3 hours and 58 minutes at an average of 29.26 knots
• Distance covered in 24 hours of 794 miles at an average of 33.08 knots

The three record attempts scheduled for 2009:

• Marseilles – Carthage in May. Record held by Orange 2 in 17 hours and 56 minutes at an average of 25.5 knots
• New York – Lizard Point in July and August. Record held by Groupama 3
• Jules Verne Trophy in November. Record held by Orange 2 in 50 days 16 hours and 20 minutes at an average of 17.89 knots

A great article in the Times (UK) about UK designer Nigel Irens. Irens is behind the boats that break round the world records including those of Francis Joyon, Ellen Macarthur and the current challenger Thomas Coville.

Irens, 62, is one of Britain’s unsung heroes of design and innovation, modestly going about his business from his home in Devon. “We didn’t even go out to tender; we went straight to Nigel,” Mark Turner, MacArthur’s business partner, said. “Ellen knew him and he’d taken her under his wing. He’s a legend really, it’s going to be hard to break these records.

“He’s a lovely guy and genuinely passionate about it. He is also a rare Englishman who is supremely respected in France – there are not many British sailing related people who are loved by the French, but Nigel is.”

But even within the world of inshore sailing Irens’s status is such that when Alinghi, the America’s Cup holders, were preparing to race BMW Oracle in a trimaran, they called on Irens and Cabaret to be part of the team.

“Nigel is at home designing a cruising catamaran or a 100ft trimaran to break records,” Turner said.

As if to confirm that, Irens reels off his list of recent commissions; from Alinghi to a modified Sodeb’O for a round-the-world attempt by Oman, the Arab nation, to a 50ft race trimaran from a giant co-operative of Brittany vegetable farmers.

Irens wants to build a 50-metre long multihull for a crewed record attempt. But in his crystal ball he sees boats with no need for huge beams or keels, because the forces are going through the boat, rather than trying to capsize it. “There were people with the first kites out there from 1974,” Irens said. “They were crazy things, but it was a sail whose centre of effort passed through the same axis as the centre of mass and the centre of lateral resistance, so it was a zero heeling device. You can’t help but think that is the future.”

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.

www.sodebo-voile.com

Next week, Brad Butterworth and Tom Ehman will go head to head at the World Yacht Racing forum in Monaco. Yachtsponsorship.com will be there to here what they have to say, but in the mean time, various things are afoot. 

The Herald Tribune has run an article about the recent challenger meetings leaving BMW ORACLE out in the cold. Both Larry Ellison and Sir Keith Mills are quoted on the issue:

Ellison maintains that Bertarelli’s attempts to strong-arm the Cup have been motivated by personal dislike for Coutts and competitive concern about the powerhouse team that Coutts and Ellison have assembled. But BMW Oracle has found itself increasingly isolated in recent weeks as Alinghi has pushed forward with planning for a conventional Cup in 2010, inviting would-be challengers to meet in Switzerland and work through the rules in concert.

“I can’t really answer for them; I think there’s a lot of them that are anxious just to get this event going and maybe regardless of the rules,” Coutts said of the participating teams.

But Keith Mills, the head of the British challenger Team Origin, said on Thursday that there had been genuine and significant compromises made. He said he intended to contact Ellison and Coutts directly before the entry deadline of Dec. 15 for the prospective Cup in 2010 to provide them with details of the revised rules, called a protocol, and to urge BMW Oracle to drop its lawsuit and join the competition.

Both Coutts and Ellison said that they would not relent unless Alinghi formally commits to “fair rules” that are identical or very close in spirit to those used for last year’s Cup and do not allow Alinghi to control, among other things, the selection of the majority of race officials.

“We don’t trust Ernesto, and we think we have good reason not to trust him,” Ellison said. “All you have to do is look at the first set of rules and realize he’s been forced to make these compromises because of the lawsuit. He hasn’t willingly made these, and he still has not made enough compromises.”

Mills struck a different tone. “We want to give them every opportunity to be there and frankly so do all the other challengers,” he said of Oracle. “But what isn’t going to happen and what Russell called for is that we send the protocol to Russell for him to write a long critique for what he’d like changed. We’re not going to have one team do that.”

“It’s not going to be exactly what they want, not going to be exactly what anybody wants. It’s not exactly what Alinghi wants, but on balance is it fair? I think it’s fair, and I hope Larry and Russell agree. But if they don’t, they’re big boys, and they can take their chances in court.” Rapprochement is still hardly out of the question, but unlike Alinghi, which is still building its multihull, BMW Oracle’s backup plan is already afloat and casting very long shadows across the Pacific.

In the mean time, the Golden Gate Yacht Club, (GGYC), have submitted their Court of Appeals Reply Brief. The reason for bringing the action, in light of events in recent weeks, seems a bit thin, but the more technical issue in the Deed of Gift, relating to whether or not CNEV is a legitimate yacht club seems to hold up. 

Meanwhile, Grant Simmer from Alinghi has said that the revised protocol, as agreed by the 12 teams that are at the table, will be published after the next meeting, scheduled to be held on the 12th of December.

Oman Sail has officially been launched. Ellen MacArthur was on hand in Muscat, Oman, for the announcement of a round the world record attempt, on board her former record breaking 75-foot trimaran ‘B&Q, now known as ‘Musandam’.

Macurther said:

“Oman Sail is a project with a great heart and serious aims, and watching the Omani team progress over the past 6 months of intensive learning has been fantastic. I’m delighted to see my old boat now heading off across the oceans again on a new challenge, she was created for that! I wish the Oman Sail team fair winds and good luck on what remains an extremely difficult challenge – although I’m sure ‘Musandam’ will look after them.”

Mohsin Al Busaidi looks set to be the first ever Omani to attempt the gruelling 23,000 miles around the planet from Muscat to Muscat. If successful, the 5 person crew of ‘Musandam’ will join a select group of people who have circumnavigated the globe non-stop.

Moshsin commented:

“I am deeply honoured to have been selected to represent Oman on this first attempt to race around the world. Success is by no means certain, but we promise to give it our very best to make our country proud every step of the way. I can’t comprehend how cold the Southern Ocean will be, but the warmth of Oman will remain in our hearts and keep us strong on journey onboard Musandam.”

Oman’s Minister for Tourism, Her Excellency, Dr Rajhia bint Abdulamir bin Ali, launched the Oman Sail project. Her Excellency explained:

“Oman Sail is a long term initiative created to inspire a new generation of young Omanis to take up sailing as recreation and as competitive sport, to restore Oman’s maritime eminence through competing at international level, as well as supporting the development of events to support professional sailing in the Arabian Peninsula.”

Backed by the Sultanate, Oman Sail aims to promote the country of Oman to a wider international audience to encourage economic investment, promote the country as a prime tourist destination and, at the same time, provide working opportunities for its growing population of young adults.

Oman Sail’s dream is a big one, and it will take a decade or more to build this new capability for the Omani team to compete at top-level competitions, and is part of the plan to drive interest in young Omanis to step onboard.

In conjunction with the launch, and fresh from Act 1 of the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge in Dubai, Oman Sail, supported by Partner Oman Air, are hosting the second 3-day ‘Act’. Each of the 4 boats competing includes 2 sailors from the Oman Sail Race Team, in their first ever competitive regatta as crew.

Shirley Robertson OBE, double Olympic Gold medallist, and skipper of “Oman Air” for this event, has been impressed by the Omani sailors:

“It is great to see a new nation sailing, my Omani crew are so motivated to learn, I am really looking forward to this next event.”

The Oman Air Challenge will be raced off Muscat between the 2nd and 4th of December. In 2009, Oman Sail will continue to race in the European iShares Cup Extreme 40 circuit, as well complete the construction of a new One Design 105′ ocean racing trimaran. Further details of this new boat will be released to the sailing media in the coming weeks.