2010 was a relatively dull year for the world of Yacht Racing. The calendar had no Volvo Ocean Race or Vendee Globe. The America’s Cup in February was a non-event and the world waited for economic conditions to determine how sponsorship would be viewed by boards around the planet.

The annual yacht racing series like the World Match Racing Tour, Extreme Sailing Series and Audi Med Cup got on with it. If ever there was a year to fill a vacuum left by the America’s Cup 2010 was the year to tempt audiences desperate for sailing content to their brand of yacht racing.

We’ve had a look back at some of the stories that were popular for our readers in 2010. Naturally, topics like Return on Investment (ROI), television and social media were of interest. Stories that looked outside the Yacht Racing bubble were also popular.

JANUARY – Waiting for an America’s Cup

As the new year began, America’s Cup fans sat and weighed up the options of booking travel to Valencia or whether to sit and watch the event on TV. The fight between BMW ORACLE and Alinghi had been long and bitter, and with just weeks to go, the fight was still being fought. The America’s Cup brand was damaged, perhaps irrevocably and sailing as a sport was being affected.

A year later, Jimmy Spithill is talking about ‘Fans we have yet to earn,’ but in January 2010, fans were not high on the priority list for either side.

Sailing sponsorship was still a good deal though. Dee Caffari showed with her Round Britain Record attempt that there are ways to be smart about ‘sweating the asset’ and she delivered a massive ROI for Aviva.

1. RANT – SNG and GGYC Hell Bent on Ruining Sailing Sponsorship Hopes.

2. America’s Cup PR Wars in valencia. Coutts Fights Back.

3. Sailing Record Attempt Delivered 931 times ROI

FEBRUARY – Was that it?

It seems like ancient history already, but in February BMW ORACLE won the America’s Cup from Alinghi in Valencia. The Defender left the sale of television rights so late that the stream was given away to anyone who wanted it. Sailing fans couls watch the America’s Cup on YouTube, blogs and pay TV like Eurosport.

Despite millions of dollars being spent on the futuristic boats, the sea-state and wind meant the start was delayed over and over and over again. If selling the America’s Cup had been hard last time, the next time would be nearly impossible.

While there was a moment of anticipation as the two giant multihulls entered into a proper match racing dial-up, it was not much of a sporting contest. The technology of the American Wingsail meant the sporting contest was lost in the arms-race.

1. America’s Cup Numbers Already

2. America’s Cup Engineered for Anti-Climax

MARCH – What now?

The sport had clarity. With BMW ORACLE winning the America’s Cup, the future was clear. There would be pause for thought. The next Cup would be different. Meanwhile, deals were being done - new events were being designed specifically for sponsors objectives. The Nespresso Cup for Wally yachts is a good case in point.

1. Ellison Talks About the America’s Cup as a Business

2. Nespresso Back in Sailing with Announcement of Wally regatta.

APRIL – Volvo Drives Sailing forwards.

While the banks and financial institutions got nervous about sponsorship in 2010, other brands kept up their commitment. The sport of sailing owes a lot to sponsors like Volvo and Audi who keep investing for the good of all.

The best part about the continued involvement of such brands is that decisions are made on a commercial basis. If it wasn’t working, they wouldn’t keep doing it. This is a vote of confidence that should help others to raise money to compete.

1. Volvo Cars UK Back Team GBR Sailors with Social Media Twist.

2. Volvo Ocean Race Appoints Pedro Galvan Paris to Top Sports Marketing Post.

MAY – The Biggest Sailing Story of the Year?

While the billionaires bickered, a 16 year old Australian girl was sailing around the world. Of the hundreds of thousands of people who followed her journey, most wouldn’t have a clue whether she sailed a monohull or a multihull. This was not a speed record or a distance record. Whatever her sporting credentials, Jessica Watson achieved something that professional yacht racing is still trying to work out – she captured the imagination and attention of the mainstream public.

One of the most well reasoned arguments about the impact of such an achievement on the sport was made by Loick Peyron at the World Yacht Racing Forum in December.

Meanwhile, the Volvo Ocean Race got professional about where they would stop for the next edition of their race.

1. Jessica Watson’s Voyage Provides Some Sailing Sponsorship Insights.

2. The Sports Consultancy Volvo Ocean Race Project One of the Biggest Tenders in Sport.

JUNE – Get the Activation Right.

How the public is supposed to work out what is going on when there are at least three races with a variation of the name Round Britain and Ireland, Round the Island etc we don’t know. Add to that a race without a web-presence and you really do wonder why sponsors would look at the sport.

It’s not all about fans though. Different sponsors have different objectives and different audiences. For Hugo Boss, a fashion company, sailing is just one platform to create an experience and put on a show. It doesn’t matter if you are a yacht club or an international brand – attention to detail is key.

1. How to Build a Sailing Website in 5 Hours for less than £100

2. Diane Kruger and Fashionistas Celebrate Hugo Boss Relaunch.

JULY – Change is good right?

Just because sailing needs to change, doesn’t mean that every new idea is a good one. The success of projects like Oman Sail show that long term strategies that are executed well create the best long term results.

ISAF has been criticised for not having a plan when it comes to non-Olympic sailing. This is changing. Behind the scenes, the system of ISAF special event status and allocation of World Championships should create a sporting landscape where new events don’t cannibalise the small audience. As much as we love the Extreme 40 – 2010 was too early to have a World Championship.

Meanwhile, Cowes Week’s identity crisis continues. Caught between sporting event and social scene, the regatta that is trying to be everything to everyone but really just for competing sailors. It meanders on.

1. Extreme 40 World Dodge an ISAF Sheriff’s Bullet

2. Mahiki Raffles Not Welcome at Cowes Week

AUGUST – Writing on the Wall

Skandia is another sponsor that the sport of sailing owes a lot to. Not only do they continue to invest in yacht racing, but as a professional, commercial operation they have an attention to detail that is often lacking.

Meanwhile, monohull America’s Cup boats were killed off before the official announcement by BMW ORACLE. The planned Louis Viutton Trophy event in Hong Kong was cancelled in the lead up to one of the most anticpated press conferences for some time.

1. Skandia Sailing Consumer Marketing Campaign

2. WSTA Kills Hong King Louis Vuitton Trophy Event

SEPTEMBER – The Rise of the Facebook Generation.

At the beginning of September, we knew that BMW ORACLE would make some big announcements about the future of the America’s Cup. The scuttlebutt was flying. Leaks and counterleaks were swirling around the internet.

The new Defender had been working with ‘experts’ to create a New Deal America’s Cup that television executives would fall over themselves to bid for. Such was the power of the faceless TV people that the format of the America’s Cup would have to fundamentally change.

The ‘announcement’ was staged in a grand venue, but this was not a confident relaunch presentation of the biggest brand in the sport of sailing. Like much of the communications out of BMW ORACLE, the message was scripted like a news bulletin and Russell Coutts delivered the quote of 2010:

We are going after the Facebook Generation not the Flintstone Generation.

Later in September, the Facebook generation’s pin-up boy was promoting a film about sailing, but it was a missed opportunity.

1. Americia’s Cup Launch to Facebook Generation Falls Flat.

2. Zac Efron Sells Sailing to the Facebook Generation.

3. We Expect Big Things from the America’s Cup.

OCTOBER – The Dust Settles on the New Deal

So the Defender had set out their America’s Cup stall. The new deal was announced to the world. There were no venues yet and the game had changed. The new platform favoured the Defender, just as the America’s Cup has always favoured the defender. The challengers, who had been part of the most transparent process ever, considered their options.

TEAMORIGIN opted out. The team which had been built on the known foundations of the America’s Cup – match racing in monohulls now had to start again. Is it enough to compete? Sir Keith Mills made the call that if there is no chance of winning, there is no point in taking part.

October also saw the appointment of Richard Worth to the America’s Cup Event Authority. His credentials from the world of football. Richard’s answers to our 8 questions about the business of Yacht Racing will surprise you.

1. Old America’s Cup Teams Don’t Like the New Deal. TEAMORIGIN Out.

2. Richard Worth Appointed to America’s Cup Event Authority

3. What are we selling? Mark Cuban’s Thoughts on Sports Marketing.

NOVEMBER – Do we get Digital really?

The influence of digital media on the sport of sailing increases. While those at the America’s Cup are looking to Social Media to solve their communication problems, the industry is naive and backwards when it comes to some digital marketing fundamentals.

For instance – how many agencies, PR or marketing, that work for yacht racing brands, understand Search Engine Optimisation? Our top viewed article of November owes more to considered application of SEO principles than it does to the significance of the announcement.

1. Iain Percy becomes Brand Ambassador for Clarks Sailing Shoe.

2. Dee Caffari’s Tips on Sailing Sponsorship

3. The New Media – Nuisance Nutters or Yacht Racing’s Best Friends?

DECEMBER – Naval Gazing

As the Northern Hemisphere freezes, the Great and the Good of the Yacht Racing Industry gather to discuss the big issues facing the sport at the World Yacht Racing Forum. This year, the conference was held in Estoril, Portugal while sailing got front page news.

Oprah Winfrey and Russell Crowe went for a potter around Sydney Harbour while the Sport of sailing pondered how to get to a mainstream audience.

It is easy to fall into a trap of lumping the sport all together as a single entity, but parts of the sport are light years ahead of the rest. The Moth class is one of the most web-savvy groups in the sport. We don’t normally write about non-business related issues, but our chat with Simon Payne, previewing the 2011 Moth Worlds bounced around Moth related websites and in several days was read by more people than any other article of 2010.

1. Zhik Moth Worlds 2011 Preview

2.Meanwhile In the Real World Sailing gets a Boost from Oprah

3.World Yacht Racing Forum Page

Tomorrow we’ll publish our top stories for 2010 as a whole. As the year goes on, some stories continue to be found and read and shared. Some are the same as above, but some others are not in this list.

From all of the Pilote Media and Yachtsponsorship.com team – have a very happy new year !

It’s sometimes easy to forget that Volvo make more than cars. In the West, the company’s sailing sponsorships are usually associated with their towing vehicles, but like all good sponsors, Volvo tailor their message based on the market they are in and the renewed sponsorship of the India International Regatta is all about buses.

Volvo will serve as the title sponsor of the Indian International Regatta 2010, having previously served as the event’s exclusive corporate sponsor. Financial terms were not released, however, it is expected to be on similar terms as the two organisations previous agreement, which Sports Pro Magazine estimates at $USD 100,000 per year for 3 years.

Managing director of Volvo Buses, Akash Passey, said,

“We are very proud of our sponsorship of the India International Regatta. Volvo is associated with sponsorship of major sailing championships and connected with loyal and dedicated sailing fans around the world, and as the title sponsor of the ‘India International Regatta,’ we have the honour of extending our relationship with sailors in India too.”

Volvo Penta, Head, S Prabhakaran said:

‘Volvo Penta is committed to promoting the need to preserve and conserve our environment, and sailing is just that sport which connects people to these elements of nature. With the growing popularity of the sport in India, the children are ideal ambassadors for us to help make the change.’

AS Bajwa, Yachting Association of India treasurer, said,

“It is a major step forward in expanding our vision of putting India as the global sailing destination and by tying up with Volvo, the brand leader of sailing races worldwide, it is bound to add tremendous value.”

The regatta to be sailed off Chennai during 03 -10 Oct 2010 is expected to see sailors from Singapore, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain, Turkey, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Sri Lanka, South Africa and Kenya who have evinced keen interest in participating in this year’s event.

The sport of sailing in India is growing fast. As well as increasing participants, India is becoming one of the largest TV markets for sailing content.

More Volvo Sailing News…

This weekend. I competed alongside 16,000 other participants in the J.P. Morgan Asset Management Round the Island Race aboard Volvo Team For Life, a TP52 racing yacht helmed by British Olympic medallist Shirley Robertson. Volvo Cars UK are a partner of the race, and the involvement is an important part of a larger commitment to British sailing.

The best sponsorship campaigns are those which are activated through long term commitment. This means building a portfolio of activities that are complimentary and in a world of social networking, build links between brands, ambassadors and the target audience.

Volvo Cars UK have supported British Sailing for a long time and the programme has touchpoints with the whole of the sport, from grass-roots beginners through to elite Olympic athletes. The Round the Island Race is important to the overall campaign because of its inclusiveness. Professional racing teams make up a fraction of the participants in the event, however at the end of the race, the shared experience brings the community together.

This sense of community extends to the companies and brands that support the event and the sport. While Volvo Team For Life ambassadors like Shirley Robertson, Ben Ainslie and Paul Goodison are seasoned media campaigners, there is a sense that they are truly grateful for Volvo’s support – it’s not just a contractual arrangement, but a partnership that works for everyone.

Like title sponsor JP Morgan Asset Management, Volvo Cars UK has big-picture positioning reasoning for being involved with sailing. Duncan Forrester, Head of Public Relations, Events & Sponsorship says:

“We believe sailing’s inherent use of natural resources fits perfectly with Volvo’s environmental values. At Volvo we believe our commitment to the environment does not mean compromising on state of the art technology, comfort or style. Our DRIVe range is leading the way in creating cars which will have zero impact on the environment reflecting our aim to be the car of choice for the sailing community. Our environmental credentials have gone a long way in helping us achieve this.”

But positioning is only part of the story. The Round the Island experience is an unforgettable hospitality platform. Many of the automotive and motorsport journalists aboard had never been on a boat before, let alone a purpose built racing yacht. Waking someone up at 3am in the morning, putting them aboard a boat with an Olympic gold medallist and making them get involved as the spinnaker is hoisted on the start-line jostling for position with 1700 other boats is not something that can be replicated by inviting them to a tent at a race-track.

In the past, this might be the end of it. A great weekend and perhaps a better feeling about the brand that may or may not translate into more sales, but like many automotive brands, Volvo are embracing a more conversational, relationship based marketing approach. The Volvo Team for Life Facebook page is part of a strategy that hopes to develop deeper, more long term relationships between the brand and customers, which must ultimately lead to greater loyalty and long term customer value.

Yet another sailing sponsorship announcement by Audi, this time in the heart of Volvo territory – Sweden. The Stena Match Cup Sweden takes place on the Island of Marstrand, just 12 miles north of Volvo’s global HQ in Torslanda. The event, which draw huge crowds to watch match racing, is one of the best staged sailing events anywhere in the world and fits well with Audi’s strategy to cherry-pick sponsorships that have the biggest impact.

Audi will become a partner of Stena Match Cup Sweden, which is one of the stand out events of the ISAF World Match Racing Tour (WMRT). Last week Audi announced that it would partner with Azzurra, adding to it’s sponsorships around the world which include Kieler Woche, Audi Victoria Week and of course the Audi Med Cup.

Niklas Henning, Event and Sponsor Manager, Audi Sverige:

“Sailing is a favoured sport to many of our customers. Our engagement in Stena Match Cup Sweden gives us a possibility to strengthen Audi’s presence on the west coast as well as providing a good platform to meet with our customers”

Jan Torstenson, GM at Brandspot and the Commercial Organizer of Stena Match Cup Sweden, commented:

“We are very grateful and proud that Audi has chosen to become a sponsor to Stena Match Cup Sweden. A strong brand like Audi will add great value to the event and their experience in sailing internationally makes a partnership very natural and developing”.

The branding concept for the Audi boat in Stena Match Cup Sweden 2010 follows the same guidelines as Audi MedCup and Kieler Woche and is part of the Audi A1-launch.

More Audi News…

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…

Sports sponsorship is still relatively misunderstood. To many, there is still an idea that sports sponsorship has more to do with the whims of the CEO or Chairman than it does with marketing and communications. The World Yacht Racing Forum, held in Monaco last week opened with a session devoted to the sponsorship of yacht racing.

The session included several presentations from slightly different stakeholders. First up Richard Moore, CEO of sports marketing firm Capitalize who has a more global view about how sailing fits into the bigger picture. The good news is that despite some firms in America being prevented from using TARP money on sponsorship, spending is up 9.1%. $31 billion of the money spent on sponsorship is spent on sport, though only a fraction of that is spent on sailing.

According to Moore, companies that fit with sports sponsorship and who might be looking to spend money can be found in the sports tourism, data storage and utilities sectors.

The perception of sponsorship and how it is measured is changing. Moore draws a distinction between sponsors who are acting as patrons and those who are using the tools to drive business returns. Sponsors are not venture capitalists, says Moore.

He goes on to say that sponsorship is less and less about eyeballs and more and more about using passion to change emotions and habits. In order to achieve the 6 times ROI that sponsors are looking for, sailing needs to focus on its strengths and remember that often the marketing director will not know or care who ISAF is or what a tack or gybe means. To put things into perspective – in France, sailing is not listed in the top 10 played sports.

So what are the strengths of sailing? Well the sport has “dwell time” – events are long and when coupled with hospitality provide a chance for people to talk, network and do business. Sailing also has stories that speak to wide audiences, but more needs to be done to create passion and fans.

Sailing can be a very powerful platform for doing business though. Its not always obvious why a sponsor is spending so much money, especially if they are a B2B brand. The insight presented at the forum by Richard Brisius from the Ericsson Racing Team reminded us of what sponsors are looking to achieve and how to sell to those needs.

The race off the water is as important as the race on the water. One is for first position and the other is for the customer. This means that the activation that sits around the sponsorship is as important, if not more important than the floating billboard. During the Volvo Ocean Race, Ericsson talked used its two boat campaign to talk to 12,667 target groups and 480 organisations.

As well as the activity on the water, there were round table discussions that brought together key players in the industry. Ericsson provided an environment for CTOs and other industry leaders to talk to each other, positioning the company as a leader. For Brisius, any media value was a bonus. As he said “the business is not happening on the boat, the business is happening in the hospitality unit.”

Similar goals are behind why Volvo does the race in the first place. Karin Backlund from Volvo Cars explained in her presentation that ownership of such a global sporting property allows the company to change the perceptions of customers over the long term. The race also helps to build pride in employees around the world, something that many sponsorship hunters overlook.

Volvo is a brand that has done a great job at being top of mind for one word – safety. Perhaps too good a job. The Volvo Ocean Race is a mechanism to slowly move customer perceptions to thinking of Volvo in terms of performance too. The brand values that Volvo shares with sailing are; Safety and the Environment, design and quality, performance and teamwork. Volvo has traditionally been about rationality. The race adds passion and emotion.

At the end of the day (or race) Volvo have to sell more cars, busses or marine engines. The race is global and therefore taps into the diversity of the Volvo customer base. 10,000 Volvo guests can interact with the brand and the footage can be used at other events by integrating the marketing at Motor Shows.

Volvo get a return on investment of 300-400% in terms of brand exposure and 55% of people are more positive about the brand as a result of the race.

The panel that followed the presentations for this session was a little short, but most on stage agreed that the platform served to win hearts and minds, not eyeballs. There is a sense that sailing is still the “wild west” – that rights management and sponsorship measurement are not fully understood.

One figure mentioned was that HSBC recieve over 10,000 sposnsorship proposals a year. That’s a lot of paper and a lot of competition. Those looking for sponsorship need to understand what brands are looking for and tailor their offer accordingly.

The Volvo Ocean Race raised a few eyebrows when it included India in the last edition of the Round the World race. Traditionalists shook their heads and muttered about the Southern Ocean, but those with a more global view saw the move as being essential to build the sport of sailing in developing markets with huge populations. All sports are looking to try and unlock the potential of markets like Brazil, Russia, India and China, the so-called BRIC nations. In India, sports like Cricket have a huge head-start, but those who take the initiative should win out.

Given Volvo’s success in India, it is not a huge surprise to see them, sign on as the exclusive corporate sponsor of India International Regatta, scheduled at Chennai during 1-8 November 2009. Where the company might use sailing in the UK to promote dinghy towing SUVs, the Indian event will be backed by Volvo Buses and Volvo Penta on behalf of the Volvo Group in India.

The regatta to be sailed off Chennai is expected to see more than 150 sailors from across the world racing in the Optimist and the 29er class of boats, which have been recently procured with the assistance of the Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports, Government of India.

Commenting on the deal, Marketing Head with Volvo, Sohanjeet Randhawa said,

“We have seen a great synergy between our brand and sailing, and the growing popularity of sailing in India makes this a great opportunity for us to partner. We now have a special connect with Chennai city and sailing in India. Volvo Buses with a 100 bus order from Chennai City will soon be part of the city’s development landscape. Volvo Penta on the other hand is one of the most preferred Global brand in the boating industry and as well as in marine commercial and industrial segments. On land, air or on sea Volvo seeks to create value in consonance with its core values of environment care, safety and quality”.

The world’s most followed and toughest ocean race is sponsored by Volvo and the yachts made a stopover at Kochi in December 2008, during its last edition. The next Volvo Ocean Race is scheduled to start from Alicante, Spain in mid/end 2011.

Shankar Narayanan, Managing Director, Asia Growth Capital, Carlyle Group and Chairman Fund Raising & Publicity Committee of the Yachting Association of India said:

“We are delighted to have Volvo come on board as the title sponsor of the event. It is our privilege to have one of the world’s leaders join hands with us and I extend a hearty welcome on behalf of the entire sailing family. I am confident that together we will create a wonderful experience for the sailing enthusiasts and help make this event even bigger in the days to come.”

For more information on how to get to the regatta, and to book your charter boats, visit the event website www.iiregatta.in.

The Volvo Ocean Race continues to deliver huge economic benefits to its stopover ports. Whether this says more about the promotional muscle of the organisers or the latent demand for yacht racing by spectators it is hard to say – perhaps it is a bit of both.

Despite the overall winner having already been decided, the race for 2nd place has given the closing stages of the race another chapter of drama. Sunday’s in-port race saw Telefonica Blue come back from being stranded high and dry on a rock a week ago to winning the day, making the last leg count.

“So many people,” said Magnus Olsson at the end of the in-port race, the skipper of Ericsson 3 waving at the hordes. “There are millions.” Not quite, but the Stockholm race village is on course to beat its forecasted footfall targets, according to the provisional figures belonging to Ola Åstradsson, the port stopover manager.

Åstradsson believes approximately 70,000 people were in the race village for the in-port race yesterday, despite the action taking place nearly 25 miles away at KanholmsfjÄrden. It enabled the overall headcount for the race village to “pass the 400,000 mark”, a significant step towards surpassing the 500,000 target set for the stopover.

“We will pass 500,000,” Åstradsson added. “There is still a lot planned here and we expect to pass our target.”

Not included in those targets, but relevant to the stopover’s wider objectives, were the spectator fleet on the water. Olsson, sailing his home waters, promised the “biggest number of boats you have seen” and, ultimately, Åstradsson’s team think there were in the region of “3,000 to 4,000 boats”.

“Spectacular,” was the summary of Ken Read, the PUMA skipper.

But also for the City of Stockholm, who are funding the event’s presence here to the tune of five million euros. Åstradsson forecast that the local economy will be enhanced by 13 million euros in the short term as a result of hosting the stopover, while the City of Stockholm hopes the stopover will support their long-term goals.

“We have a couple of objectives,” Åstradsson said. “For us as an organisation, the objective is to create the best stopover ever. From the City of Stockholm, who financed this event, the objective is to market the brand of Stockholm worldwide. It’s strictly a business incentive to try to attract businesses, alliances, corporations to Stockholm in the next two decades.

“The city has an ambition for 2030, called Vision Stockholm 2030. The population is going to grow by 600,000 people. If you move 600,000 people they have to work somewhere. Our exercise is to build a brand name, create awareness of Stockholm as a place to base businesses and run high profile events. It is a long-term commitment.”

Little wonder that ports around the world are queuing up to bid for the right to be a stopover in the next race, the look of which is becoming clearer all the time thanks to the organiser’s round table meetings. In Stockholm, Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad stated the goal of the organisers of the race is to ‘become the world’s number one sailing event; that’s our ambition.’

How? The steps towards that goal are to

• increase the number and quality of teams in the next edition of the race,
• to increase media coverage with a focus on news and interactive media,
• to develop the race stopovers to a new level of quality.

In terms of stopover cities for the next edition, the list of potential ports has been winnowed from 82 to 34. The quality of the remaining bids is ‘outstanding’ according to Frostad. The critical path for port procurement will see the stopover ports announced beginning in March 2010.

Volvo Ocean Race organisers continue to paint a vision for the future, with the latest in the ’round table’ meetings presented in Galway. There are three pillars that are being used to steer the future of the race – the first element is a technical cost containment and reduction programme, the second, an increase on the value to teams, sponsors and ports involved in the race, and the third is to keep the race seriously attractive to the best sailors in the world.

The latest presentation focussed on technical rule changes to make the race appeal to a larger audience and to limit costs.

VOR CEO Knut Frostad opened the meeting by saying:

“Just like any sailing project the more time we have to prepare ourselves, the better the chances we have of doing a good job,” he said. “Our number one objective is to increase the number of competitors in the next race. We know that we need a larger fleet in the future for the race to be able to reach its full potential.”

“An important element in achieving more boats on the start line in Alicante in 2011 is a reduction of costs and an increase in value for the teams. In the short term, whilst the race is going on and whilst everyone has it fresh in their minds and is focused we have to work on the cost reduction side of the equation. To that end, changes already announced include a reduction in crew members, from 11 to 10, and nearly a 40% reduction in race sails.”

In an effort to encourage female participation, a new rule will allow ‘female’ teams to carry 12 sailors, including the media crew, two of whom may be men. This represents two extra crew members over an all-male crew.

Technical changes were also announced including:

• The maximum weight for the keel fin and bulb will be set at 7,400 kgs in the future.  The fin will be required to be solid, with no fairings permitted.
• The weight of the yacht is to be increased so that it may fit into the range between 14,000 kilograms and 14,500 kilograms.
• Headfoils will be banned; headsails will either be set on furlers or with hanks.
• The overall weight of each yacht’s batteries will be reduced by 100 kgs.
• Each Volvo Open 70 will also be required to carry a renewable energy source capable of generating 80 Watts of electrical power.
• No two-boat testing will be permitted until after the ‘race’ boat has been launched, or after a yet-to-be-defined date, which may be as late as the race start.

The next ‘round table’ session is scheduled for 22 June in Stockholm.

As the organisers of the Volvo Ocean Race continue thier audit of the event and announce changes to the next version, the current race is returning to Europe with the fleet currently in Galway, Ireland.

There is no doubt that the stopover will inject some cash into the local economy, but what does title sponsor Volvo get out of such a visit? Independent.ie asked Volvo Ireleand MD David Baddeley how the race relates to selling cars. Volvo only has about 2% of the market in Ireland which in 2009 is expected to translate to 850 cars!

Mr Baddeley points out that when Volvo began its relationship with the Regatta back in 2007; no-one knew the world-famous Ocean Race would be stopping off in Ireland in 2009, but nevertheless, there are brand-building benefits to the stop.

“…we had to take a long-term view, we can’t just say we’re not going to get anything from it this year so we’re not doing it. People don’t just rush out and buy Volvos after the event, it’s about building something long term.”

Mr Baddeley’s aspirations for long-term pay-offs stem from his hope that an association with the “exciting” sport of sailing will help “update” people’s image of Volvos as being “expensive” and for “fuddy duddies”.

“When we have the cars out there on display at the events, it’s a really good opportunity to interact with potential customers in an environment where there’s no hard sell,” says Mr Baddeley, adding that the people who follow sailing are “very much” Volvo’s demographic.

“We’d expect some pick-up in the later half of the year as people realise that it’s still okay to spend money even though we’re in a recession,” he says. “Volvo has been in Ireland for more than 40 years, we’re here for the long-term.”

As race organisers have shown throughout the event, the local population following the race is one thing, the global following via the internet and other media is quite another. The race will put the city of Galway on the map for many people through media coverage of events over the next week or so.