Jeonnam-Jeju International Yacht Race 2010

by Guy Nowell, Sail-World Asia on 26 Oct 2010 It would be easy to form the view that they do things differently in Korea: there's a lot of sizzle, and very little steak

The Jeonnam-Jeju International Yacht Race 2010 (JJR) was billed as a day’s inshore racing at Mokpo, on the south western corner of Korea, followed by a 90nm offshore race to Jeju Island, and a further day of cans racing at Jeju port.

The first day’s racing, in a basin off to the side of the commercial port, proved to be uninteresting from the point of view of the quality of the boats and the quality of the sailing. First race, two laps. The start was an hour late because the Committee Boat left the dock late, and the first boat across the line was 60 seconds late. The second race was shortened to one lap only as the breeze died, and the paramount consideration of getting back to the marina in time for the Opening Ceremony took over.

Saturday’s long race to Jeju was cancelled – ostensibly due to ‘severe weather’ giving rise to a cited ‘withdrawal of support’ from the Korea Coastguard, while at the same time the BuoyWeather.com website was reporting ‘light winds with a slight chop, small short period wind waves. Seas ENE 0.4 to 0.5m, 2 sec. Winds ENE 9-12kts’.

Information available from other internet weather sites concurred. The well-substantiated whisper on the dock is that facilities at Jeju were in fact unfinished, and there was insufficient and inadequate berthing on the temporary pontoons at Jeju port. The day’s racing was therefore two more (very) short windward/leeward races in the same location as the first.

The signature event to Jeju was replaced, a day late, by a 20nm straight line race among the islands in the outer reaches of the harbour approaches. 10 miles out, turn, 10 miles back. In a light 6-8 kt breeze, and against the tide, the leading boat in the fleet overtook the boat designated as the turning mark some 8 nm down track (and still motoring), rounded it, and set off back upwind. So that’s where the ‘turning mark’ had to stay. And then there was the 8-mile beat back against the tide, which had by now turned.

Yes, they do things differently in Korea. Racing is not organised by clubs, but instead relies on the Korea Sailing Federation (KSAF) supported by funding from regional, provincial and municipal governments.

This means that the sailing part of this event is a backdrop to the politics and the ceremonies, where people in blazers making self-congratulatory speeches take centre stage – not that there’s much to be proud of.

One of the officials said at the Opening Ceremony that ‘Mokpo aims to become the greatest yachting centre in Asia, and plans to expand the marina here to 600 berths.’

‘Ah, another one,’ remarked the person sitting next to me.

'The existing marina is in the fishing port, entirely unprotected from commercial vessels passing at high speed and putting up an enormous wash that breaks clear across the top of the pontoons. Not really somewhere you want to park your boat.

In May this year, at the Korea Cup (another local inshore/offshore series, and not to be confused with the Korea Match Cup, a professionally-organised event and part of the WMRT circuit) we reported that ‘race management does not appear to be a strong point of the KSAF’. It hasn’t improved since then.

There are a great many people wandering about wearing natty blazers, and wet weather gear branded with the ISAF logo or Beijing Olympics 2008, but with precious little idea about regatta management.

JJR took the trouble to invite a number of well-qualified and highly experienced overseas personnel to act as Race Officers and Management, but they were relegated to the back seat, and their input over the last three days has it seems gone entirely unheeded.

Decision-making appears to be strictly make-it-up-as-you-go-along. ‘It has been decided’ and ‘it has been changed’ are almost catch-phrases here, and such decisions as there are appear to be made with more consideration for political positioning than any desire to organise good racing for the sailors. The usual procedure of running a regatta according to a set of Sailing Instructions does not seem to apply.

Overseas competitors (there are a few, mostly from Russia) are paid an entry ‘subsidy’ (approx USD2,000), and prize money was on offer for the two classes in the 'offshore' race totalling USD 16,000. This leads to a theory that some entrants are only here for the cheques – actually, it’s not a theory… one of them said just that.

In yesterday's Daily Telegraph, referring to the Korean Grand Prix which also took place in Mokpo this last weekend, Tom Carey wrote:

‘Having been signed off at the 11th hour… the infrastructure has been predictably catastrophic, with transport and hotel issues. Organisers apologised on Thursday for desolate surrounds with cranes and workmen still working around the clock, aided by the military.

They have had to give away complimentary tickets in an attempt to boost attendance figures but many are wondering whether a race that is so hard to reach and in such an unbecoming part of the country can ever be a success. The plan is to build a town and marina by the track over the next decade or so.

There have also been complaints about the accommodation on offer, too. Many of the teams and media are staying in so-called 'love hotels' in nearby Mokpo, essentially brothels with the sex workers removed, where they are being charged four times what one would pay 'by the hour' if one stayed a full night.’

The situation was strictly similar at the Jeonnam-Jeju International Yacht Race, with the additional entertainment provided for invited race officials and media of traipsing around the red light district after dinner each night, looking for another hotel.

The regatta organisers had not booked accommodation in advance for their visitors. Many visiting competitors were housed at Daebul University, one of the principal sponsors of the event.

But the student accommodation did not include furniture, involving nothing more than a blanket on a bare floor. The lucky ones got a mattress.

There are people ready, willing and able to put time and energy into assisting the infant Korean sailing scene to get off the ground and develop - some in Korea, and many from overseas - so it’s a great shame that their best efforts are negated by ad hoc decision-making and the direction of regatta funding into items such as prize money and entry subsidies.

A visiting overseas race official told us that the most important things in running a regatta are ‘good organisation, fair racing, consistency and safety.’ One way or another, the Jeonnam-Jeju International Yacht Race 2010 failed on all counts. After visiting two exceptionally poorly organised regattas in Korea in 2010, we do not expect to be back next year.