Sail-World New Zealand- July 1, 2012
by . on 1 Jul 2012
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand newsletter for July 1, 2012
Have a read of the Sunday papers, as we have just done, and you'd be excused for thinking there was no sailing on in the world at present - aside from one sailor profile, relating to the Olympics three weeks away.
Even if the daily print media had done yesterday's news today, which is slightly understandable given their deadlines, there are still plenty of of good sailing events out there that never get covered. But we have it all here...
There's the Volvo Ocean Race, remember - that's the one that stopped over in Auckland a few months back, and never even got a report in the daily print media on the thrilling Leg 8 finish. Camper, the boat of the Emirates New Zealand team (remember them?), took second in that Leg, and did the same overnight in the InPort race at Lorient, France. We have full coverage in this edition of Sail-World.com.
For Camper it was an outstanding performance out of of the blocks, but an error on the final run cost them first place. We have the story in this edition of Sail-World.com's newsletter, along with full coverage and video links on the race.
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The Volvo Ocean Race is down to the wire, for probably the first time in its history, with the result all hanging on the outcome of the final Leg, and as we saw in the thrilling closing stages of the NZ-ignored Leg 8, a certain winner can lose everything - as evidenced by Telefonica. The start of Leg 9 gets underway tonight. We have the video link for the start, so you can see it live and then continue to follow the action - which will be near constant and online, with plenty of video interviews from the boats which were just sensational in Leg 8. Will the placings go down to the final InPort Race in Galway - we think so.
Another event that has slipped off the daily print media radar, the the America's Cup World Series.
Yep that's the one in which Emirates Team NZ has a boat competing. The regatta is being staged in Newport, RI, the historic home of the America's Cup. The world's leading sailing journalist, Bob Fisher has been in Newport covering the on and off the water action, for Sail-World.com and we have his reports, some great images, and all the unblocked video we can in this edition of Sail-World.com
The final of the final round of the ACWS, is being sailed tonight. You can't see it live on the interweb in New Zealand due to Youtube blocking. But if you run a Firefox browser with a Proxy Tube addon - you can probably get the full replay - as soon as it is posted, and have it running on the quite in the office, or wherever tomorrow.
The magnificent J Class are sailing a series of three regattas along the South Coast of England building into the 2012 Olympics.
We have been covering these all week, with daily reports and as many images as we can. These 120ft originals and replicas of the 1920 and 30's are just magnificent to see. There's a new Zealand angle (or two) - again missed by the hapless print media - with several New Zealanders on board in key roles. As well most of the sails for these yachts, are made in New Zealand - a great export story for the NZ marine industry. We have been covering this aspect in a two-part series looking through the North Sails loft - on a visit earlier this year. The sheer size of the sails and gear on these yachts can only really be gauged when you see a close up of a crew member alongside a winch or other gear.
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The Round the Island Race around the Isle of Wight, England took place last night. We have a report in this edition of Sail-World, along with several great images, and will be adding to this story. It is one of the largest yacht races in the world - making for some spectacular photography, particularly when sailed in fresh conditions such as prevailed yesterday.
The Laser Radial Youth Worlds are underway in Brisbane. Several New Zealand sailors are competing in the Boys and Girls events - and with two days racing completed - well one really, after yesterday's racing was abandoned.
There are 19 nations competing in the regatta - not that you'd know that from the daily print media, because again the event is ignored. We have reports from the first two days of racing, plus results - but only off the water images at this stage.
On Thursday night, the new Volvo 65 was announced for the next two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. It is clearly a boat for the times - media friendly, with a reduced budget aimed at getting more teams involved, plus a one design to keep the racing close - and stretch the fans' interest.
In this edition of Sail-World, we have a brief reaction from Grant Dalton of Emirates Team NZ, and an update on our editorial from the last issue. Plus the top designer Juan K gives his comments via a link to a two part story appearing on www.vsail.info
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Juan K is very critical of the approach taken, and makes some interesting points about what is/not being saved by the cost reductions. But clearly organisers have made the trade-offs of a smidgen of performance, for an increase in structural strength, to give a surety of all boats finishing each leg. This will help keep the race close right to the end. Plus the media friendly interior boat design will be able to use the tenfold increase in broadband upload organisers they will have for the next race, which will make a huge difference to the size of the fan base.
Returning to our comments about the paucity of coverage of the sailing given by daily print media. Often it is opined that Sailing is not followed in NZ, as much as other sports. So how can Sail-World.com be the highest rating single sports website in NZ according to Alexa.com's rating system - which draws on a sample of 10million viewers around the world?
If people weren't interested in the sport, they wouldn't be following it on the web, would they? And rugby, or cricket or one of the other big sports would be top of the pile, wouldn't they?
You are, and will be what you print. The so-called lack of sailing coverage in the daily print media is a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And maybe a few of the local sports editors would be well advised to have a look over the Tasman at the rumblings in the Fairfax and Murdoch empires as they make the hard calls for transitioning to the internet. And then look at the great coverage that is available on the web for sailing, and then look at where the Volvo Ocean Race is heading in terms of its media coverage. Not hard to work out where the sports media world is headed, is it?
Many thanks to those who have contributed to this edition, particularly those using our online submission and image loading facility which can be accessed by http://www.sail-world.com/admin/add_story.cfm?rid=6!clicking_here
Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
nzeditor@sail-world.com
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