The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
by Mark Jardine 4 Feb 12:00 PST
Charlie Dalin (FRA) is photographed after winning the Vendée Globe, on January 14, in Les Sables d'Olonne, France © Vincent Curutchet / Alea
If ever I needed a reminder of how varied the sport of sailing is, the past fortnight has provided it. We've seen the whole spectrum of goings on, from the superb in the Vendée Globe, to the baffling with the British America's Cup team, and everything in-between.
Vendée Globe brilliance
The Vendée Globe has been the gift that keeps on giving. Hugely personable sailors, incredible battles and dramatic situations have given us a race that has kept us on the edge of our seats for well over eighty days now.
The foilers at the front may have finished over twenty days ago, and shown just how far the technology has come in offshore monohull sailing, but since Sunday we've seen nine skippers come into the finish at Les Sables d'Olonne, some within minutes of each other. The term 'race within a race' could have been written for the Vendée Globe, and there have been defined groupings of boats throughout the fleet, which has kept interest piqued.
Getting regular video updates from the boats has been revolutionary for the race, and the daily updates on the @Sail-World YouTube channel have now accrued well over 4 million views and an astounding 316,000 hours viewed in the past 85 days. The Vendée Globe is engaging, captivating and enthralling, and is reaching far beyond its traditional French base. It may have a way to go with the traditional mainstream media, but this is becoming less and less important in the evolving world of journalism.
Through my daily updates I've learned a huge amount on what works and what doesn't in the world of video, and will no doubt continue to do so, but it's pleasing that this new audience seems to be lapping up news from elsewhere in sailing, such as taking a look round new and interesting boats and products at boot Düsseldorf, and interviews with leading sailors and industry personalities.
It was nearly thirty years ago that I started my first online sailing magazine called Intersail, which evolved into YachtsandYachting.com, and I'm glad that we can still innovate a quarter of a century later.
Inspiring RYA Connected Webinars
On Monday evening I joined Gareth Brookes, Head of Regions at the RYA, to host the first RYA Connected Webinar, aimed at highlighting clubs which are succeeding in growing their membership and participation.
These are in many ways a continuation of the RYA Participation Webinars we did in 2019 and 2020, but as we all know the world has changed in many ways in the past five years. Hearing how Yeadon Sailing Club, with its ground-breaking 'Pay what you can' membership fee, Northampton Sailing Club with its SUP and Pirates sections, and Colne Sailing Club, with its Women on Water initiative sailing Sonata keelboats, have all grown was inspiring and I can't wait for the next one at the beginning of March.
We'll be posting the full webinar and highlights on Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com, so be sure to watch for ideas if your club needs to look at growth in difficult times. Sports governing can get a bad rap sometimes, so it's heartening to be involved in an initiative with the Royal Yachting Association which is doing really good things. Bravo to Gareth and the team for all they do for our sport.
America's Cup turmoil
It was two weeks ago that the America's Cup world was thrown into disarray with the news that INEOS Britannia and Sir Ben Ainslie had parted ways after they couldn't find agreement on terms to move forward following the conclusion of the 37th America's Cup.
The statement from INEOS Britannia was brief, and it was clear that the parting wasn't on good terms with Sir Jim Ratcliffe's quote not thanking Ben, or any of the sailing team for that matter, for their contribution to the campaign:
"I am enormously proud of what we achieved in Barcelona in developing a British boat that was truly competitive for the first time in decades. It set new benchmarks for British sailing, including winning the Louis Vuitton Cup for the first time, and taking races off the Defender in the finals for the first time in 90 years. We will now build upon this for the 38th America's Cup through the INEOS challenge and already have 100 scientists and engineers working on the design of our AC38 yacht."
This would infer that INEOS Britannia will challenge again, but that might be subject to the INEOS review of its sports investments. The giant chemical producer has invested heavily in sailing, motorsport, cycling and football, with a 27.7% stake in Manchester United Football Club, but it could be argued that their sailing sponsorship has been most successful of the trio, with the company and Sir Jim taking a hammering in the mainstream press, especially over Man Utd.
But I digress... where does this leave Ben Ainslie and the rest of the sailing team? Straight after the 37th America's Cup the Royal Yacht Squadron (Royal Yacht Squadron Ltd.) became the Challenger of Record for the 38th America's Cup, which was going to be represented by INEOS Britannia. Now it seems that Athena Racing, led by Sir Ben Ainslie, are their preferred option, with the name being brought into line with the Women's and Youth America's Cup teams.
Behind the scenes I'm sure much is being prepared by Ben and his team, talking with potential sponsors and patrons to make sure this campaign becomes a reality. America's Cup campaigns don't come cheap, with the research and technology needed to design and build a competitive AC75 yacht being gargantuan.
They say no-one wins an America's Cup campaign at the first attempt, which isn't strictly true as Swiss billionaire Ernesto Bertarelli did in 2003, but continuity plays a huge part in successful bids to win. The key to British success will be the learnings taken from their 37th America's Cup campaign and then going on to the next level. Who owns this intellectual property could be pivotal. Much of the engineering and computational power was provided by the INEOS-sponsored Mercedes Formula One team - will they keep the assets, or do they belong to the team or challenging club?
In my opinion, dividing the team in this way can only leave the British America's Cup campaign(s) weaker and, if it ends up going the legal route to resolve some of the issues, then the distraction will waste valuable time, energy and money which could be focused on Britain finally winning the Auld Mug.
We'll find out more as time goes on but - as a Brit who loves sailing - watching and commentating on this from the sidelines is a bit depressing as I'm not into soap operas.
Mark Jardine
Sail-World.com and YachtsandYachting.com Managing Editor