Olympic racing at its best - Paul Snow-Hansen and Dan Willcox blast upwind on Day 4 of the 2016 Olympic Regatta - a sight not seen by TV viewers. - photo © Richard Gladwell
Dear [recipient name]
Welcome to Sail-World.com's New Zealand e-magazine for April 18, 2018
The America's Cup bases planning fiasco was a close call for the marine industry.
Those dependent on working around the Viaduct Harbour and Wynyard Point area knew they had dodged an unexpected bullet.
The contribution of the NZ marine industry was either not appreciated and understood, or ignored for political reasons by Auckland Council and the Labour-led Government.
What was not immediately apparent was the networking and connections of those opposed to the America's Cup per se and others opposed to the Base options. It was definitely a case of the "enemy of my enemy is my friend" as some strange partnerships evolved. The depth and breadth of those relationships were only uncovered in the few weeks that have followed.
With a second set of Resource Consent Applications having just been lodged, the NZ marine industry needs to put itself onto a stronger and more substantial footing. There are significant issues in the Consent application and associated reports and the Bases - along with their legacy use - border on established superyacht and marine industry facilities.
Many feel that the NZ marine industry is just in the calm before the next storm, and at the same time want to see New Zealand marine companies take the maximum advantage of the upcoming America's Cup and other events.
Richard Macalister of Kiwi Yachting Consultants (he's kept the "Molly" moniker from his Ceramco days) is not known for sitting on his hands and watching the world pass by. He's put his name forward for the Presidency of the Marine Industry Association to ensure the national body has a strong and loud voice in the next few years. A former Ceramco NZ crew member, Macalister wants to position the industry to maximise the opportunities for the NZ marine family from the next America's Cup.
The Annual General Meeting of the NZ Marine Industry Association is tonight - it should be a lively and vital election for both the contested Presidency and Board positions.
In this edition, we have featured the first of a two-part feature on World Sailing's review of five of the Olympic Events and Classes - as the world controlling body for the sport try to bring in some new options.
For sure a review is required - however it needs to be comprehensive - like the 2009/10 ISAF Olympic Commission Report and look at all aspects of the Olympic Regatta and the Olympic cycle. And not just the narrow focus of reviewing some classes to cull the fleet.
The issue, now it is out in the public domain, has been widely criticised in the online sailing media. The lack of understanding of the sport by many of those national bodies making submissions is very disturbing - with huge downstream ramifications for those coming through the youth classes and below. The effect of restricted monopoly manufacturing practices is only now becoming fully known as previously successful companies, started by sailors are forced to close their doors.
The review process has significant ramifications outside the Olympic classes - and those with an investment in boats at Youth and Junior level for a class progression that will no longer exist.
As mentioned the direction of travel by World Sailing appears to have real ramifications for the marine industry.
In this Part 1 of the feature, we look at the background of the current Olympic classes and why things are the way they are.
The history goes back into the 70's and earlier - which for some is perceived as a walk back to antiquity.
However, those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. And there was a lot which evolved from the Olympic and International classes and those who sailed them which are now the hub of the world-wide sailing industry.
Paul Elvstrom, Lowell North, Keith Musto and Dave Ullman all created sailing and significant marine business on the back of garage sail making operations, and winning with the sails they made themselves and started doing the same for others in several Olympic classes. Now there are only two classes in which you can make your own sails - and both those are on the naughty-list for Review.
The feature is also an attempt to explain why classes like the 470 and Finn have a different foundation than the others.
The then International Yacht Racing Union changed their requirements for Olympic class selection to accommodate the Laser when it was selected in 1993, and that broke the mould forever.
Many now feel that the purpose of the latest review is to snuff out both the 470 and Finn and for commercial interests to take more control of the Olympic regatta.
The view in the 65 submissions made to World Sailing on the subject of Olympic classes and format seems to be that with a few major changes we will have a fundamentally better regatta, and that will pull the TV punters.
There are a few issues with that line of thought which repeats the errors of the past.
First, the Olympic Sailing TV does not show the sport at its best.
In the 2016 Olympics, there was no live TV coverage from the four ocean courses, which produced some of the most spectacular sailing seen in a long while.
It wasn't just on one day either.
Instead, viewers had a steady diet of flat water racing on a dirty piece of water on tight courses with extreme shifts. A day or two of that may be fine, but after ten days it gets tedious.
Scattered through the Submissions is the hackneyed comment about making the sport more media friendly.
The reality is that while the administrators (who've never had to try and cover one of their regattas) talk media-friendliness in the conference hall, but when they get on the water, it is anything but - with aggressive course marshalls pushing media boats further and further away from the race course.
Secondly, Olympic sailing has to learn from advances in media technology and implement change at an Olympic level.
Sure there were changes in 2012 and 2016 with an onboard camera on each boat in the nominated race of the day.
The real coverage opportunities for sailing will be the greater use of drone cameras to give better angles and get closer than is possible with helicopters and TV boats.
The second opportunity will come with the use of 360VR - trialled in the last America's Cup. The technology creates a new viewer experience by putting the fan on the boat of their choice and watching the race through VR goggles.
Sounds weird? Well, that spectacular video that we've all seen of Team Brunel in the Southern Ocean is now available on 360VR (Facebook 360).
With your VR360 goggles on, you can sit just in front of the wheel on Brunel, barrelling downwind in the grey Southern Ocean and two-metre seas. The helmsman is just behind you. There's a grinder to the left and a couple more crew all tethered up standing against the back fence. For 2-3 minutes you can experience sailing in the Southern Ocean and see what its like without the wet and cold. It's an awesome place.
Or like the 360VR clip, we saw in Bermuda of an AC50 race between Emirates Team NZ and Land Rover BAR. How else are you going to experience sailing in a foiling cat in an America's Cup? Short of getting picked for the crew you can't.
360VR is a completely different fan experience and does give you an appreciation of the sport quite unlike any other medium. It works really well for sailing. The only downside is that it is so good that you'll probably get a touch of sea or motion sickness - while sitting at home. Seriously, it's that good.
For the sailor, the big advantage for the sailor is that adoption of this technology gets a lot of the junk off the course - hefty TV camera boats along with their wakes and blocking of the breeze around marks.
The Volvo Ocean Race has now developed some very skilled OBR's with excellent drone driving skills. They can fly drones in the Southern Ocean, so an Olympic course should be a walk in the park.
But is World Sailing going to recruit them now, get the systems sorted and use them for the Olympic coverage in two and a bit years time?
Or will this be yet another opportunity lost?
For those that are interested, a longer length version of this commentary will be posted on Sail-World.com later today and included in the next e-Magazine.
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Good sailing!
Richard Gladwell
NZ Editor
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