Black Book Sailing 2016

BLACK BOOK SAILING 2016

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After the years of build-up, controversy and debate, the 35th America’s Cup now looms on the horizon. A campaign which has seen two teams, Luna Rossa Challenge and Team Australia, drop out of the contest altogether over a rule dispute and doubts raised over the suitability of the chosen host is drawing to its close. In June the remaining five challengers plus the defending team, Oracle Team USA, will finally battle it out in Bermuda for the possession of the Auld Mug, the oldest international trophy in sport. Before, of course, the process begins all over again.

As was the case with the 34th edition, the 35th America’s Cup falls in a year immediately following an Olympic Games. With arguably its two most visible regattas back-to-back, the world of sailing is presented with a unique opportunity to showcase itself to the world beyond with the competition in Bermuda, particularly through the popularity of its most marketable players. Sir Ben Ainslie – who did not feature in Rio, the first Olympic Games without his presence since 1996 – is the chief among these, but the legendary Briton is not alone, with the likes of Dean Barker and two-time America’s Cup winner James Spithull proving enduring figures in their home territories of New Zealand and Australia respectively.

The year is not just about the America’s Cup, either, with change underway across the industry. The International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) Agenda 2020 will set the tone for sporting federations the world over for the next few years, and World Sailing is doubling down on its commitment to increasing diversity and sustainability in the sport, two areas in which the governing body is convinced it can lead the way.

Meanwhile, 2017 will see a first Volvo Ocean Race under the auspices of new chief executive Mark Turner and a first Vendée Globe since the inauguration of the Ocean Masters World Championship, of which it will serve as a grand finale. These historic events, as well as the sport’s annual contests like the Extreme Sailing Series and the World Match Racing Tour, will look to capitalise on the increased visibility of sailing thanks to the America’s Cup, while continuing to forge unique identities of their own.

The Sailing Black Book offers in-depth analysis and coverage of all these events and more and will remain, as ever, your complete guide to the business of sailing over the course of 2017.

It was with great sadness that, in the weeks leading up to the Sailing Black Book’s publication, we received the news of Guo Chuan’s disappearance during his attempt to break the world record for a solo crossing of the Pacific. Guo, a hugely well-regarded sailor who had previously competed in the Volvo Ocean Race and the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, became the first Chinese person to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world in 2013, achieving the feat in 137 days.

Guo’s yacht, along with his lifejacket and personal effects, was found drifting hundreds of miles west of Hawaii on 25th October, one week after he had set out from San Francisco on his trans-Pacific journey. His loss will be felt keenly across the world of sailing, and our thoughts are with Guo’s family and friends at this time.

Adam Nelson Editor

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FOREWORD

CONTENTS

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EVENTS

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Influencers Our ranking of the most influential players in global sailing right now.

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World Sailing: From the office of the CEO America’s Cup America’s Cup Event Authority Oracle Team USA Land Rover BAR SoftBank Team Japan Artemis Racing Groupama Team France Emirates Team New Zealand Brandspot: Marketing the world of sailing World Match Racing Tour and M32 Series Extreme Sailing Series Sponsor focus: Jaguar Land Rover Sperry Charleston Race Week Clipper Round the World Yacht Race America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth Ocean Masters World Championship La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro: The ‘Lone Rangers’ of the sea Tour de France à la Voile Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

CONTACTS

PORTS OF CALL

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Contacts by Company Contacts by Surname

EDITORIAL Adam Nelson Eoin Connolly George Dudley Tom Lloyd DESIGN & PRODUCTION Daniel H Brown COMMERCIAL Nick Meacham Peter Jones Jon Abraham OPERATIONS Yéwandé Aruleba

PHOTOGRAPHY Action Images Press Association Black Book is published by: SportsPro Media Ltd 3rd Floor, America House 2 America Square London EC3N 2LU | UK Tel: +44 (0) 207 549 3250 Fax: +44 (0) 207 871 0102 info@sportspromedia.com www.sportspromedia.com

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34 America’s Cup World Series Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Qingdao China Rio Sydney Australia

(SportsPro Media Ltd is part of the Henley Media Group Ltd www.henleymediagroup.com) NOTICES: Black Book is published annually. This is the second edition.

Printed in the EU. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Single copies of the Black Book 2016 are available at a cost of UK£199, and delivered anywhere in the world at no extra charge. Copies are available by logging on to www.sportspromedia. com or www.sailingblackbook.com

EDITORIAL COPYRIGHT: The contents of this book, both words and statistics, are strictly copyright and the intellectual copyright of SportsPro Media Ltd. Copyright or reproduction may only be carried out with written permission of the publishers, which will normally not be withheld on payment of a fee. Article reprints: Most articles published in the Black Book are available as reprints. Normal print run for reprints is 400 copies.

Please contact us at: info@ sportspromedia.com

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INFLUENCERS Our ranking of the most influential players in global sailing right now.

THE INFLUENCERS THE BRIEFING Over the next few pages you’ll meet the 14 most influential figures in the sport, as chosen by the Sailing Black Book. The list casts its eye back over the past 12 months and forward over the next 12, looking at the people who have shaped the current moment and will write history in 2017. As expected in an America’s Cup year, the list is dominated by figures who will play a role in events to come in Bermuda. But 2017 will also see a refreshed Extreme Sailing Series and World Match Racing Tour as well as new editions of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, Volvo Ocean Race and Vendée Globe.

Representatives from all of these and more make their way into the line-up. Here, in no particular order, are our people to watch throughout 2017.

SIR BEN AINSLIE

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Sir Ben Ainslie is the most successful Olympic sailor of all time and perhaps the only seaman to truly transcend the sport. Not content with winning medals at five different Olympic Games – four of them gold – the Englishman became an integral part of Oracle Team USA’s victorious America’s Cup team in the 34th edition.

Following the success of 2013, Ainslie formed his own eponymous team to compete in the 2017 America’s Cup. The Macclesfield-born team principal and skipper has been instrumental in enticing a large number of private investors alongside corporate sponsors such as Land Rover, Coutts, KPMG and BT. Ainslie has used his society connections – notably the Duchess of Cambridge – to raise the team’s profile and, in 2014, the UK government gave him UK£7.5 million (US$9.2 million) in funding to support his wholly British team and their proposal to be based on the Camber in Portsmouth.

Furthermore, the investment will be supported by an additional UK£1.4million (US$1.7million) from Portsmouth City Council.

Portsmouth was a deliberate choice by Ainslie to help secure the future of sailing in the UK, with most America’s Cup teams basing themselves in the host country for the final event.

With Land Rover BAR many people’s favourites to challenge Oracle Team USA for the 35th America’s Cup, Ainslie will certainly become the sport’s most public figure in Bermuda. The sailing industry should bear the fruits of his popularity if he is, once again, successful.

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DEAN BARKER For so long Dean Barker was a faithful stalwart of Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ). However, following his ignominious split with his home country’s representative and their chief executive Grant Dalton – played out in a controversial and unedifying manner in the media – the New Zealander has found pastures new.

His phoenix-like return to America’s Cup racing as chief executive and captain of the nascent Japanese team SoftBank Team Japan (STJ) saw Barker become the first skipper to achieve the foiling tack, otherwise known as the ‘Holy Grail’ of the AC45 class. Nevertheless, it has not all been plain sailing for the 44-year-old. During an October practice session in Bermuda his STJ boat suffered a dramatic wing breakage while testing their boat in choppy waters and a wind of 30 knots.

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RUSSELL COUTTS Though a patriotic New Zealander, Russell Coutts has recently proven more a thorn in the side of his home country than a national hero. After skippering Team New Zealand to their last America’s Cup victory in 2000, he jumped ship to Swiss entrant Alinghi and soon after, in 2003, the Auld Mug followed. Coutts’ next move, to become chief executive of Oracle Team USA, has proven similarly fruitful and saw him again cast as Team New Zealand’s chief tormentor in 2013 when his former charges collapsed from an 8-1 lead to lose 8-9.

America’s Cup success has tended to follow Coutts. For the 35th edition of the contest, in his dual role as chief executive of Oracle Team USA and of the America’s Cup Event Authority, he has promised the biggest and best America’s Cup to date. Securing this will be no easy feat, though if anyone can fulfil such a promise, it is Coutts. His relationship with Michael Dunkley, the premier of Bermuda, and the rest of the Bermudan government has been strong and their support, along with the building enthusiasm of the Bermudan public, has helped to assure Coutts that the choice of venue was well judged.

Beyond the event itself, Coutts’ focus will also turn to winning a sixth America’s Cup in total and third as chief executive, equalling the three he won as skipper. If the Bermuda regatta lives up to his billing, and he is able to defend the Cup for a second consecutive time, Coutts, already an America’s Cup icon, will cement his name even further into the competition’s folklore.

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Barker came out of the 2013 dispute with a lot of dignity and esteem from his contemporaries.

While there is no doubt about his skill as helmsman, there are still question marks over his skills as a skipper – questions he and his team will be seeking to answer in Bermuda.

Japan, as an island nation with many similarities to both New Zealand itself and Great Britain, has a strong tradition of sailing, though has rarely competed at the top level of the sport globally.

The acquisition of Barker by SoftBank Team Japan’s billionaire owner Masayoshi Son was a canny move, and it now falls on Barker’s shoulders to demonstrate the value in Son’s investment.

Should he make the most of the resources behind him, Barker may be in a position to announce Japan as a new force in the sailing world.

A veteran of five Whitbread Round the World Races, Grant Dalton has been chief executive of Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) for over a decade. The New Zealander was called in by team organisers in restructure and revitalise the Antipodean outfit after their loss of the America’s Cup to the Russell Coutts-led Alinghi in February 2003. After returning the historic outfit to sailing’s top table, he has had to oversee the most tumultuous period in their history, encapsulated by their capitulation in the 34th Americas Cup final and his own very public falling-out with the skipper of that team, Dean Barker.

In-fighting and a loss of government funding have meant that the 59-year-old has needed to be at his bullish, forthright best over the ongoing America’s Cup campaign, in which ENTZ have arguably lost their place as favourites to challenge Oracle Team USA to regain the Auld Mug. While Dalton initially found it difficult to go cap in hand to putative sponsors, he eventually found them easy to come by, with partners still clamouring to be a part of what remains a strong and visible brand in his home territory and around the world.

While Dalton’s thick skin and propensity to hold a grudge may not be to everyone’s tastes, there is no doubt about his abilities as a sailor and a leader of men but as he says himself: “Not many nice guys are going to win the America’s Cup.” Should his bullishness and mental fortitude contribute to his team winning the Cup back, Dalton will be quickly forgiven for not being a ‘nice guy’.

MICHAEL DUNKLEY Michael Dunkley, the Premier of Bermuda, will welcome the eyes of the sailing world to Bermuda next June, for what organisers are promising will be the biggest America’s Cup to date. The decision to take the regatta to the British overseas territory was not entirely warmly regarded upon its announcement in 2014, with some questioning whether tiny Bermuda had the capacity to stage such a large-scale event, particularly following on from highly regarded recent editions in major conurbations like San Francisco, Valencia and San Diego. Bermuda has a total population of 64,000; several times more than that will arrive on its shores to watch Oracle Team USA attempt to defend its crown next year.

When the announcement was made, Dunkley called the America’s Cup “the catalyst we need to propel us into a prosperous future”, and in the time since he has thrown the full weight of his government’s power behind the hosting of the event, committing large resources to ensuring its smooth running. While Bermuda is under pressure to show itself off as a tourist destination and a major event host, it is also incumbent on the America’s Cup itself to demonstrate its flexibility and show that it can cope with small venues as well as large.

Slowly, the sailing world has been convinced by what it has seen of the preparations. As ever, though, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating, and Dunkley’s work will not be done until the contest for the Auld Mug is over.

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GRANT DALTON

LARRY ELLISON

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Larry Ellison, listed by Forbes magazine as the third wealthiest person in America, has spent the last three years with the Auld Mug on his mantelpiece. The co-founder of Oracle Corporation is the primary backer of the 2010 and 2013 America’s Cup winning team Oracle Team USA and, as his track record demonstrates, is not a man likely to rest upon his laurels when it comes to defending the trophy for a second time.

The America’s Cup format which sees the winner deciding on the rules, date and location of the next race had generally been used to

give the defending team as big an advantage as possible. Ellison, instead, has used the opportunity to revitalise the America’s Cup. It is now an event which sponsors clamour to be a part of and which, thanks to the warm-up events such as the World Series, is able to tell its story over the entire build-up to the final regatta.

It’s arguable that no one in the modern era has had a greater effect on the America’s Cup than Ellison, whose investment in the competition and development of the World Series has helped to bring an event that was in many ways stuck in its 19th century roots into the 21st.

JO GRINDLEY Among Land Rover BAR’s roll call of sports world A-listers – Ben Ainslie himself, Sir Keith Mills, chief executive Martin Whitmarsh – the name of Jo Grindley, the team’s head of commercial, marketing, communications and events, may not immediately stand out.

However, as the founder of sailing’s preeminent public relations, marketing and events agency, Into the Blue, Grindley has demonstrated her considerable commercial acumen down the years, and the wide brief indicated by her unwieldy job title is reflective of the trust that has been placed in her by Ainslie. Given the hefty price tag that comes with competing in the America’s Cup – estimated at a minimum of US$100 million – there is much responsibility resting on Grindley’s shoulders to secure the funds, and she has set about doing that in some style since her appointment in 2013.

Major tie-ups with title sponsor Land Rover, technology in sustainability partner BT and official banking partner Coutts are just the headline deals that complement a whole range of commercial partners brought in on Grindley’s watch. More may follow in the opening months of 2017 before the final competition in Bermuda, where Grindley’s success will be measured by how well the team’s sponsors are able to activate in what will be a crowded field.

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ANDY HUNT

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Andy Hunt, the new chief executive of the newly rebranded World Sailing, has only known success in his prior roles as chief executive of the British Olympic Association (BOA) and non-executive director at the London 2012 Olympics.

Hunt is a moderniser and hopes to put his magic touch on a sport that has not always exploited its commercial opportunities, while he also aims to increase global participation and improve diversity across the sport, engaging in a worldwide attempt to shake sailing’s elitist image.

He is expected to use his vast knowledge of the Olympics to help promote the sport and expand sailing’s profile to entice new fans.

He will look to continue the data-driven technological advancements that are at the forefront of modern sailing but, again, in a bid to attract the younger fan, Hunt is very keen to put on global short-form races. The likes of the World Match Racing Tour – one of only five officially sanctioned World Sailing Special Events – Red Bull Foiling Generation and the Extreme Sailing Series are among the events likely to benefit from Hunt’s commitment to the sport’s more engaging, in-shore elements.

That is not to say that off-shore, open-water sailing will be neglected. In a year that sees new editions of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Vendée Globe, Hunt’s great task will be to guide a new generation of fans from the fast-paced in-shore format to sailing’s more traditional long-form races.

SIR KEITH MILLS There are few figures in sailing with their fingers in as many pies as Sir Keith Mills, the British entrepreneur who served as the deputy chairman of the London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games (LOCOG).

He is a key member and financial backer of Land Rover BAR, being one of the initial 12 core supporters who offered investment to Ben Ainslie as he set the team up. Mills was also at the head of the two Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series events in Portsmouth in 2015 and 2016, as his Teamorigin Events company stepped in to manage the hosting and administration of the acts, allowing Land Rover BAR to focus on the technical and sporting side.

And, through his company Open Sports Management, the agency he founded to manage the commercial rights to International Monohull Open Classes Association (IMOCA) events, Mills has added his commercial and media nous to such notable sailing events as the Vendée Globe and the Barcelona World Race with the creation of the Ocean Masters World Championship.

The first Vendée Globe of the Ocean Masters era is set to get underway at the end of 2017, providing a conclusion to its debut four-year cycle.

It will represent a significant yardstick by which to measure the progress made by Mills’ investment in IMOCA so far. Mills will also know, as well as anyone, that it will represent an opportunity to see what work remains yet to be done.

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HÅKAN SVENSSON

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A shipping entrepreneur and passionate sailor, Håkan Svensson has contributed much to the world of sailing over the course of his career, including sponsorship and financial backing, through his company Aston Harald, of several Volvo Ocean Race and Olympic attempts.

Perhaps his most telling contribution to date, however, came with Aston Harald’s purchase in 2015 of the rights to the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), a stadium sailing series which is one of only five World

Sailing-sanctioned Special Events. The acquisition followed Svensson’s founding of the M32 Series, a single-design racing series utilising the M32 high-performance multihull catamarans which the company also owns and builds. Bringing the M32s into the WMRT – and, perhaps more importantly, offering a US$1 million cash prize to the winner of the 2016 edition – has revitalised the series, after a period in which it had lost ground to the likes of the Extreme Sailing Series.

ANDY TOURRELL

Credit: Lloyd Images

Over the first ten years of the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS), OC Sport founder Mark Turner was the driving force behind the global stadium sailing tour. Now, with Turner having moved on to the Volvo Ocean Race, the responsibility for replacing his input will be spread across the OC Sport team. Providing stability, however, will be Andy Tourrell, the ESS’s long-standing event director and a man who has learned at the knee of Turner himself.

With the series returning to North America in 2017 for the first time in six years, featuring

SARAH TRESEDER Team GB once again topped the sailing medal charts at the Olympics in Rio, bringing home two golds and one silver, in their first Games without Sir Ben Ainslie since 1996. Ainslie himself was instead busy masterminding Land Rover BAR’s ascent to the top of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series table ahead of his attack on the Auld Mug itself next year.

This is a strong time for British sailing and yet Sarah Treseder, chief executive of the Royal Yachting Association (RYA), the national governing body, knows that the challenge now is as great as it was when she took over the role in 2010. World

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Sailing has committed to its agenda of increasing diversity in the sport and engaging with a wider audience and, while the RYA has done some strong work in this area already, there is still a considerable distance to go.

Meanwhile, Treseder will balance that with her efforts to bring through a new generation to live up to the achievements of the current crop of British sailors. Though these two things should go hand in hand – increasing the pool of available talent by attracting a greater diversity of young people to the sport – the challenge is nevertheless substantial.

acts in both San Diego and Los Cabos, and with John Craig brought in as race director to replace the outgoing Phil Lawrence, Tourrell will call on all his experience to keep the ship steady as the ESS enters a new phase.

The ESS has undergone remarkable growth over its first decade and, with plans afoot to increase the number of boats on the water and the number of acts on the calendar, all the ingredients are in place to deliver further expansion to what is already one of the world’s biggest stadium sailing tours.

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MARK TURNER Mark Turner, the new chief executive of the Volvo Ocean Race, is renowned as one of the most respected figures in professional sailing.

The Briton, who competed in off-shore sailing’s leading international event as a sailor in 1989, succeeded Norwegian Knut Frostad in June 2016. This followed 23 years in charge of global sports marketing company OC Sport, where the 48-year-old was instrumental in launching the Extreme Sailing Series.

Turner, who masterminded Dame Ellen MacArthur’s second place in the 2001 Vendée Globe race and her subsequent round-theworld trips, has been at the forefront of a bid to promote sexual equality in the sport. The Volvo Ocean Race has made the ground-breaking decision that all-male teams competing in the 2017/18 Volvo Ocean Race will now be limited to seven sailors, while mixed crews will have a significant numerical advantage, so the potential crews denominations will be: seven men; seven men and one or two women; seven women and one or two men; five men and five women; or 11 women.

WILLIAM WARD Alongside his noted colleague and Clipper cofounder, Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, William Ward has been the driving force behind the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race for 20 years, encompassing ten editions of the challenge.

As the Clipper Race heads toward an 11th campaign at the end of 2017, Ward is showing no signs of slowing down.

Ward pioneered the Clipper’s format, which mixes high-end sponsorship from blue-chip brands with stops in iconic host cities while offering amateur sailors unrivalled experiences and opportunities, pushing the boundaries of sailing’s global commercial potential in the process. Ward, however, remains convinced that the Clipper’s growth is only just beginning, noting that sponsors are now committing to longer-term deals and activating over a period of years around the world, rather than in specific territories for one-off hospitality events.

Widely regarded for his work, Ward was named a GREAT Britain ambassador by former British prime minister David Cameron in recognition of his contribution to the UK’s widereaching international promotional campaign.

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Of the new rules, Turner said: “This is not about lowering the standard as some in the sport will suggest – the reverse – it is giving more opportunity to the very best female sailors in the world to compete on equal terms.”

That is no doubt that case, but Turner is renowned as a commercial master, and the move has already attracted unprecedented levels of attention for a rule change to a sailing race. Turner’s appointment came with the expectation of increased commercial revenues and greater visibility for partners and sponsors. The move to promote female involvement is by no means a PR stunt – it reflects Turner’s genuine and longstanding commitment to equality – but nor is it likely to be the last high-profile announcement before the 12th edition of the Volvo Ocean Race gets under way at the end of 2017.

Having grown the Extreme Sailing Series from inception to its current standing, Turner will be expecting to achieve even greater things with the existing history and prestige of the Volvo Ocean Race.

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SOFTBANK TEAM JAPAN

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BRANDSPOT: MARKETING THE WORLD OF SAILING

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WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR

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SPONSOR FOCUS: JAGUAR LAND ROVER

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SPERRY CHARLESTON RACE WEEK

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CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE

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AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES PORTSMOUTH

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OCEAN MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

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LA SOLITAIRE URGO LE FIGARO: THE ‘LONE RANGERS’ OF THE SEA

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TOUR DE FRANCE À LA VOILE

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ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE

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FROM THE OFFICE OF THE CEO THE BRIEFING In January 2016, the newly rebranded World Sailing appointed former British Olympic Association chief executive and London 2012 nonexecutive director Andy Hunt as its new chief executive. The appointment came just months after the International Sailing Federation had been transformed into World Sailing, and three years into Carlo Croce’s first term as the organisation’s president. Amid much change at the federation, Hunt spoke to the Sailing Black Book about the sport’s future strategies, and its current priorities.

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How have your first months in charge been?

One of my other priorities is to develop into an organisation that represents the entirety of the breadth that our sport covers, from kiteboarding and windsurfing to super yachts and America’s Cup boats. It’s an incredibly diverse sport that we have and we need to be seen to represent all of our constituents.

Andy Hunt: It’s been incredibly busy because of the fact that I’ve arrived in an Olympic year. But it’s a really exciting time for the sport. The Games in Rio were the first time since Sydney where sailing was at the absolute heart of the city.

The sailors and athletes were engaged in the entire Olympic Games, and the public were able to get up really close and involved, which hasn’t happened for some time, so it’s special.

At the same time you’ve got the America’s Cup developing, and there is real public interest building in the kind of emergence of foiling technology which is starting to dominate the professional side of the sport as well.

What did you personally want to improve when you came in?

There were two aspects: commercialisation and participation. In the autumn we unveiled a whole new position for the sport, a new vision for the future.

What are your priorities?

What state was World Sailing in when you joined?

The sport of sailing is very complex.

We have so many boat classes, we are a sport that takes place around the globe. It’s a highly technical sport with a significant number of volunteers involved in the delivery of it. It’s unusual in terms of what it does.

There is a lot that has been achieved by [World Sailing president] Carlo Croce and the board over their first three years in charge, and this year has been about helping them deliver on the vision they set out four years ago.

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ABOVE

Andy Hunt, chief

I think we are at a really exciting point.

We’re modernising the sport and, more importantly, commercialising it. Sailing, outside of a few properties such as Volvo Ocean Race, the America’s Cup and World Match Racing Tour, isn’t a commercially exploited sport. The sport hasn’t benefitted from that area in the way that it should.

For me, one of the top priorities was to make sure that we have a really strong commercial agenda which is not in any way weakening the sport itself. We need to find a unique selling proposition for our sport.

executive of World

Was this something you already wanted to do, or was it more a case that with the state you found the sport in, you felt it was necessary?

Sailing, joined the organisation after his predecessor Peter Sowrey lasted just four months in the role

The vision that Carlo has is the same as mine. As the international federation we really have to take this leadership role.

We need to provide guides, toolkits, and help to our members around the world.

We just want to grow this sport as much as we can. We want to build media awareness, we want to further use digital media, and develop the fan experience. These are all areas that we are currently developing detailed plans around to try and move our sport forward.

INFLUENCERS EVENTS / 2/ 1 I have met with most of the leaders of the professional events, to have that very conversation. Everyone is keen to make sure we work together to maximise the potential for our sport.

ABOVE

Next year sees the America’s Cup in Bermuda follow hot on the heels of the Olympics, where

What have you seen change since you’ve joined?

What affects have you seen the rebrand have on the way you work?

World Sailing will be looking to take full advantage of the

Well I think we have already made changes around our governance. We want to ensure good transparency and integrity. It’s an area where we can really lead on amongst the international federations, so we’ve already done some work on that side.

We are also working very closely with the International Olympic Committee [IOC] in thinking through what events might take place in Tokyo in 2020. We’re already looking at how we present our sport, whether that is

racing formats, use of digital media, or the equipment we use and profile at the Olympic Games.

increased exposure for the sport

I think it has been very helpful indeed.

Certainly, if we hadn’t rebranded to World Sailing in December 2015, then it is something that I would’ve recommended when I joined.

The problem with a governing body like our own having a name like International Sailing Federation [ISAF] is that it becomes confusing for people outside of the sport. It’s a dated title and it has no relation to representing all forms of our sport, which is what we want to do. World Sailing does it exactly was it says: represents the entire world of sailing.

How will you use the visibility of the Olympics to your advantage?

There isn’t a sports platform in the world that has greater reach than the Olympic Games.

The scale of it compared to the America’s Cup, for example, is so exponential it is just untrue. It is the single most important platform for our sport. That is why we need to make sure that we have the right sailing events taking place at the Olympic Games.

They give us the best opportunity to profile and create new fans and hopefully new participants in our sports.

That’s why we have such focus.

Agenda 2020 from the IOC provides that opportunity to go back to review what we are currently doing. The good news is, one of the agenda’s key things, is gender equity. And sailing is such

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a fantastic, inclusive sport: it doesn’t prohibit gender, it embraces disability, it really is fabulous in that respect.

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With new media models appearing – Twitter, Facebook, etc – how are you adapting the sport to appeal in a digital age?

Sailing is not an easy sport to televise.

It needs to be shorter, sharper and exciting to really appeal to broadcasting models. What we do is use the extraordinary amount of data that we have to support what the spectator is seeing. The America’s Cup has done a really good job of that, as well as the Extreme Sailing Series.

Broadcasting sport for four or five hours doesn’t work with engaging audiences these days. You have to show a maximum 90 minutes with actionpacked events. Fans need to understand behind the scenes, the backstory, they need to understand exactly what is going on through great data visualisation on screen, and these are all things that we can do.

If we want to hit new broadcast models, like social media, and to hit younger audiences, we need to use short-form clips.

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The Olympics is always a key time for sailing. Rio showed off the sport at its best and images such as the below, with Christ the Redeemer looming over the Marina de Gloria, were shared

Will there be more short-form events and content to cater to younger audiences?

Clearly there will always be a huge number of events across our sport that won’t particularly fit to short-form media, such as around-the-world races.

But they present the most fantastic opportunity to show other qualities of teamwork and endurance, and we can capture these in smaller clips, separately.

I do think we will see more and more short-form races because, ultimately, they are more appealing to a broadcast audience, and our audience is someone we need to consider a lot.

In your time in sailing, what key innovations have you been seeing?

Data visualisation is really special

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around the world.

in sailing. I think that it is a really interesting area. With the America’s Cup, you have to take your hats off to the investment that they have made to make most people understand what is going in the race course. We need to find ways that we can do this with all the boat classes and all races.

It’s not financially affordable to have helicopters that can produce the kind of data you are seeing in the America’s Cup at other events. The advancement of GPS technology, however, is rapidly making it possible to produce something that is very similar to what we see with the America’s Cup, so I’m very excited about what that can do.

Currently a lot of officiating is done by eye, on the water. Now the officiating can be done electronically, I think you are going to see officiating over the next decade become more and more able to rely on data-based judgement.

In terms of boat development, we are seeing foiling everywhere. It is just extraordinary what is happening.

There is a lot for the sport to do to understand more fully the implications of it, though.

On one hand there is such excitement, with the speed and the competition that it provides. But there is a lot of work to be done to think about how we, on a much larger scale,

make sure that safety can be absolutely maintained. I think many of our committees involved in all kinds of areas of this sport will need to ensure that this is a top priority.

When they are so fast, the support boats can’t keep up with them. On top of this, we don’t want the sport to become an arms race, or become completely unaffordable. We want this sport to be sport for all.

Where would you personally like to take World Sailing?

Well, you know what, if we achieve a number of the objectives that we have been rapidly developing that you will see in autumn our new vision, then I think we can reposition the sport in a way that would allow us to achieve our goals around commercialisation. If we can make sure that event formats and equipment are more compelling and accessible, if we can properly maximise the platform of the Olympic Games to most benefit the overall sport – if we can do all of those things – then we will naturally drive greater participation around the world.

Success for me is developing that virtuous circle, which will come out of achieving our new agenda. People do fall in love with this sport, and that will always help to grow it around the world.

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AMERICA’S CUP EVENT AUTHORITY The America’s Cup has long been one of the strangest contests in all of sport. Its defender-challenger format, where the winner of the previous edition chooses the date, location and even the rules of the next, has frequently resulted in conflict and controversy. The run-up to the 35th event, which will be staged in Bermuda in June 2017, has already seen Team Australia and the Italian entrant Luna Rossa Challenge withdraw over rule disputes.

Nevertheless, the America’s Cup remains sailing’s blue-riband event. Its prize, the so-called ‘Auld Mug’, is billed as the oldest active trophy in the world, having been regularly fought for since 1851, and is one of the most prestigious in all of sport. The 34th edition witnessed one of the most dramatic collapses in history, with Emirates Team New Zealand sacrificing an 8-1 lead to eventually lose 9-8 to the defending Oracle Team USA. The recent Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series has given those two teams the chance to rekindle their rivalry, as well as adding the spice of several new teams.

Britain’s Land Rover BAR, skippered by the country’s most successful Olympic sailor, Sir Ben Ainslie, has helped to promote the competition in the UK, while Softbank Team Japan’s skipper Dean Barker was at the helm of Emirates Team New Zealand last time around, adding further drama to the contest.

Barker’s fellow New Zealander Russell Coutts, himself a five-time winner of the America’s Cup, is now the chief executive of Oracle Team USA and the chief executive of the America’s Cup Event Authoritiy (ACEA), the body charged with the organisation of the Cup – from the operational, administrational and commercial side through to

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merchandising and broadcast. Having already secured the deals and sold the rights that will make the 35th America’s Cup the biggest so far, Coutts is now firmly focused on ensuring it is also the best.

How are the preparations for next year going?

Russell Coutts: It’s going very well. I’ve said it before and I still believe it: this is shaping up to be the best America’s Cup event ever. In terms of preparations we’re ahead of schedule. The Bermudan government has been an incredible partner, frankly, and their development of the America’s Cup village in Bermuda is well ahead of schedule. They’ve created an extra space two and a half months ahead of schedule, which allows our hospitality services to be built overlooking the water and right alongside where the finish line will be. They’ve also got all the team bases in that one area as well.

I think the fact that we’ve got at least five of the six teams arguably having a chance of winning this is adding to the whole excitement of it; it’s very hard to predict and it’s shaping up to be the most closely contested America’s Cup event yet. We saw great racing in the finals last time but the lead-up was pretty poor, really, whereas this time we’ve seen and I think we’re going to see great racing all the way through, and I honestly can’t predict who is going to win at this point.

Ben Ainslie has got a great chance; they’re leading the World Series at the moment, so you’d have to rate them as having a really good chance of winning. But the other teams are, in my view, just as capable.

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The British overseas territory of Bermuda will stage the America’s Cup in 2017

I’m very confident of delivering the best America’s Cup ever, because I know the boating community coming here and with the interest that’s already been shown, it’s going to be a fabulous event. It’s likely to be the biggest onwater festival we’ve ever seen, which is fantastic – it deserves that sort of reaction and you have to remember that our tradition is very strong. It’s the oldest sporting trophy in the world, and we’re really starting to work hard at telling those stories about the America’s Cup to the world.

How closely have you worked with the Bermudan government and how excited are they for this opportunity to show Bermuda off to the world?

It’s going to be a fabulous venue, especially for this kind of format. We’ll be racing inside the Great Sound, which is a natural harbour which will provide a smooth-water venue for the racing and also for the large contingent of spectator boats that we’re expecting. As an example of that we have 50 yachts in our super yacht programme, and we’ve sold 48 of those spaces and we’ve got six bids vying for the final two places. There’s expected to be another 20 to 30 large yachts on top of that, we’ve got 46 cruise ships coming in during the period of the America’s Cup, so it’s going to be a pretty amazing festival come regatta day.

We had 1,300 boats out on the water in Bermuda for the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event in October, and I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see more than 2,000 out watching for the America’s Cup next year. They’re going to get impressive numbers.

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What has your experience as a former winner of the America’s Cup brought to your work at the ACEA? It’s been valuable in terms of developing the television product, for example.

Putting actual boundaries on the course and imagining how that might influence the racing, making sure we keep the skill of the sailors at the centre of the event.

We need to keep the integrity of the sport in check. Because I know what it’s like to race out there, we’ve been able to make changes with confidence that it wasn’t going to affect the integrity.

In fact, it may even have added to the development of it and of the race.

That sort of thing has definitely been useful but in many ways, in the past anyway, sailors haven’t tended to think commercially, so I’ve had to learn how to think like that. We’ve taken a real commercial focus, because obviously to make the event sustainable it has to be able to pay for itself and the teams have to ultimately be able to

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make money. So we’ve worked hard to enhance the product.

We’ve certainly enhanced the viewing experience and increased the understandability of the racing for the non-sailing audience. We’ve done things like shortened the race times and made it more television-friendly in terms of format with the move to a two-race format, racing close to the shore so there’s lots of interaction with the spectators – a lot of changes like that which have made it much more commercially viable.

Has the introduction of the new AC45 boats had the desired effect in terms of accessibility for both teams and spectators?

It’s had a dramatic effect. One of the results of it is what I was talking about earlier – there are more teams that are competitive now. There were two big barriers to the America’s Cup in the past. One was cost – you had extreme costs – and the other one was the

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Coutts has promised that the 35th America’s Cup will be the best edition to date

complexity. Both of those things have been significantly reduced and modified such that it’s allowing these new teams to come in and, if they’ve got the sailing talent and the design talent, they can really compete now. It’s a much more even playing field and there are more teams that are competitive in this Cup than there have ever been.

And I think there is more interest coming in from new teams from places like China, for the 36th America’s Cup. We know that there is interest from Germany, Spain, the Middle East and Australia just to name a few. I think the target would be to try and get to something like ten teams, ten competitive teams – to grow the brand it’s important that we have competitive teams, not just teams that are making up the numbers, and the quicker, more accessible AC45 boats really help with that.

If new teams are introduced, would that require a rethink of the format for the World Series and the qualification

There’s been a lot of discussion on that because the America’s Cup boats are just under 50 feet long and they will be launched in January 2017. They’ll be incredible machines. Upwind, they’ll be three times faster than the boats that have been used in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series so far and almost twice the speed downwind, so they’ll be foiling most of the way around the racecourse if not the whole way around. And what that does is it allows more action on the racecourse over a shorter period of time, because if the boats are literally going faster then they’re getting to the turning marks quicker, they’re interacting with each other more often over a shorter time period – crossing tacks or crossing jibes – so that’s going to be an improvement and there’s a general consensus that those boats will ultimately be adopted for the World Series as well.

But there may be a period next time where they’re still racing in the current AC45 foiling boats. And the reason for that is to allow new teams to come in more easily and get going before building the new America’s Cup-class yacht.

The America’s Cup is once again following on from an Olympic year, two events where sailing is highly visible and popular.

I think the fact that we have several prominent Olympic sailors who medalled in Rio that are competing in the America’s Cup, is fantastic. I think it’s clear that we have the best sailors in the world competing for this trophy, and that’s really what you need to drive fan interest.

It’s also important for us to give those sailors more exposure. We are working hard to try and bring out some of their personalities and allow the fans to interact with them more and understand who they are. That’s obviously important for growing any sports property. You get names like Ben Ainslie, and he is recognised as a prominent sports personality and will be more so over the next year when the America’s Cup finals come around in Bermuda.

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The six competing

What, from your perspective, will represent a successful America’s Cup?

team skippers alongside the Auld Mug itself

Clearly we have an ambition to grow our fanbase, grow our audience. It’s one of the reasons why we’re doing more regular events and taking them to a wider section of fans worldwide. That’s one of our major objectives and I think we’re on track to double our audience figures from the last America’s Cup. Commercially, obviously we want to turn this around as an event that is making a loss and we’re well on the way to an event that is at least paying for itself and probably making a small profit. Simultaneously, we want to make the teams more commercially viable through that so we’re not having to have billionaires propping up their campaigns. Bringing team costs down is a major target as well. We’re well on track to achieving all of those goals.

In particular when you look at the America’s Cup commercially, we now have 13 global partners, eight domestic partners and 15 partners in our America’s Cup Endeavour Program.

And there’s still a lot of interest out there and discussions in progress with other parties to further our partnerships, so that’s actually a good sign as well that we’re making so pretty significant gains across the board with that.

And finally, one of the most important reasons that we’re driving this major objective of ours in terms of measuring our success is that we want to deliver real value to those partners. Many times in the past, a lot of the partners that were

involved with the America’s Cup were largely invisible; they were here but they weren’t well integrated into the event and with the America’s Cup brand. Whereas now, we’re able to give them the visibility, particularly with their online graphics and so forth, so that we’re placing them on screen at the site and what’s that meaning is, in a media value sense, we’re able to deliver to our partners. For our top partners, it’s meant we’re delivering seven times the return on their investment in terms of equivalent media value. If you go down a couple of tiers in terms of sponsorships, then we’re delivering a multiple of five to those partners.

That’s been recognised now and that’s why we’ve got such strong interest in the new partnerships and new companies coming in wanting to partner with the America’s Cup. We’ve done some pretty dramatic things with some of our merchandising partners, too. The America’s Cup has a tremendous image in terms of being a premium property, and it’s definitely got a status that many of the top fashion brands and luxury brands in particular can leverage off but now we’re starting to see some of the more consumer-oriented brands showing strong interest. With our merchandising, for instance, we’re having tremendous success and that’s becoming a much bigger focus for us. We used to receive nearly all of our revenues from sponsorship and now that’s starting to shift, with merchandise becoming a major part of the commercial model.

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for the final America’s Cup race?

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ORACLE TEAM USA Even if Oracle Team USA were not the defenders and reigning champions of the America’s Cup, they would still be the team to beat in its 35th edition.

With the most experienced crew, the best technicians and, thanks to their team principal and owner Larry Ellison, the deepest pockets, Oracle Team USA are the high water mark to which the challengers for the Auld Mug are aspiring.

Ellison, a billionaire off the back of his Oracle database software, was listed as America’s third richest man by Forbes magazine in 2014 with a fortune of over US$56 billion. This has given Oracle Team USA a degree of financial independence, particularly during its early efforts after its foundation in 2000, to challenge for the 2003 America’s Cup. No expense has been spared over the years in bringing in the cream

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of the sailing world, including chief executive Russell Coutts and skipper James Spithill, who together have overseen victories in the previous two campaigns, and, for the 2013 triumph, Sir Ben Ainslie, the record-breaking Olympic gold medallist now heading up his own effort with Land Rover BAR. The years since Oracle Team USA’s establishment, however, have seen it become much more self-sufficient, bringing in a range of commercial partners and official suppliers to complement the team’s efforts, with that stepping up further since 2013 to support the team’s push for a third consecutive title.

British luxury watchmaker Bremont Watch Company has come in at the premier partner level as Oracle Team USA’s official timing partner, also

RIGHT

Oracle are seeking to win the Auld Mug for a third consecutive time

becoming an official partner of the America’s Cup in this category. BMW, which became the first premium automobile manufacturer to participate in the event as the title sponsor of Oracle BMW Racing at the 31st America’s Cup 2003 in Auckland, New Zealand – a role in which it continued for the 2007 and 2010 contests – has been brought on board as the team’s technology partner and the German automobile manufacturer’s logo will be visible on the team’s gear.

The Sailing Black Book caught up with Grant Simmer, Oracle Team USA’s chief operating officer and general manager, to find out how preparations in Bermuda were coming along, and how confident he is of his team retaining the Auld Mug for a third successive time.

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You have the benefit of being the defending team and so are guaranteed a place in the final race in Bermuda. How much does that help with signing sponsors and commercial partners?

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Oracle clash with British entrant Land Rover BAR, seen by many as the most likely challenger to Team USA’s crown

Grant Simmer: The Deed of Gift that governs the America’s Cup is a document that has been around since the 1850s and hasn’t really been amended much in that whole period of time. The defender gets to define the location, the format, the boats and the overall event. In the early 1900s there was only one challenger of record, and the racing wasn’t particularly commercial. But as we moved into the 1970s and 1980s, sponsorship was

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allowed and multiple challengers were allowed, so the challengers could raceoff to decide the best challenger. But for some time prior to that there had been multiple defenders and the defenders would race-off, with the New York Yacht Club holding the defender series to determine the best team to defend the Cup. It was the same process in Perth when Australia won it in 1983 and then lost the Cup in 1987. There were five defender syndicates that were racing off against each other on behalf of Royal Perth Yacht Club.

But now we only have one defender and that’s been the case since 2000.

And that means that the defender knows that they are going to be in the big event at the end, and they can sell

their sponsorship on that. The format that we’re in now for the America’s Cup allows us as defenders to race in the qualifiers, so that again brings a little bit more value to the sponsors because we’re not only racing in the Cup, we’re racing in the qualifiers. Competitively, it gives us the chance to check in with the other competitors early in the series, in May 2017, before the final racing gets underway.

And then the World Series events are designed to bring value to the team sponsors but also to the event sponsors, and to keep the America’s Cup in the public eye whereas without those events the Cup goes very quiet in the years between the big events.

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How else does the World Series help you to prepare for the final regatta?

The World Series is an opportunity to sail against all the other teams in the one-design boat, so there’s not a lot of technical development in those boats although there’s quite a lot of work that we’re doing just on tactical decision making and crew work. So the World Series is good, and it also showcases the America’s Cup and the team around the world.

But the real game is next year when we’re racing the AC-class yachts, that’s what we’re really working towards and that’s involved a lot of technical development in those boats. So the sailors and the designers work closely together to develop their boats, and that’s really the focus of our activities at the moment.

The dilemma for the America’s Cup is, how does it keep the intrigue and the prestige and the glamour of the America’s Cup race itself, which is going to be held every three or four years, and not diminish the value of that because of all the World Series regattas? But on the other hand, you’ve still got to give value to the World Series regattas and not have them just considered as

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training regattas or insignificant events.

There’s a real fine balance for the event organisers to give some value to the World Series while retaining the prestige of the America’s Cup. One way that has been addressed is by giving two points to the winner of the World Series to carry over into qualifying, so giving it its own standing while making sure the final retains ultimate importance. Do you think that has worked?

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The America’s Cup World Series has helped Oracle Team USA build its commercial platform and give value to its partners throughout the four-year cycle

Yes, and then the winner of the qualifiers also takes a point into the match. So it’s a way of linking all the events together. I think it’s a compromise but it’s not a bad compromise, and certainly the World Series regattas have commanded some really good TV audiences and it’s a really good TV product, better than anything else we’ve seen in the sport of sailing by far. Our sponsors particularly seem very happy with the hospitality at the World Series regattas, and they’re able to activate it with their clients, which is the whole value of a hospitality programme.

Our sponsors can leverage their

partnership with our team by bringing their clients to the World Series events and that’s working well.

Is there anything you’ve learnt over the course of the World Series that you’ll be putting into practice in Bermuda?

We’re always tuning our hospitality programme based on the feedback we get from our sponsors, and we want to make the event in Bermuda bigger than any of the World Series events. But in all the details – the on-water activities, the facilities inside the lounges, all of those things – we’re always trying to improve the product and anything we can learn from other events, inside or outside sailing, we try and pick up whatever tips we can.

What affect does the proximity of the Olympics to the America’s Cup have on the competition? Is there a notable affect in popularity from new audiences introduced to the sport by the Olympics?

I’ve never seen a strong association between the America’s Cup and the

Having been based in Bermuda since 2014, how is it shaping up as a venue and how are preparations coming along?

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Sponsors such as BMW and Bremont have partned with Oracle TeamUSA as well as the America’s Cup itself

I think it’s looking good. We have to be honest about the America’s Cup and say that, particularly in the US, it’s not like baseball or basketball or football. We’re not a sport of that stature, in the US nor in Europe really. So we have to look at our place in the hierarchy of sports. One thing in the 30-odd years that I’ve been involved in the Cup is that the smaller venues have been the best venues – I’m thinking of Fremantle, Newport, Auckland and now Bermuda. The smaller venues are the best venues because the community really gets behind the event and it’s something that becomes important for the local community. Whereas if we’re in a big city like San Francisco or San Diego, the Cup isn’t of sufficient stature to really be of significance to the local community, the buzz that you get in smaller places gets lost in the noise of a big city.

Bermuda is obviously small, but the America’s Cup is a really big event in the Bermudan calendar. So in terms of on the ground here, if not in the wider world, it’s going to make a huge impact, and the preparations they have undertaken so far alongside our chief executive Russell Coutts and the America’s Cup Event

Authority have been first rate. I think it’s going to be an excellent contest.

How confident are you of retaining the Auld Mug? I think we’ve got a good campaign behind us. We came to Bermuda early to get established here and get used to the waters, our technical developments are going well. But there is still a lot to do.

The decisions that we’re going to make, particularly about some geometry and some of the technical developments in this class of boats, will have a very significant effect on the outcome. Each day the sailors are going to have to do a damn good job and they’re training all the time to keep up their end of the deal, and we’ve just got to make sure we get the technical part right. I think we’re in good shape at the moment, but there is a long way to go and we’ve got very strong competition. Somebody, one of our competitors, could make better technical decisions. So far there’s no evidence of that happening, but if you ask me again in May or June I’ll tell you how confident we are then!

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Olympics in terms of publicity. The audience figures for the America’s Cup far exceed those for the Olympic sailing regatta, especially in the States. We’re far more commercially oriented than the Olympic sailing. I don’t see much of a link there, but competitively, Olympic sailing is still at a very very high level, and most of the successful America’s Cup sailors have also been very successful Olympic sailors. With the only exception probably being Jimmy Spithill who has won the last two America’s Cups and never competed in an Olympics.

Most of the other top sailors, most of the other skippers like Ben [Ainslie], like Iain Percy, like Nathan Outteridge, they’re all gold medallists.

The link competitively between the Olympics and the America’s Cup is very strong but commercially and in terms of overall interest, I don’t think there’s too much give and take between the two.

“We’re progressing at amazing pace,” says Jo Grindley, head of commercial, marketing, communications and events at Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR).

“It’s a massive challenge that we’ve set ourselves: in the 165-year history of the America’s Cup, only one team has won it on their first time. Obviously, that’s what we’re aiming to do. That is a massive challenge, and we’re not in any way understating the challenge that we set ourselves.”

Having tasted victory as a tactician for Oracle Team USA at the 34th America’s Cup, Sir Ben Ainslie has returned for more at the head of his own entry into the 35th edition. A man unused to failure, as his five Olympic medals from five different Olympic Games would attest, Ainslie is not treating his team’s debut in the competition as a warm-up. No one at Land Rover BAR is going to Bermuda with any intention other than bringing the ‘Auld Mug’ to Britain for the first time.

Grindley has been at Land Rover BAR since 2014, when the team moved into their new headquarters in Portsmouth.

Over that time she has overseen the team’s impressive commercial growth, including major deals with the likes of KPMG, JCB and Adidas as official suppliers, all of which have helped to contribute towards the significant costs of mounting a credible America’s Cup challenge.

“As a team we always look forward, not back, but if you do look back at what’s been achieved since we officially launched the team back in June 2014, just two years ago, then it’s been pretty fast-paced,” says Grindley.

“We started from nothing – we didn’t have any collateral, essentially – and we’re now in a purpose-built base right in the middle of Portsmouth.”

Land Rover BAR are an unusual America’s Cup entrant in more ways than one. Ainslie’s decision that the team should be based in the UK, rather than in the venue for the Cup regatta itself, as is usual, is one way in which they stand out from the crowd. That choice, among with others, was taken with “a very long-term view over the whole campaign”, explains Grindley.

“Historically the teams have followed the America’s Cup around the world,” she says. “In the 34th Cup, people were based in San Francisco and set up their team bases there, and we’ve seen Japan, Oracle and Artemis all basing themselves out of Bermuda this time. We very much decided to take a long-term perspective on this, not just thinking about this as one campaign.

We’re based in UK with the view to setting ourselves up as a long-term sporting team and a long-term business.

“A lot of the teams have had their asset

RIGHT

Land Rover BAR are aiming to become the second debutant team in history to take the Auld Mug at the first attempt

LEFT

Jo Grindley, head

Image: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

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LAND ROVER BAR

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of commercial, marketing, communications and events at Land Rover BAR

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bases in place from the last Cup and seamlessly run into another campaign.

We are effectively a start-up business: we’ve gone from zero to just over 120 people now, and we’ve had two World Series in Portsmouth. The public reaction to that has been phenomenal, just being in Portsmouth back in July and the reaction that we had from the spectators was really humbling.”

Commercial planning around the vagaries of the America’s Cup is never a straightforward task – as Grindley points out, when she began orchestrating Land Rover BAR’s strategy in the run-up to the contest, “I didn’t have a venue, I didn’t know when it was going to be, or what boats it was going to be on” – giving a distinct advantage to those already existing teams who have carried their sponsorships over, or been able to renegotiate deals based on past performance. Land Rover BAR, Grindley feels, had to go that extra mile to sell themselves to potential partners and show that they were able to offer continuity and long-term returns to sponsors.

“One of the things we were most focused on when we were setting the team up, and specifically looking at the commercial side, was that historically maybe the Cup hadn’t always had the continuity,” she says. “So when we set about raising the UK£85 million that we needed, we were trying to sell something that didn’t have all the key aspects in place.

“We went about controlling what we could control; we looked at a number of models that sporting teams use across the UK. People make a lot of analogies between the America’s Cup and Formula One, and we looked at a couple of the Formula One teams and how they set up, how they give value to their partners. The races are obviously the races and we know that we can give value and eyeballs on live TV, etc.

“But in between those races, what

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Image: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

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could we do? So we developed, within our base here, a hospitality floor, and our partners have used it quite extensively. We’ve set up an education centre in Portsmouth as well targeting Key Stage 3 in schools, so 11 to 15-year-olds, and working with charities we’ve set up the 1851 Trust.”

The charitable and educational aspect of the Land Rover BAR project is key to what the team are trying to achieve off the water and beyond Bermuda. Sailing has long had a not entirely undeserved reputation as an elitist sport, due to the often prohibitive costs of entry and other elements. This, says Grindley, is “not in Ben’s background”, however, and Ainslie himself is leading the charge to bring sailing to a mass audience and introduce the sport to young people who would otherwise not have the opportunity. In the build-up to next

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year’s America’s Cup, Land Rover BAR will welcome visits from local area schools three days a week to show the children the inner workings of a sports team, show off some of the technology involved in creating the boats and hopefully get them out on the water.

“One of the key things for all sports is having to look at engaging with the next generation and what engages them,” says Grindley. “Technology is one of the key things that the younger generation engages with so, before we even get them on the boat, we should be getting them on the Oculus Rift [virtual reality system] and sailing in the boat remotely so that they’re excited before they ever get on the water.

“But we need to look at what the barriers are to the sport as well. With the 1851 Trust we are looking at a project with Sport England that will kick off later this year which will give

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The two World Serise events in Portsmouth have helped to raise the profile of Land Rover BAR and the America’s Cup in the UK

11 to 13-year-olds in the Solent region the opportunity to get out on the water. What we don’t want to do is do the same as a number of other sailing charities. They do a great job at giving taster sessions and getting people out on the water and we need to think, what can we do differently? And that is bringing a different element to it.

“The Trust is launching something called Stem Crew in October and that is an education programme that will go out to Key Stage 3 and be digitally downloadable by any school, a completely free resource using the power of the Cloud to explain forces, biology, nutrition, etc – problems we have to deal with every day in the field – and use them to link into the curriculum to tell the story.”

The high profile of Ben Ainslie and of the America’s Cup itself is driving interest up for the younger generation, something that was

and that’s all about aerodynamics. In cars, aero is key for reducing drag and increasingly performance, so we’ve been able to tap into a huge amount of Land Rover’s technical resources to develop that.”

Land Rover BAR have also committed themselves greatly to sustainability and reducing their carbon footprint. Land Rover itself is again working alongside the team in this regard, backed up by two further partners – Eleventh Hour Racing, which is the exclusive sustainability partner, and BT, the technology in sustainability partner.

“When we set the team up we obviously were driving to be an innovative technology-led business like Formula One, but I think you can’t do that without looking at your wider footprint,” says Grindley. “So we decided very early on that if we were going to do this, we were going to look at

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Cup is really a design race,” says Grindley.

“Our sponsors get more exposure the more successful we are, so it’s in all of our interests to work closely on improving how we can be successful.”

The tie-up with Land Rover is the most prominent of these, with the UK-based carmaker not only the team’s title sponsor but also their exclusive innovation partner – a deal that involves a team of Land Rover staff being based full-time in Portsmouth, working with BAR, until the America’s Cup itself.

“We have a number of their engineers embedded in our team permanently here,” explains Grindley. “Not only does that help just from a day-to-day perspective, but it also allows them to go back into their business and take the challenges that we’re having to a much wider group of people with much more brain power.

“Our ‘engine’ essentially is our wing,

Image: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

aided by the Duchess of Cambridge becoming a patron of the 1851 Trust. The increased visibility of the sport following Britain’s success at the Olympics and the build-up to next year in Bermuda is contributing towards Land Rover BAR’s stated goal of creating a ‘Maritime Valley’ around the Solent, equivalent to Motorsport Valley in Oxfordshire where several Formula One teams have their bases.

The motorsport influence also extends to the way Land Rover BAR engage with their technical partners and lean on their expertise to further their sporting performance. Led by their chief executive Sir Martin Whitmarsh, formerly chief executive at McLaren Racing and a man with decades of experience on Formula One’s frontline, Land Rover BAR have taken a proactive approach to their partnerships.

“At the end of the day, the America’s

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Image: Harry KH/Land Rover BAR

sustainability being a core to how we affected positive change within the sport, within our skills, within how we operate as a team to have a minimum impact on our environment.

“We’ve got an exclusive sustainability partner in Eleventh Hour Racing and for them it’s not so much about eyeballs and branding, it’s more about actually using what we’re doing as a case study to how other sports can act. Our ‘pitch’, essentially, is the water, so we’re doing a number of things there to maintain that environment. We’ve got oysters under our pontoons at the base and we’re trying to regenerate the oyster beds that were prevalent in the Solent 15 years ago but got wiped out and no one really knows why. We have a policy of no single-use plastics; we’re looking at technology that sucks some of the smaller microbeads and plastics out of the water. One of our biggest footprints moving forward will be recycling carbon and we’re looking at life-cycle analysis with Land Rover as well, which also is the

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ABOVE

Unlike the majority of America’s Cup teams, Land Rover BAR have not based themselves in Bermuda, instead setting up shop in Portsmouth, UK

key element of BT’s sponsorship with us.

“Ben launched BT’s ‘100% Sport’ campaign, to try and get all sport to go to 100 per cent renewable energy, last year in New York. Sustainability is the key area and I hope we can say we are the most sustainable sports team in the UK. We’re the only sports team to have ISO 20121 across all of our operations, we’re operating out of the first BREEAM Excellent sports facility in the UK, and I think we are very much leading the way with that.”

Another successful Olympic Games in Rio for Great Britain, in which it topped the sailing medal table with two golds and a silver, was followed by further success in the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, in which Land Rover BAR are leading the table ahead of the final event in Fukuoka. Expectations are growing that the team can achieve their goal of being the second debut team to win the Auld Mug, as well as its first ever British winners. The World Series events in Portsmouth also gave Grindley cause

for optimism.

“We know with the Olympics that people love sport in the UK and we fully felt the expectation of that,” she concludes. “We had the first World Series event of this whole America’s Cup cycle and, except for the weather, it went well. Commercially it’s tough when you’re the first and you’ve obviously got the least amount of runway to go in but I think this time it was smaller, more compact, really focused on the sport, and I think the feedback that we’ve had across the board has been phenomenal.

“What it really gave us is a measure for what it’s going to be like in Bermuda next year, in terms of the sporting challenge but also the commercial aspect. We need to ensure that the sporting team can perform as they need to, all while ensuring that we give value to all of our partners and stakeholders. With nearly all the pieces now in place we are very confident of achieving all our goals.”

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SOFTBANK TEAM JAPAN SoftBank Team Japan, the newest kids on the America’s Cup block, are the first Japanese-flagged challenger since 2000, and are seeking to become the first Asian team to claim the Auld Mug. While history may weigh heavily against this dream, SoftBank Team Japan are able to boast the race’s second-richest owner in Masayoshi Son, the Japanese billionaire businessman who is the founder and current chief executive officer of SoftBank. Son has thrown all of his considerable wealth and power behind the team’s efforts, recruiting a strong team to lead the challenge on the water.

SoftBank Team Japan is helmed, on-board, by a strong pairing of team general manager Kazuhiko “Fuku” Sofuku and the former Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ) skipper Dean Barker, who will be the chief executive and captain.

Barker left the New Zealand outfit following a dispute with ETNZ’s chief executive Grant Dalton. The acrimonious split is said have focused on Barker hearing that he was to be replaced as skipper for ETNZ through the media.

The 44-year-old joined the hastily arranged Japanese team in 2015 and has assembled a capable squad of sailors in a relatively short period of time. The New Zealander, son of clothing retail multimillionaire Ray Barker, brings over 15 years of America’s Cup experience to the Japanese team, having sailed in four America’s Cup matches, including claiming victory in the 2000 contest, in which he was helmsman for the deciding race.

“This is an incredible opportunity to build a new team from the ground up,” said Barker at the beginning of the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series. “It’s an honour to take on the responsibility of both chief executive and skipper of SoftBank Team Japan.

“We’re filling the key roles on the team as quickly as we can. I think we’re pulling together a very strong team.

We want to compete at the head of the

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fleet and we’re assembling a team that is capable of doing that. Our goal is to win the America’s Cup.” Barker is, of course, ably aided by general manager Sofuku, who competes in his fourth America’s Cup. The 49-yearold, renowned as one of the all-time greatest sailors to come out of Japan, made his America’s Cup debut in 1995 as bowman on that year’s Japanese boat Nippon Challenge, and then raced in the 2007 edition with One World Challenge and BMW Oracle Racing.

Sofuku has been heavily involved in the short-term set-up of the team but he is also keen to develop the sport in his country, and the veteran bowman is hopeful that SoftBank Team Japan’s focus “will shift to trialling more Japanese sailors as we continue to build and develop our team”.

Although the Japanese team is a stand-alone entity, it did receive some initial support from rival team Oracle Team USA, with the defending America’s Cup champions providing a boat and shore support during the first World Series event in Portsmouth in 2015.

However, with an owner that is – according to Bloomberg – worth US$11.2 billion and highly engaged in the venture, it is doubtful that SoftBank Team Japan will be in need of too many hand-outs.

Having ultimately been convinced to join the competition when the switch to the smaller 45-foot AC45 Surrogate boats was announced, SoftBank Team Japan were the first team to officially proclaim that that they had mastered the foiling tack, where the hull entirely is out of the water and able to effectively turn at a much faster speed. Once mastered it has the potential to change the entire playbook of the America’s Cup, and the method has been heralded as a “game changer” by Barker.

“The absolute ‘Holy Grail’ would be to pop up on foils at the start and then keep the hulls dry all around

RIGHT

Softbank Team Japan are the first Japanese entrant to the America’s Cup since 2000, but owner Masayoshi Son will expect immediate returns on his investment

the racecourse,” he said. “It’s certainly not inconceivable. It’d be quite the achievement to pull it off.”

The team’s tactician Chris Draper added: “If it’s anything like Moth sailing, this starts to open up the race course a lot more, your options are a lot wider. It’s not about sailing boundary to boundary anymore. You can tack on the shifts a lot more on-demand. It will make the racing a lot more exciting for the public as well.”

Although Oracle Team USA were able to match the feat two days later, and video has since emerged of Emirates Team New Zealand appearing to master the airbornetack, SoftBank Team Japan’s emergence as the first to crack the code should give them some advantage over their rivals.

The confirmation in mid-2015 that it would compete for the Auld Mug came with a raft of sponsor announcements, and the team has not needed to renew nor find additional backers in the intervening period. Needless to say, SoftBank Corp is a prominent force and continues to be the title sponsor of the team representing Kansai Yacht Club.

Compatriot Yamaha Motor is an official partner, providing a range of support including docks, performance outboard engines and scooters, and furnishing the on-shore team with an array of tools.

French aeroplane designer Airbus is SoftBank Team Japan’s innovation partner and is offering some of its design expertise already developed on the America’s Cup circuit. As part of this partnership, Airbus’ knowledge in aerodynamics, instrumentation, composites, structures, hydraulics and data analysis will be used for designs of future race yachts.

Official suppliers to the team are Australian high-performance sailing apparel band 2XU; Logic Communications, which will provide a dedicated off-island bandwidth service; and Sperry, the creator of the world’s first boat shoe, who will serve as the official footwear supplier to SoftBank Team Japan.

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ARTEMIS RACING The 34th America’s Cup saw Artemis Racing face some of their toughest challenges since entering the sailing scene in 2006. In 2013 the team faced tricky times both on and off the water, crashing out in the semi-finals of the Louis Vuitton Cup qualification event.

Emirates Team New Zealand went on to challenge defending champions Oracle Team USA in the final races, but the whole event was overshadowed by the untimely death of Olympic gold medalwinning British sailor and key Artemis team member Andrew ‘Bart’ Simpson in a training accident.

A former training partner of Sir Ben Ainslie, Simpson’s death sent shockwaves through the world of sailing, and was a contributing factor in the Cup’s move away from AC72 catamarans, the unsafe nature of which was partly blamed for his death. In its aftermath, it was impressive that Artemis put on a challenge at all.

“We decided that we would go on but not with the existing structure, so we tore everything down and let people take decisions on how they wanted to work and move on,” said Torbjorn Törnqvist, Artemis’ majority investor, at the time, adding that they “eliminated an entire management structure within Artemis” following the tragedy, just weeks ahead of the Cup. The Andrew Simpson Sailing Foundation, founded by Ainslie, former Artemis skipper and current manager Iain Percy, and Simpson’s wife Leah, now acts as Artemis Racing’s exclusive charity partner.

The tough times, however, look to be behind the team now, and in recent years they have gone from strength to strength. Despite the lack of return on his early investment, Swedish oil magnate Torbjorn Törnqvist has persisted with his ambition and will be hoping that next year will herald more success.

In 2017, Artemis will be backed by nearly €300 million from Törnqvist

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and the tribulations the team have endured look set to only make them stronger. Since Simpson’s passing Artemis have grown into one of the tournament’s more established teams and, despite only having challenged for the title on one previous occasion, they are set to be among the most experienced. Land Rover BAR, Groupama Team France and SoftBank Team Japan will all be making their debut appearance in 2017, meaning that of the challenging teams, only Emirates Team New Zealand will have competed more than once before.

Off the water, Artemis have a rich sponsorship portfolio, and are afforded the opportunity to be selective thanks to the money invested by Törnqvist.

They have two primary partners in Swiss watchmaker Ulysse Nardin and international specialty insurance and reinsurance underwriter Argo Group.

Both companies bring unique services to the team, with Ulysse delivering timekeeping and digital solutions, while Argo underwrites the unique risks involved in high-speed sailing.

RIGHT

With a previous campaign behind them in the 34th America’s Cup, Artemis go to Bermuda as one of the more experienced teams on the water

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Artemis suffered the trafic loss of Andrew Simpson in 2013 but have fostered tremendous team spirit in face of adversity

Alongside these two key sponsors, Artemis also boast Pelle P clothing and Bermuda-based hotel and development Caroline Bay as official suppliers. The team have offices and headquarters in the Caroline Bay development, practising off-shore in Bermuda, and all official clothing and gear is manufactured and supplied by Pelle P. Elsewhere, the team carry a collection of technical partners, who work alongside them on developing Artemis’ unique technical infrastructure.

These include GPS firm Garmin and aerospace manufacturer Tactair. The team’s latest partner, Crewsaver, will provide all safety gear during every round of 2017’s tournament.

The team are set to be skippered by 30-year-old Australian Nathan Outteridge, an Olympic gold medallist in the 49er class at London 2012. Joining Outteridge as wing trimmer is his partner from that event, 28-year-old Iain Jensen, as well as Luke Parkinson, Christian Kamp and Kalle Torlén. Alongside manager Iain Percy is fellow tactician Fredrik Loof, with Paul Goodison and Francesco Bruni serving as helmsmen. Bruni, a recent

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addition to the team, is a three-time Olympian and former helmsman of Italian America’s Cup challenger Luna Rossa. He has previously won seven World Championships, five European Championships and fifteen Italian Championships across a range of classes, and in 2011 topped ISAF’s Match Race World Rankings.

As the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series drew to a close, meanwhile, Artemis were languishing at the lower end of the overall table. The team took victories in Bermuda, Toulon, and Chicago, but struggled in Portsmouth, New York, Oman and Gothenburg.

Their fortunes could be set to change, however, after they grabbed a dramatic victory in September’s RC44 Cascais Cup. Taking place off the Estoril coast, west of the Portuguese capital of Lisbon, the team snatched victory after rival outfits Team Aqua and Team CEEREF suffered kite problems in the closing stages.

Artemis claimed the win by a single point in what was the closest finish in the RC44’s ten year history.

Though in a different class to the America’s Cup, the victory in Portugal will have given the team a much-needed lift as preparations began. Discussing the victory immediately after racing, Törnqvist said: “That is amazing after one week of racing. With it all coming down to the last run, it is incredible for us – today was surely our day.”

At the same event, lead tactician Francesco Bruni also cooed over Artemis’ growing team spirit, saying: “We wouldn’t have won that without this team – we reacted to problems better than other teams and it certainly stands us in good stead.”

As Bermuda 2017 rolls around, Artemis will be looking to gather as much momentum as possible into the event. After qualification begins on 26th May, all eyes will turn towards 17th June when the top challenger will meet defending champions Oracle Team USA, and with momentum on their side Artemis will be hoping they can go a step further than last time and snatch victory in the 35th Americas Cup.

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GROUPAMA TEAM FRANCE Representing the famous Yacht Club de France in the 2017 America’s Cup will be competition debutant Groupama Team France. The team, which will be led by Frenchman Franck Cammas, announced their intention to challenge in January of 2014, and is aiming to become the first French team to ever win the Auld Mug. Despite the event being Groupama Team France’s debut, the Yacht Club de France has appeared as a challenger in the contest six times, last making an attempt at the trophy in 1983. The club, which will celebrate its 150th anniversary in 2017, was originally set up by Napoleon III, and is one of the world’s most historic and prestigious sailing networks.

The team itself is similarly littered with sailing experience. The highly decorated sailor Michel Desjoyaeux, who now works on the design team, previously became the first sailor to win the Vendée Globe twice, while marketing and communications head Oliver de Kersauson, aged 73, has twice claimed the Jules Verne Trophy for the fastest circumnavigation of the world in a yacht.

Skipper Cammas, meanwhile, landed the Jules Verne Trophy in 2010, set the North Atlantic crossing record in 2007, and won the Volvo Ocean Race in 2011/12. On top of this, he has a longstanding partnership with team title sponsor Groupama, dating back to 1998, regularly starring as an ambassador for the group throughout its activations.

The team are being backed by French defence minister Jean-Yves Le Drian and Patrick Kanner, minister for cities,

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RIGHT

Groupama Team France is the Yacht Club de France’s first run at the America’s Cup since 1983

BELOW

Groupama Franck Cammas is a former Jules Verne Trophy and Volvo Ocean Race winner

youth and sports, as well as title sponsor Groupama, a French insurance company.

The sponsorship began in 2015 and is reported to be worth US$16.8 million in total over a three-year period, covering the entire Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) through to 2017’s main event. Groupama will also underwrite and reinsure all insurance risks for the team, with Desjoyeaux extolling the virtues of a French-based sponsor at the time of signing.

“In France, we have the knowledge as well as the culture to develop and sailing foiling catamarans propelled by a wing,” he said.

“You just have to look at the number of French architects, engineers, and sailors who make up the overseas teams to understand that. It is down to us, with Groupama, to unite this French talent.”

Alongside Groupama, French tyre company Norauto serve as the team’s only official partner, with Musto Engineering, Lorient Bretagne and Region Bretagne all acting as exclusive suppliers. Among the team’s official suppliers are Ernst and Young, who will provide analytics to the data teams, Suzuki Marine, Sailbags, Harken and DCNS, among others.

So far, the team have struggled in the Louis Vuitton World Series, placing bottom of the overall series leader board.

The team had a promising event in New York, finished third overall behind Emirates Team New Zealand and Oracle Team USA , but placed dead last in Bermuda, Chicago and Gothenburg. In the team’s home competition, in Toulon, Groupama Team France finished fourth, ahead of the winners of the 34th America’s Cup, Oracle Team USA, and Team New Zealand, Oracle’s challenger last time out.

When the 35th America’s Cup starts in Bermuda in 2017, Groupama Team France will face off against last year’s winners Oracle Team USA on 26th May in the tournament’s first race, before taking on Artemis and Land Rover BAR in the first round robin.

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EMIRATES TEAM NEW ZEALAND Emirates Team New Zealand (ETNZ), the most successful team of the modern era, have been in a period of transition since their well-documented loss to Oracle Team USA in the 34th America’s Cup. The departure of experienced captain Dean Barker – a veteran of Team New Zealand since 1995 – following a supposed rift with ETNZ chief executive Grant Dalton in 2015 did little to steady the ship. The general perception over the four years since the last America’s Cup is that the historic team have been behind the eight ball in developmental terms.

Nevertheless, under the offshore stewardship of new skipper Glenn Ashby and renowned helmsman Peter Burling – fresh from winning a gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics in the 49er class – ETNZ have returned to some form at this year’s Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series. They took the overall victories in Gothenburg and New York, and look to be the strongest boat outside of the reigning champions Oracle Team USA and the emerging Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing.

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There has long been a perception that ETNZ still have a lot of catching up to do in their on-water testing programme. They only launched their first AC45 test boat in June, which is almost a year later than most of their main rivals.

However, the upcoming southern hemisphere summer will speed up the team’s progress, especially while the five northern hemisphere-based teams face a long winter of relative inactivity.

Furthermore, the team recently released a video offering a general update of their testing programme’s progress. The video ended with a foretaste of what may be the most stable upwind foiling tack to date.

Known as the ‘Holy Grail of the America’s Cup’, the foiling tack has been the last significant barrier preventing America’s Cup teams from hypothetically foiling around an entire racecourse. Barker’s Team Japan were the first to pulling off a foiling tack last month during testing in Bermuda but ETNZ appear to have the upper hand going into the close season. The team that have the greatest understanding of

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Skipper Glenn Ashby believes his team are among the favourites to once again challenge Oracle Team USA for the America’s Cup

foiling – and can execute the muchcoveted foiling tack – could potentially hold all of the cards at the 2017 America’s Cup in Bermuda.

It is possible that such advancements may have come as a result of ETNZ being selected to receive a research and development growth grant from crown agency Callaghan Innovation. The team had previously been illegible because of the government funding that was once provided to them, despite their leading the way in marine and composite technology experimentation for the past 20 years.

Growth grants are only available to organisations with at least AUS$300,000 (US$226,000) dedicated to research and development annually.

“It is fantastic Callaghan Innovation has recognised both the importance and the potential Emirates Team New Zealand has in the research and development of technologies that goes into creating an America’s Cup winning yacht,” said Dalton, speaking after the award of the grant in February. “What we do, and what we develop, has a flow-on effect on to the New Zealand marine industry as well as so many other New Zealand businesses where there is cross over in the technology we develop.

“This is at the core of the Callaghan Innovation’s research and development fund – helping New Zealand businesses succeed through technology. And the team has a proven record of leading the way in marine technology.”

The grants will certainly be a shot in the arm for ETNZ because, as their technical director Dan Bernasconi has pointed out, “this year’s America’s Cup is going to be the most technologically advanced ever”.

In addition, the historic team are in line to receive a seven-figure pay-out from the America’s Cup organising body after winning a protracted dispute over a breach of contract. The argument

INFLUENCERS EVENTS / 2/ 1 originated in 2015, when the America’s Cup Events Authority went back on an agreement to award Auckland the hosting rights of the America’s Cup qualifier and reallocated it to Bermuda.

Nonetheless, the 16-month period and lack of a qualifying round at Auckland has left ETNZ with a financial handbrake, especially in comparison to their affluent rivals.

ETNZ also became the first team to deploy the TomTom Bandit Action Camera Software Development Kit (SDK), in order to improve their training for the 2017 America’s Cup. The TomTom Bandit is an action camera with integrated motion sensors including GPS, accelerometer, gyro and pressure sensor that record video and data in an MP4 video file.

ABOVE

Following their collapse from 8-1 up to lose 8-9 at the last America’s Cup, Emirates Team New Zealand will be out for revenge in Bermuda

The action data recorded by the ETNZ in training and the ability to easily edit footage allows for faster feedback, with enhanced data from TomTom Bandit including speed, acceleration and heart rate.

ETNZ have renewed with foundation supplier Yamaha, who will once again be the official provider of outboard motors for the team’s chase boats. The long-term partnership, which began in 1987, means that the team support vessels will include the F350 and F300s as well as the F175 and F60.

Longstanding sponsor Emirates continues to back the team, retaining its naming rights early in 2015. The Dubaibased airline’s collaboration with ETNZ dates back to 2004 and it will continue through the 35th Americas Cup.

The New Zealand outfit also renewed with long-term sponsor Omega in 2015.

“Having Omega continue as a major sponsor is another landmark milestone for the team,” said Grant Dalton on the extension of that deal.

“The relationship is one that dates back more than 20 years to the 1995 campaign when the team first won the America’s Cup and illustrated what is possible by a team full of talent, innovation and belief and is yet another solid stepping stone in the drive for repeat success in 2017.

“Omega’s values of precision timing, unparalleled accuracy and pioneering spirit are all reflected in the Emirates Team New Zealand culture and our quest to return the America’s Cup to New Zealand.”

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BRANDSPOT: MARKETING THE WORLD OF SAILING THE BRIEFING Brandspot is a Stockholm-based strategic consultancy bureau specialising in sponsorship and event-based marketing communication. Since its establishment ten years ago, Brandspot has taken the majority of its business, where it has worked with a client list that includes the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series, Match Cup Sweden, RC44 and, perhaps most notably, two editions of the Volvo Ocean Race.

The Swedish city of Gothenburg hosted the final leg of the 2014/15 edition of the round-the-world yacht race, presenting Brandspot with its biggest commercial opportunity so far, working with the race organisers and on behalf of the city of Gothenburg itself. The company’s chief executive Jan Torstenson explains the commercial environment his company works in, the unique approach it takes to its work and the importance of collaboration.

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Can you explain Brandspot’s involvement in the world of sailing and the work you do for your clients?

Jan Torstenson: We are an events management company that, from the beginning, has worked to manage global-scale events, mainly in Sweden.

We have also worked as advisors to some of the sailing clubs and federations. We have been out on the market for ten years, and we are focusing more and more on international sailing.

We are not an event production company – we work with the management part mainly, then of course we secure the production process. But mainly we work with the planning to manage the overall project – budgeting, revenue and all the different steps in these kinds of projects. We are the front face for our different clients.

We have worked on a couple of different projects with the Volvo Ocean Race. We have run the last two editions in Sweden, in Stockholm in 2009 and then we were working for the city of Stockholm. Then in 2015 we had the finish in Gothenburg, when we were employed by the city of Gothenburg. We are the main contact between the Volvo Ocean Race organisation and our stakeholders, including taking care of the local

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partners, also, to ensure their needs and expectations will be fulfilled.

We have experience also with some teams; we worked on the America’s Cup World Series when it was here at Gothenburg; also the Tall Ships Regatta.

Our work is across a number of different events. We worked for the Artemis Racing team, taking care of them during the local event as their promoter and also secured the America’s Cup organisation’s different rights and demands in Sweden.

What is the process of marketing an event like the Volvo Ocean Race?

First of all we need to secure all kinds of agreements between the different

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Jan Torstenson, chef executive of marketing and communications company Brandspot

stakeholders, and then we need to ensure that it will work when we actually launch the event. We also secure the organisation and all kinds of commercial rights. Finally, we secure the implementation and the production on sites.

I think the unique thing for us is that we also are responsible for the budget and securing the revenue, and I think that’s rather unusual for our type of company. Together with the city we set the goals, but also secure that we keep to the budget and bring revenue in and, of course, have satisfied clients!

In our work, our clients are both the city – the local partners – and the Volvo Ocean Race itself, which is a close colleague. So we are very much in between the two, and we’re trying to make everything transparent.

We are working a lot more with the commercial part, which is always a lot of focus. For us, I think the things that keep us awake are having a happy client in the end, which has some kind of expectation that we need to reach.

That’s the most important thing for us.

The commercial guidelines, platforms, structures: that’s more a structure that needs to be very clear and transparent but we always think, what will our clients say in the end?

That is the thing that drives us in all our projects.

We work with a parallel process regarding budgeting. One thing is, of course, to keep costs down and get revenue in, but there is a very interesting balance between these two.

Normally you keep the sales process and the commercial process as one part, and then you have other people working with the costs part more on the production side of things. We want to keep them together the whole way through the project, and we take full responsibility for that part.

It’s much easier to make changes in a smart way if you work with revenues in the same time as you work with the costs, because very often they have a connection. It can be the same kind of company that both wants to be in as a partner but they can also affect the costs in different ways if you have that discussion at the same time. So you can see the process in a much smarter way instead of keeping it in different sections. Another positive effect is that quality is much more in focus when you discuss a partnership – revenue – at the same time as you highlight the costs.

The Volvo Ocean Race is a really successful example. We had a budget imbalance during a phase of the project, and we also had the possibility to make changes very late. We also avoid surprises, you could say, by working this way. It was a successful project and we have just started the process for the next Volvo Ocean Race in Gothenburg where we will have the departure of the final leg of the race in 2018.

The last time the Volvo Ocean Race visited Gothenburg, in 2015, it was one of the biggest events you have worked on so far. What lessons did you learn from that, and how will you look to improve when it comes back in 2018?

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Brandspot worked with both the Volvo Ocean Race and the city of Gothenburg when the roundthe-world contest concluded in the Swedish port

The Volvo Ocean Race has a commercial environment that fits different types of companies, independent of whether you work with business-to-consumer, business-to-business, or if it’s some kind of internal project. In one way it’s important to keep that balance because that’s one of the strengths of the Volvo Ocean Race, but we really want to focus in even more on networking between different parties, between our partners, the city, long-term projects that they city are working with for the next coming five or ten years. So one thing that we really want to develop is that networking part, letting different stakeholders work together with their joint common activation, so that’s one thing that we will stress a lot.

At the same time there is a very clear goal from the city to let the event be open for everyone in Gothenburg. We need to balance these two parts. But I think we can do that in a smart way. The relationship part, the networking part, that is growing even more and talking about media figures, exposure and so on, that’s more a basic thing that people expect that it will work. Five, ten years ago, it was a lot of focus on media value and how visible you are with your brand exposure. But that’s more of a basic factor. It’s not a selling point, it’s something that you expect to be part of the communication platform, but you really need to try to explain how you can be in business and how you can do it together with other stakeholders.

We also try a lot to get different kinds of stakeholders together so they

can plan different kinds of activities, seminars or whatever together in a very early stage. There was a huge project in the city where Gothenburg was building an entire new part in the centre of the city and that’s a project that will run now for ten or 15 years.

It’s a lot of new technique and innovation involved in that, and there we will get these future projects to work together with the city – Volvo was an example where they launched a new electric bus, so they had the world premiere during the Ocean Race and launched that electric bus which will serve the centre of Gothenburg, and it was a service that we offered during the event. And there were eight or ten more companies involved in that, so during the event we could show the future plans for the city, we could involve the local and national businesses, and we could also launch these kinds of new innovations. I think that’s a very good example of how getting your different stakeholders to work together can produce something great.

I think it’s very important to work across borders between different kinds of events and have a really open climate of business instead of trying to work by yourself. Sailing is really a tiny part of the sports world, especially regarding the commercial part, there are not so many successful events or huge commercial rights, and I really believe in working together much more between the industry, we can do a lot more together.

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Brandspot is different from many of your competitors because you take responsibility for budgeting and revenues on behalf of event hosts.

What kinds of challenges does this represent and what solutions have you found?

WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR THE BRIEFING

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Based on the picturesque island of Hönö, off Gothenburg in Sweden, Aston Harald has become one of the most important events management companies in sailing since its purchase of the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT) in 2015. One of just five World Sailing-sanctioned special events, WMRT has undergone some significant changes since it was acquired, most notably the move to the multi-hull high-performance catamarans made by another Aston Harald business, M32, which are also used in the company’s other racing property, the M32 Series.

Having previously owned sailing marketing company Brandspot, Martin Sohtell was appointed as head of business development, marketing and media at WMRT and M32 Series to oversee the next commercial phase of Aston Harald’s sailing business. The process of bringing the two series under the same umbrella, Sohtell explains, has required a different approach to sponsorship, a fresh marketing strategy and a new way of looking at the world of sailing.

What has been happening with World Match Racing Tour and M32 Series over the past 12 months?

marginal sport when you compare it to more mainstream events, and we are always going to be fighting for the scraps when it comes to broadcasting.

Martin Sohtell: The last 12 months have been a huge project for us. We took over the World Match Racing Tour 14 months ago and during that time we have put in a lot of hard work. We have firmly established the M32 as the primary boat that we race in now, and we have set up a logistical plan for all of our operations, for both World Match Racing Tour and M32.

We have also been doing our series of events, and we’ve had our first milliondollar prize money event in Marstrand, Sweden. It’s really been full-on.

We decided early on that we were going to go in with a different distribution chain and we put a lot of emphasis on digital distribution. This meant working with streaming platforms like blogs and websites and, perhaps most importantly, with social media. We’ve really learned to develop this strategy and so far it’s having a lot of success. A lot of people are engaging over time with us, and they are staying with us the whole journey, so this intimate use of alternative media has been critical to us.

World Match Racing Tour joined up with the M32 Series brand last year.

How has that developed over the past 12 months?

Really, last year when we took World Match Racing Tour on, the timing was absolutely perfect. What we’ve seen is that there has been a huge surge of sailors wanting to get involved with something that resembles what the Americas Cup did, with the multi-hulls. World Match Racing Tour has become the stepping stone for teams wanting to replicate this and join Grand Prix circuits in multi-hull

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racing, so a lot of people have been keen to get involved. So far, there has been fantastic feedback and were really happy with it. The sailors have really taken to it and I think it is exceeding their expectations when it comes to what they can actually do with the boats.

What has World Match Racing Tour changed since joining the M32 umbrella, and what has it learned?

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WMRT’s race in Marstrand, Sweden attracted over 100,000 supporters to watch on the day

RIGHT

The M32 catamarans

We have put an incredible amount of effort into media. We want to create something really new with our media output because, really, sailing is a

We started going straightaway with Facebook and we worked with external companies so we could play with Facebook’s algorithms and ensure we were reaching the right people. We have then tailored our content to reach those specific people and appeal to exactly who we need to.

How is the commercial landscape across World Match Racing Tour and M32?

present a significant physical challenge even to experienced sailors

Well first of all, this new broadcasting approach is helping us better serve our sponsors. Distributing through social

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media means we can put our partners right in front of the exact people that we need to, so that has been great.

In terms of sponsorship in general, we’ve changed our pace here a little bit. At first, after we had acquired World Match Racing Tour, a lot of time was spent trying to put things in place to educate people around the world. We needed to make them understand what we now were and how we were set up, because it’s incredibly hard to sell to people and partners when they don’t understand who or what we are.

But now that we are one year in we are starting to work very hard on new events and this is starting to attract new sponsors. Of course it is an ongoing process and we’re really happy with the discussions we are having. We have some exciting announcements to come in the future, and we are incredibly excited to meet new sponsors.

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New Zealander Phil Robertson claimed the World Match Racing Championship in Marstrand in 2016

What sponsorship models are you looking at? World Match Racing Tour has previously had a title sponsor – is that a model you are considering again?

It is interesting. I think gone are the days when you go to partners and you tell them that you have a specific sponsorship model they have to fit around. I think now it is about flexibility.

We are trying to have conversations with potential partners about what suits them

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RIGHT

Team Magenta 32 is an all-female entry into the World Match Racing Tour

best, and how they want to work with us. To do that, we have to be flexible and dynamic with what we can offer them.

That is how we will get the best partners.

With regards to a title sponsorship, we all know here that we work in a commercial world, so we aren’t saying no to anything. As I mentioned, it’s all about what fits for both parties, so really a title sponsor is not off the table because it might be the solution that works best all round.

We also have eight boats that we are looking to get global sponsorship for, and we are using impressive hospitality programmes to help sell that. We have a new ‘hot seat’ programme, where guests can go out on the boats as they race: it’s a spectacular experience. It’s an example of us using what we have to tailor to our partners.

I don’t want to say no to anything and if someone can meet our needs and we can

help to serve their needs, then I think that certainly a title sponsorship is something that could be on the table in the future.

We are also looking at working hard alongside local partners. We have a lot of fleets and a great set of series; we have the Scandinavian series and we have expanded now to the Mediterranean, North America and are continually looking for the next one.

At all these new locations, it is the local regional partners who really bring some of the key flavour to the event and create that incredible atmosphere and hospitality that will be so important to the success of it. They are the advocates who help market the event locally and therefore help to deliver an audience.

You want it to have that global prestige but you need to have the local partners as well, and you need to listen to their needs because, ultimately, they will bring that local market and that atmosphere that we need – this sponsorship combination is very important.

You mentioned your use of social media as an alternate form of distribution. How is this developing?

Broadcasting has actually been great, perhaps better than ever before. We have been working closely with IMG and they have been providing us with very strong distribution chains but, as I mentioned, we have opted to develop a critical social media distribution plan.

We have worked with a company and we want to work to a model similar to the World Surfing League (WSL). They have done brilliantly in concentrating

cent increase per year. What we’ve found is that fans enjoy returning to the same place, so it has become integral for us to secure long-term – maybe three or four-year – agreements with our hosts. This will mean we can continue to increase spectators, but on top of this we can understand the courses better, develop them further, and work closely with local partners year on year.

How are spectator numbers? How important is working alongside your event hosts to ensure people are coming to watch the events?

Coming from the M32 side, what do you think you as a company have learned from World Match Racing Tour and what does the future hold?

We’ve tried a number of different set ups to boost spectators and what we are doing now is going really well. In Marstrand this year we had over 100,000 spectators, which is incredible for a sport like ours, and we’re incredibly excited to develop that.

This is the third year we have held the event in Marstrand, and with every year more and more people are attending, I think it is around a 200 per

The WMRT has so much legacy and history that it brings, which is fantastic, and it carries so much passion.

Everywhere we go in the world fans are really protective over it: this sport is their passion and they have taken this to their heart.

It’s been important learning this because at M32 we do not want to outrun World Match Racing Tour. We want to complement it and bring it

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WMRT and M32’s revamped broadcasting model is giving increased visibility to the series’ sponsors

into a new era. The legacy and history behind it is incredibly important to us and we don’t want to damage that, we just want to continue to build upon it.

When we come to classical World Match Racing Tour locations, like Marstrand, we find that the audience really know match racing, they really know sailing, and that is something that you just can’t buy, that kind of passion for the sport. This is still match racing – we just want to help it evolve to the next level. As it evolves we want to ensure that this legacy is kept at the centre of everything we do.

We’re now looking ahead to a great season, and we are sitting here planning new events, new series and in new locations just as we have done in the Mediterranean this year. There are some exciting changes to come to the North American series, and we have some great announcements on the horizon.

We want to keep pushing our new model, that both World Match Racing Tour and M32 Series fall under the umbrella of M32, and growing both as far as we can.

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their content to work on online media, and we hope to follow that plan.

This means that, because we are focusing on digital avenues, we are able to understand our audience better, and we are then harnessing that data to ensure they get the best content they want.

Creating tailored content for our specific audiences also adds an extra value to our commercial partners, where we can ensure they reach the right people.

EXTREME SAILING SERIES THE BRIEFING

The eleventh season of the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) is shaping up to be its most important yet as the OC Sportmanaged annual tour faces changes and challenges unprecedented since it set about reshaping the world of stadium sailing back in 2006.

In May 2016 Mark Turner, the founder of OC Sport and primary creator of the series, announced that he would be leaving the company to take up the vacant chief executive role at the Volvo Ocean Race (VOR), replacing Knut Frostad, who stepped down from the position at the end of 2015 after seven years in charge. Turner, whose experience in sailing includes masterminding compatriot Ellen MacArthur’s second-place finish in the 2001 Vendée Globe and her subsequent record-breaking round-the-world

Picture by: San Diego Tourism Authority

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2016 marked the major milestone of a tenth successive season for the Extreme Sailing Series, a competition which, over its decade of existence, has firmly established itself as one of the sport’s primary annual tours. The Sailing Black Book previews the series’ 11th edition, which arrives amid a series of personnel changes across the board and will see North America reinstated to the calendar for the first time since 2011.

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attempts, is noted for his commercial acumen, an area in which the ESS has always been particularly well regarded.

Turner leaves the ESS in a strong position, with its main series partner Land Rover renewing early in 2016 for a further two seasons and a new technical sponsor, Cisco, joining the ESS later in the year. Nevertheless, his absence will continue to be felt.

A few months later, the ESS’s longstanding race director Phil Lawrence followed in Turner’s footsteps to the Volvo Ocean Race and was replaced by John Craig, a veteran race director of the America’s Cup World Series and Red Bull Foiling Generation.

The ESS’s sporting side is strong but is still in the nascent stages of its development, with changes to the rules and the racing format occurring most

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San Diego will be one of two new acts on the ESS’s 2017 calendar, alongside Los Cabos, Mexico

years. Craig’s first challenge will be to put his own mark on the series.

“Phil Lawrence’s boots will be hard to fill,” says Craig, speaking to the Sailing Black Book shortly after his appointment.

“There’s a couple of things that I know we need to look at straight away. The first is we have to look at some of the safety stuff that I was exposed to while working with the America’s Cup. I’d like to bring in things which are not necessarily operational but more things we can do to the boats to make them safer.”

Another priority for Craig, he explains, is to look into closer collaboration with the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), another highly popular in-shore sailing series which has recently been reinvigorated since its purchase by Swedish company Aston Harald and the switch to the single-design GC32 foiling catamaran. That move brought the WMRT’s format closer to that of the ESS, but Craig sees that as an opportunity rather than a challenge.

“It’s not necessarily bringing them into the ESS, it’s more of an opportunity to look at one or two events a year where we can bring the World Match Racing Tour GC32s plus the Extreme boats together and see what kind of buzz we can create around that,” says Craig. “Hopefully the knock-on of that would be that we might get some of the Tour GC32s into our events and some of our boats into their event, just to increase the variety of teams that are working in both of them.

“I think we need to try and work to increase the number of boats, I think we need to see a bit more synergy between

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Picture by: Lloyd Images

the WMRT and us. And I think that’s in the interest of everyone and I think everyone wants to see that happen. If it gets to the point where we have a world championship with the GC32s, in conjunction with the WMRT, that’d be great. I think the ESS does a great job in introducing people to the professional side of the sport, and we just need to work on our stadiums and make sure that what we deliver, and when we deliver, is top quality.”

More immediately, Craig will be charged with devising the race format for the ESS’s two newly announced venues for the 2017 season, which will see it return to the North American market for the first time since 2011. San Diego, California and Los Cabos, Mexico are the series’ latest ports of call, and will round off the 2017 campaign, with Craig

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The ESS’s act in Madeira in 2016, where the series will return in 2017

suggesting that the changes present the perfect opportunity to refine the ESS’s approach.

“One of the major things I want to do is have a look at the venues to see what we can do to increase the footprint a little bit as far as stadium sailing goes,” he explains. “Some of the venues we’ve been in are pretty tight, and with the Extreme 40 boats they were fine but with the GC32s and the speed at which they foil, the areas we need to showcase the boats better need to be a bit bigger.

So we need to figure out how to push the boundaries out but maintain that close-to-shore stadium feel.

“The excitement of the boats is when they’re foiling and when they’re nipping around; we need to make sure that we create race areas that enable the guys to do that, and stadiums where the fans

are able to see it happening up close and personal. The new venues obviously give us the chance to do that, but we’re also looking at the venues that we’re already in to see if we can work with the local authorities to increase the footprints that we’re playing in.”

The man behind the decision to take the ESS back to North America is Andy Tourrell, the series’ event director. From all perspectives – commercial and sporting, for the series and for the cities themselves – the choices for the new host venues were straightforward calls, he explains.

“We’ve got some local promoters in both areas that we started working with just over a year ago,” says Tourrell.

“They had the interest and the contacts, and they understood the direction and importance of the cities in promoting

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themselves in terms of maritime tourism, and also recognising that these destinations represent a good commercial venue for our partners as well as being massive sailing destinations.”

All venues on the ESS tour must hit five key criteria, explains Tourrell, with the foremost of those being meeting the sporting requirements and delivering a key commercial market for the series’ partners. “So throughout the calendar we’ve got to ensure that those two things are not compromised,” he says. “You’ve got to ensure the sporting integrity and the safety side, but also you’ve got to make sure you’re ticking the commercial box for the partners as well. That’s what these two venues do really well.”

Choosing a market in collaboration with the ESS’s commercial partners, particularly Jaguar Land Rover, is similarly about striking a balance, “because ultimately it’s not only about hitting the important markets, but it’s also the markets that will engage, so all the local markets will engage on the global property,” says Tourrell.

“So somewhere like Australia, the markets are really interested and they do a good activation around the events

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ABOVE

New race director John Craig is keen to expand the ESS through collaboration with the World Match Racing Tour

as well,” he adds. “But we’ve got to make sure that we hit the other territories that we haven’t been to in four or five years.

We consult all of our stakeholders when we’re looking at the year ahead – and also further than that with what we intend to do – in getting their input and recognising where those markets are.

“So if you’ve got three or four partners who all have interests in the States then that helps drive us in that direction. And then we need to identify the venues by the five criteria that we consider to make sure that throughout the acts we’re delivering across all five criteria, for the teams, for the partners, for the public and the media.”

Future planning is a hugely important part of the process because, when negotiating a new venue, Tourrell and his team “very deliberately” sign multiyear contracts with local authorities. This not only ensures that brands and series partners have multiple opportunities to engage fans and run long-term activations, but means that the teams can familiarise themselves with racing conditions.

“A lot of effort goes into the first year when we’re new in a venue,” says Tourrell. “We need to learn the venue and the venue needs to learn the Extreme Sailing Series, so we do multi-year deals

to get the consistency and to be able to improve the standard of the event across the whole spectrum at each event, but also bring in the new venues as well to keep the series fresh and current.”

The multi-year approach also gives Craig the chance to develop the race formats in new venues, and work with the series’ technical partners to introduce new technological features to the ESS. Having worked with the America’s Cup in the past, Craig is more than aware of how technology shore-side, as well as on the boats, can revolutionise a sailing competition.

“In the America’s Cup, the race management is a little easier because of the technology that’s introduced in that competition,” says Craig. “I’m hoping that we’ll see some trickle-down of that technology to make things a little easier for the sailors here. I don’t know exactly what that will look like yet – we’ll work with our partner SAP and see what we can do to utilise the tracking in some way, and some of the systems that they have to develop into programmes that don’t mimic but have some of the same functionality that they have in the America’s Cup. I think there’s opportunities there.

“I think SAP and Cisco, from what I’ve seen, have been great partners, and I’ve already had some meetings with them to talk about what kind of tools I’d like to see. Although it’s not going to happen right away, it’s definitely something they’re interested in trying to develop.”

The ESS welcomed an American team for the first time during its Madeira act in 2016 and, with interest in a permanent US-based team joining the tour, the reintroduction of the series to the country is perfectly timed.

“It’s not a coincidence that as we’re heading back to the States there’s more interest, both from fans and teams,” says Tourrell. “As you start looking at the returns for the venue and the return for the teams, having a venue in the country is attractive to the team in terms of being able to get their own partners to then be able to activate quite heavily, and having a team is very powerful for a venue. The two aren’t

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related in terms of the people involved but there’s a very complimentary aspect for the venue, assuming we can get the American team on board, having an American team through the year ultimately increases that media

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Racing underway at the ESS’s Cardiff act, now one of the tour’s most wellestablished stops

attention on that team and therefore the American venue as well.”

The timing is even more appropriate given that 2017 will be an America’s Cup year, when US interest in the sport tends to reach its peak.

“I think the Extreme Sailing Series and the America’s Cup have always been net positives for each other,” says Tourrell. “Obviously the teams that are competing in the America’s Cup are going to be very much focused on

INFLUENCERS EVENTS / 2/ 1 that next year – even more than they have been this year. We’ve got the Land Rover BAR academy as an entry, so for Land Rover it’s very complimentary in terms of the geographical touch points that we can offer, having eight global

venues and very different venues to that of the America’s Cup. “So we’re talking about the experiential delivery that that can have for their guests in terms of the on-water guest sailor experience, the corporate sailing that we

offer in the morning, and then in terms of the public race village activations that they can do to get the public interactions, the public bums on seats through the driver interactions that they can have at the race village as well.”

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THE FUTURE OF THE GAME When the Extreme Sailing Series™ was launched back in 2007 it brought with it an entirely new perspective to the world of professional inshore sailing – the concept of Stadium Racing. Then followed the latest evolutions in foiling technology and the face of professional sailing changed again.

With more competing events all vying for their own piece of the pie, there is one that has succeeded in attracting and retaining not only high-profile partners, but also the world’s top teams and sailors.

The Extreme Sailing Series™ will launch into its eleventh season in 2017 having completed the biggest evolution in its history with the replacement of the Extreme 40 catamarans by the smaller, faster and flying GC32.

The advances in foiling boats and the desire of professional sailors to race at the cutting edge of technology, brought about this revolution for the Series.

“We always knew at some point we would have to evolve the Series,” explained Extreme Sailing Series Event Director Andy Tourell.

“We listened to what the teams, sailors and

our partners said they wanted and there were three main things: quality racing on cutting-edge boats, commercial return for all stakeholders and public engagement.”

That, says Tourell, is what the Extreme Sailing Series is striving to achieve. “The best racing opportunities for sailors in iconic venues and markets which attract sponsorship is still our core. The stadium sailing format that we pioneered, and which is the key to making the sport accessible and engaging, remains in our DNA. But with the transition to foiling, we’ve had to redress the balance.”

To achieve this OC Sport has diversified the sporting format. In 2017, venues across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and China have been chosen largely for this reason.

In the majority of venues larger stadiums will allow the foiling boats to reach their full potential, whilst maintaining the proximity to spectators and VIP guests. While racing in 2016 has shown that venues like Cardiff still enable competitive racing, right in the centre of cities.

American Morgan Larson has had a long and successful career, not least as part of two America’s Cup teams. In 2014, he took the Extreme Sailing Series victory with Ernesto Bertarelli’s Alinghi, a moment Larson has admitted to be the biggest success of his sailing career.

In 2016, in his fourth season on the circuit he is skippering Oman Air, and by the time this is published, he may well be on his way to his second Series title.

Talking about what makes the Series so appealing to sailors, Larson explained: “In the last few years I have competed across a range of different events and the appealing thing about the Extreme Sailing Series is the organisation.”

Larson continued: “You waste a lot of time at other sailing events – you can be at the boat at 8am, after cramming food in, then you have

to prepare the boat, motor out to the course, kill some time before racing starts, all for two or three races.

“At the Extreme Sailing Series, we’re straight out on the water after a short umpire debrief and a press conference, and we smash out seven or eight races. In a short time, that’s a lot of sailing at the highest level, and that’s the appealing part for me. The Series maximises the most out of the day while getting the best from the venues.”

If you’ve ever watched sailing on television, the chances are that you’ve heard the unmistakable voice of Peter Lester before. A two-time Yachtsman of the Year in his native New Zealand and three-time America’s Cup competitor, Lester is known as one of the world’s authorities on top level racing.

Since he started competing back in the 1970s, he has seen the top end of the sport go through numerous changes, and he is clear on what the future of sailing will look like.

“Stadium Racing is all about the spectator,” Lester explained. “The foreshore at an Extreme Sailing Series event is packed each day and that’s because the racecourse is literally metres from the shore.

“It’s the future of the game – bring the racing to the crowds, and explain to the audiences what’s going on. The Stadium Racing format

of the Extreme Sailing Series is one of the key components for modern yacht racing.”

Fellow Kiwi Phil Robertson agrees. In July 2016, the 29-year-old realised a decade-long dream when he and his crew were crowned world champions in match racing. In doing so, Robertson secured his place in the history books among some of the biggest and most respected names in the sport.

After competing at the St Petersburg Act of the 2016 Extreme Sailing Series, sailing’s newest hero now has his sights set on conquering the Extreme Sailing Series.

“I think what’s appealing is the commercial value the Series gives and that is a massive draw for teams. Not only does it bring in great sponsors and provide fantastic opportunities for them, it attracts the best sailors. Every

sailor wants to race against the best and for me, that’s why the Extreme Sailing Series is always top of my list.”

Speaking about the format of the racing, Robertson continued: “The variety in format and the venues is good – the Series mixes it up with some venues on rivers, some on open water, and for sure the best team is the one that will win.

“For me personally I need to be foiling. I think the Extreme Sailing Series is a fantastic platform. If I can come back in 2017 that would be awesome. I’m definitely pushing for it and I’m pushing the team to keep going. If we can put a campaign together we’d be a pretty strong force on the tour.”

The Extreme Sailing Series™ will fly into its eleventh season on 8th March.

2017 CALENDAR OF ACTS: 08 - 11 March 28 April - 1 May 29 June – 2 July 20 - 23 July 10 – 13 August 25 – 28 August 19 - 22 October 30 November – 3 December

Muscat, Oman Qingdao, China Funchal, Madeira Islands Europe Hamburg, Germany Cardiff, UK San Diego, USA Los Cabos, Mexico

SPONSOR FOCUS: JAGUAR LAND ROVER THE BRIEFING British carmaker Jaguar Land Rover has been intermittently involved with sailing since the 1980s but has stepped up its collaboration with the sport considerably in recent years, first becoming the main series partner of the Extreme Sailing Series (ESS) and then joining Ben Ainslie Racing (BAR) as the British America’s Cup entrant’s title sponsor.

Mark Cameron, brand experience director, global marketing at Jaguar Land Rover, gives the Sailing Black Book the inside track on his company’s strategy in sailing and explains how Land Rover technology is helping the efforts to bring the Auld Mug to the UK for the first time.

EVENTS / 2

What is behind Jaguar Land Rover’s increased involvement in sailing in recent years?

Mark Cameron: Sailing goes back to the late 1980s for Land Rover so it’s not a new sport for us, although we hadn’t done a lot in the intervening years. Getting on board with the Extreme Sailing Series four years ago was a major step towards doing more in sailing, and it was borne out with some research we’d done in terms of what our customers are interested in. There’s also the practical nature of it, with the boats needing to be towed and our vehicles being good tow-cars, so we know that the brand has a good interest and resonance among sailors generally.

Having dipped our toe in the water with the ESS and seeing how sailing is developing – and particularly how stadium and in-shore is broadening the sport to a wider, non-core sailing audience – we were thinking about how we could strengthen our footprint in sailing further and get closer to our customers. But more important was how we could bring more to the sport than just money and branding.

Clearly we have brand health metrics and things that we measure around the world in terms of how the brand is doing, and that’s important, but we also have a lot of expertise that we can offer to partners in other industries. If we can bring that to bear in a project so we can

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talk about our technological innovation and the skills we have, then actually that gives us a deeper involvement.

Something like the America’s Cup, where it’s a bit of an arms race in the technology area and a whole raft of skills are needed to design and build a competitive race boat. This particular relationship with Ben Ainslie Racing, we felt, gave us the platform to not only be much more visible in the sport at the highest level – we see it as the equivalent of Formula One on the water – but also to bring our own expertise and engineers into that project team under Martin Whitmarsh’s leadership to actually work on solving problems to make the boat go quicker. That’s additional scope that it gives us beyond something like the Extreme Sailing Series, where it’s a singleclass boat and we can’t really get involved in the technological side of things.

Was the decision to have full-time Land Rover staff working on the Land Rover BAR America’s Cup effort something that came from your side, or was it at the suggestion of Ben and the team?

BELOW

Ben Ainslie of Land Rover BAR celebrates his team’s victory in the America’s Cup World Series regetta at Portsmouth

It was one of the things we put on the table to start with. Prior to that, there was a consulting group that was appointed by BAR to go out and fish for the best brains in Britain across different business sectors to help solve the technical challenges.

One simple example is hydraulic systems. JCB are very advanced in hydraulics – it’s part of their core product – so BAR were keen to get their brains in early to help. We have a lot to offer, particularly around design and aerodynamics. If you think about the foiling catamarans, it’s one or two per cent of the boat that’s actually in the water when it’s flying, so a lot of the expertise needed around aerodynamic performance is exactly what we do day to day when we’re designing vehicles for the future.

The computing power that we have, the modelling power we have in terms of software, the engineers we have to create our vehicles, is a very transferable knowledge. In those very early conversations with the team, obviously we are talking about the commercial side of things but we wanted to find a legitimate and real role for our engineers alongside that.

ABOVE

After a successful collaboration

so he’s starting to transcend the sport as well, which is great for sailing and brilliant for us as the sponsor.

with the Extreme Sailing Series, Jaguar Land Rover committed further to sailing with its title sponsorshop of the Land Rover BAR

Given the demographic to which sailing appeals, it feels like an undervalued sector for sponsorship.

How much further do you think it can develop from a commercial perspective?

America’s Cup team

How important is it to have Sir Ben Ainslie as the face of the team and as ambassador for Land Rover?

It’s huge. Sport is not sport without the individuals, they are the heroes. You get very successful sports people across the whole field, around the world, in different sports. Some of the best sportsmen and women can be divisive in terms of how they are in terms of character – people like them or don’t like them but you always respect what they’ve achieved. I think Ben is a character who everyone likes and respects, and he is the epitome of what we believe our brand stands for, the ‘above and beyond’ character: absolutely unruffled, an ultra-competitive man who has gained so much appeal and respect not just in the UK but across the world.

People want to write about the sportsmen and women themselves, not just the teams. So Ben is hugely valuable as part of that partnership, as evidenced by the fact that we’re getting quite a lot of coverage of him in lifestyle media as well.

Vanity Fair did a piece with him last week

I think it’s got huge growth potential.

There’s a lot of discussion going on around whether it’s still an elitist sport and how accessible it is. I think the sport is trying hard to make itself more accessible and the format of the sport where a lot of it is in-shore and is faster, in a way that a young boy or girl would look at a race car and be wide-eyed and in awe – when you stand and watch boats going along at 40 or 50 knots on their foils, you can’t help but be drawn in.

I think there’s a lot of commercial potential. As the sport becomes even more appealing there will be a bit of work to do in terms of the format, how it works, how it plays out on television, getting more racing into a weekend and expanding the card so it’s not just two or three races. I think that will help to get a bigger audience in. I think then that will drive up the commercial values and the interest from a wider range of sponsors.

Are you able to put a direct value on the return Jaguar Land Rover is getting from sailing?

We measure our return on investment in a number of ways. We will always look for a minimum return of four to one, ideally seven to one, and we’re in excess of that in terms of what we’re achieving.

And it’s an obvious statement to make, but the DROI calculation is as much about the cost as it is about the value.

I think at the moment the costs that are associated with acquiring rights in sailing are generally very good.

And for us it’s super targeted. There’s not a great deal of wastage so we can show the higher-end returns on investments. When we look at how we valued the potential partnership with BAR, we didn’t quite realise how much pick-up and attention the World Series would get, because obviously this is a quirk of the America’s Cup. Every America’s Cup campaign is different and I think making the World Series much more a part and connected to the Bermuda final, building interest and crowds and support, is a really good strategy. As evidenced by Portsmouth, the level of interest, physically in terms of spectators but also in terms of the media coverage around it, is beyond what we thought it would be for the World Series itself.

The script couldn’t have been better in Portsmouth, with the team winning the regatta and then edging ahead on the overall leaderboard in their home market. You need a bit of luck sometimes; you need results to go your way a little bit from a sponsor perspective to deliver that value.

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Typically, in a sports marketing contract like that, you’d look at the cash element, the value-in-kind elements – for us in the car category we provide a number of cars, that was an obvious one – but we really want to provide expertise beyond that.

There are three or four major work streams that we’re working on with the team now on the race boat that will be revealed at the end of this year.

SPERRY CHARLESTON RACE WEEK THE BRIEFING Now in its 22nd year, Sperry Charleston Race Week has evolved to become one of the biggest regattas on the American continent, growing from 29 entrants in its first year to nearly ten times that number in 2016.

The event was established in 1996 by members of Charleston Ocean Racing Association (CORA), who merged two area regattas – the South Atlantic Yacht Racing Association’s PHRF Championships and the Charleston Palmetto Cup – into one local meet. Now managed

by Charleston Race Week, LLC, under the auspices of event director Randy Draftz, this regatta attracts competitors from around the world, including countries as far away as Australia, and has become the largest keelboat regatta in both North and South America. As Draftz explains, the event has grown in numerous ways over the years, but there’s still plenty of potential for further expansion.

EVENTS / 2

Sperry Charleston Race Week has become a tremendously popular event in recent years. How did the 2016 edition compare with previous years?

Randy Draftz: Last year, we attracted close to 250 boats on five different race courses. One of the trends we’re seeing is growth among international participants and growth among sponsors. We attracted competitors from 10 foreign countries last year, and among them were world champions and other top-notch competitors. And we had more sponsors in 2016 than ever before. What’s unique about this event is that the fleet consists of small to mid-sized sportboats, some grand prix racers, and a large number of racer-cruiser and cruiser-racer designs.

The regatta primarily features one-design racing, but we also have handicap classes and pursuit racing. Except for smaller dinghies, multihulls and maxi yachts, we pretty much cover the full spectrum of the sport. And though the regatta attracts a fair contingent of professional sailors and a few entry-level racers, our bread and butter remains the recreational racer who wants good competition, fun shoreside festivities and the chance to line up against some of the top talent in the sport.

Competitors at the event number around 2,500. We’re still a small, homegrown regatta. We don’t have the budget of a Volvo Ocean Race or similar

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events. We brought a highlights video to the World Yacht Racing Forum last year and the first year I was there I was reluctant to show our video, but this year I said, “You know what, it’s not a Volvobudgeted video, it’s not an America’s Cup video, but it’s what we do.” And everyone there was really impressed.

For 2016, we ended up with about nine million media impressions – including both conventional and social media – and that’s quite impressive. It’s clear that people are aware of the event, it’s getting coverage all over the place.

At the moment, we’re working with a sponsorship broker, and after sharing those numbers with them, they too were impressed. For a homegrown, almost entirely volunteer-run event to get those kinds of impressions, that’s a lot.

BELOW

The Sperry Charleston Race Week has grown to become one of

What kind of things have you done to help grow the event and keep guests coming back year after year?

the biggest sailing events in North America, with people traveling

We haven’t done anything magical, really.

We’re very fortunate that our location in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world’s top destinations for visitors. Earlier this year it was rated the number one city in the world by the readers of Travel & Leisure magazine, so it’s a very popular place to go to. Also, our event is very family-oriented. Though we do feature national class championships from time to time, we’re not a world-championship,

from accross the continent to attend

win-at-all-costs kind of sailing regatta. We definitely conduct race management at that level, but it’s in Race Week’s DNA to keep a firm emphasis on fun.

I did an interesting presentation to a group not too long ago, showing them Race Week by the numbers.

These were business people, not sailors, so despite this being a local group, their awareness of our event was extremely limited. It wasn’t until I shared the event’s economic impact and the financial support that the regatta offers to the community that I really got their attention. This reinforces the importance of reaching outside the sailing community to gain awareness not just about the event, but about the sport of sailing as well.

If there’s a secret to our success, it’s that we very deliberately listen to the competitors. I think that’s really important. What I preach, and it starts with the race committee and goes all the way through each of our teams, is that each competitor is a customer. Yes, they’re competing

competitors and spectators were able to download onto their phones, offered a data-rich presentation in real time of what was happening on the racecourse.

For Race Week, live boat tracking was a big step, and I think the team from SAP was really impressed with the event. For us, it was strong validation that the event is beginning to get where some key European events have been for years.

How are you using your bigger platform to give something back to the wider sailing community in the local area and promote the sport?

among themselves, but to us, they’re all customers. So we have to be concerned with customer satisfaction in order to achieve customer retention.

We look at what the Race Week customer wants and pay attention. I’m sure there are other events out there that don’t go about managing their regatta in the same way.

For us, the best form of advertising is still word of mouth. So when that guy goes back to California after competing at Race Week, he talks to his buddies and they say, “How was that trip out to Charleston?” More often than not, he’s telling them it was a great event. I see that happening when I go up to Chicago or other places. Someone will come up to me and say, “John Smith, my neighbor, went to Race Week this year and had a great time, so I’m going to have to do that next year!”

So it gets a lot of good attention.

Also, the event is extremely well organised. We’ve had US Sailing involved for the last couple of years and now I’m having managers of other events attend just to see how we operate. The steering committee is dedicated to tweaking our formula every year based upon what we learn and the feedback we get from competitors. So we’ve been fine tuning the way the event is run for nearly 10 years now, and the fact that we won US Sailing’s Award for Regatta Excellence a few years ago is proof that this approach works.

ABOVE

The event now attracts almost 300 boats from around the world to compete in its variety of races

None of this success happened overnight. We’ll be celebrating our 22nd year next spring. I’ve been involved for nine of those 21. I’m actually not an events planner, I’m a racer. And that’s true of most of our steering committee. I got involved in this thing to help out the local racing teams here in Charleston. So, I know what racers want and what they need, and I also have strong contacts throughout the sailing industry, which is very helpful when it comes to lining up PROs, judges, and sponsors, etc.

What are your major revenue streams?

Our budget is roughly half sponsorship, half registration fees. Sperry is our title sponsor, and Quantum Sails has been another big sponsor the last few years. We also have Goslings Rum, Vineyard Vines clothing and Gill technical apparel, all of which have been long-time sponsors.

We consider our sponsors to be partners, and that’s important. They’re helping support the sport of sailing. When Quantum became involved several years ago, they helped support our morning weather briefings and our daily debriefs.

SAP, the German technology corporation – in conjunction with US Sailing – came on board last year for the first time, and that was huge for us, because they offered their innovative boat tracking app – SAP Sail InSight. We’re hoping to have them back next year. This app, which

regatta and the sport on a local level as much as we can. Each year, after the dust settles and all the bills are paid, we set aside funds to support the next year’s edition and then our oversight committee donates the rest of the proceeds to community sailing groups and initiatives that are helping to grow the sport around Charleston and the Carolina Lowcountry.

The process for doing that has gotten a little bit more sophisticated.

We now have applicants submit grant proposals. So local yacht clubs and sailing programmes submit proposals that the committee reviews to determine if it fits with our objective of supporting sailing.

We’ve approved grants that have helped local instructional programs buy new boats. We’ve also got an active college sailing programme here that is engaged in instruction and recreational rentals for the community at large, so we’ve supported that in the past as well.

And that’s ultimately the mission of the event. Charleston Ocean Racing Association, the organisation that owns Sperry Charleston Race Week, exists to promote sailing as fun and accessible. So, we want people enjoying the sport and getting engaged. That’s very important to the future of the sport. I think the America’s Cup is doing that really well for spectators. The Volvo Ocean Race also does an amazing job of getting the general public engaged. That’s what we’d like to do more successfully.

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What we’ve really tried to do is to put the profit from the event back into the

CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE THE BRIEFING The biennial Clipper Round the World Yacht Race concluded its tenth edition in July 2016, a year which also marked the 20th anniversary of the firstever event. Founded by renowned yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and his business partner William Ward, the Clipper Race was established with a unique and successful commercial model which sees amateur sailors raising money to buy a place on a boat alongside a professional skipper.

Although, as Ward explains, much has changed over the two decades since the race’s inception, it still retains its crucial amateur spirit even as its commercial sponsorship model becomes ever more sophisticated and essential.

EVENTS / 2

What are the major developments you’ve seen since the conclusion of the last Clipper Round the World Yacht Race?

William Ward: The business has got bigger – there’s more people signing up, more sponsors signing up, media values have gone through the roof as far as print and film media are concerned, which is obviously something we’ve strived to do.

From a Clipper perspective we’re certainly ‘on the map’ now, and have worked our way up to being seen as a serious business, not just ad hoc venture which I think it was sort of seen as at one point.

It’s now a very serious business, taking and spending an awful lot of money within the world of sailing.

The crew side of things is something we’ve worked on an awful lot back in the past and have built up momentum, a head of steam of that, and we’re now doing that with the sponsors. Early indications are that it will be a record sponsorship year for us at a time when I know things are not looking that great overall in sponsorship; we’ll certainly do better for the next race, if not two races.

More and more people are looking to sign up for two-race deals and certainly the cities are looking at how they promote themselves. Much like the Great Britain model, I think that’s a very good model and countries now know that they have to get out there to do business.

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What do you think is behind sponsors’ desire to get involved in longer-term deals with the race?

ABOVE

William Ward, founder of the Clipper Round the

I think sponsors should be signing up for two years because they need to plan, and it does take a while to understand something like a Clipper event. Because it’s not a normal event, where sponsors pay for the stadium to be plastered with their logo and they do some entertainment, and then when that fortnight of tennis or four days of golf is

World Yacht Race

finished it all reverts back. Ours is a very long-term sponsorship and something that you have to go into, come out of and go back to. When the boats are sailing it might be as much visibility for the sponsors, but there is a lot of media involved and then the sponsors get back involved with major activation in the ports.

I think we’re really upped our game in many ways. Quality of staff, number of staff, the media that we’re now offering – just listening to what sponsors wanted is one of the main things which we’re now doing a lot more. We understand their needs in a broader sense. And as you’ve built up a good track record, we’re able to show off our showcase of what we’ve done for other sponsors.

Our partners very often have different demands. You might have a commercial sponsor wanting a lot more sailing days in port because it’s directly attributed to getting people out there to talk to their clients. On the other hand, a city might be looking at it much more from a tourism perspective, and they’re taking the tourism representatives from that country out on the boat and they plan a day around that, telling them what they do.

So it’s really learning to give a lot more back to them of what they actually want and not what we were doing initially which I think is guessing what we thought they would want.

INFLUENCERS EVENTS / 2/ 1 To what extent are your choices for the stops along the race affected by your sponsors? Do you deliberately target key geographies for your partners?

ABOVE

The Clipper presents amateur sailors with a once-in-alifetime opportunity

It’s a real mixture of having to be careful of not turning the race into a circus. If you lose track of why all the crew sign up – because the crews pay us to be on the race – if you start zigzagging here, there and everywhere, if you’re in the Mediterranean one minute and the Indian Ocean the next

to accompany professionals on a round-the-world trip

because a city will pay you a big buck to be there, that can spoil your race or it can put undue pressure on the race and the crews. I do believe the Volvo Ocean Race learned a valuable lesson in not doing that and it now looks a much better and tougher route for having changed their tack on it.

Those are the sort of things that you just have to be a bit careful around with sponsors, but at the same time places like New York are very important to us from a commercial point of

view. Most sponsors have a reason to activate and want to be there.

This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first Clipper race. How do you reflect on that period and the way the race has developed across its two decades?

I don’t think there’s even a comparison.

It’s that same spirit that I don’t want to lose that was important and there from the start with the very first guys who

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we’re now looking more for sponsors to outline what they’ll be doing.

Are your partners the primary revenue stream for the business now, or does much of it still come through registration fees?

It’s still crew fees, but I do see that eventually changing so that the sponsorships and the partnerships will become the dominant. But probably not for another two races or even three races. We’re looking at an extended timeline for that as the race continues to generate and develop its commercial profile.

EVENTS / 2

The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is still an amateur-only contest.

How important is that to the spirit of the race?

went around the world. It was all about that adventure and the ‘wow’ factor, and that’s still the case.

But we have 70-odd full-time staff now and I had two full-time staff then.

We had nobody go to a port stop apart from either me or Robin [KnoxJohnston] or the two of us; now there are probably 30 people who go. We’ve got people looking after sponsors, looking after crew. Back then the crews consisted of around 180 people, now there are 700 and more and they expect a lot more. The initial crew were just grateful that there was somebody doing something that enabled them to fulfil a dream; now there’s an expectation of parties, of being professional, of television coverage, of sponsor activations. The whole system of the boats have changed: they’re faster, sexier, tougher to drive. But that’s just the progression to where we should be.

It’s changed dramatically from the first four races, really. It was the Times 2000 Race that set us apart – so after 1996 and 1998 that title sponsorship really helped to give us more recognition – and then based

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ABOVE

The race is renowned as one of the toughest challenges in sailing

BELOW

Clipper signed its first major Chinese broadcast deal with Beijing TV in 2015

on that we decided we’d have a new fleet, which we got in 2005. And we’ve had another new fleet since then, and each time it’s been upping the ante in the amount of training we need to do, what’s expected from us, what’s expected from our sponsors as well.

We have to question now whether we’d take a sponsor that just wants to attach their name but do very little with it because that doesn’t help us with the race. I think as progression goes,

It’s very important for us. I wouldn’t want a sponsor to come on and say, ‘I want this team,’ because we’ve always made sure that whatever sponsor it is, the deal is that we decide what crews go in what boat. We don’t want a sponsor that comes along and says, ‘We’ve got these ten Olympians that we’re paying, and we want them in our team,’ because that’s not how it works for Clipper. There are stronger teams but they generally are built up. It’s just how it works, but they don’t start off as stronger teams on paper.

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AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES PORTSMOUTH THE BRIEFING Throughout much of its history, the America’s Cup has struggled to retain traction and fan engagement during its off years when, due to the rules and format of the competition, it was often unclear when the next race would even be taking place. The America’s Cup World Series (ACWS) was established during the run-up to the 34th edition of the contest as a way to provide continuity, with a series of events taking in venues around the world.

Portsmouth, the home to British entry Land Rover BAR, became the first city to host two Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series events in the same cycle in 2016, following up on its successful debut in the previous year. The events were operated by Sir Keith Mills’ Teamorigin Events on behalf of Land Rover BAR, providing the British public with the opportunity to see world class sailing up close. Leslie Greenhalgh, event director at Teamorigin Events, explains how the acts developed from year to year, and discusses the commercial future of the World Series.

EVENTS / 2

What was the process of bringing the Louis Vuitton America’s Cup World Series event to Portsmouth?

Leslie Greenhalgh: Land Rover BAR, as the British entrant for the 35th America’s Cup, get the right to host a World Series event in their country or in a location of choice. Sir Keith Mills, who is the chairman of ORIGIN Sports Group, is also a founding shareholder and on the board of Land Rover BAR. When Sir Ben Ainslie [Land Rover BAR Team Principal and Skipper] got the opportunity to host an event in the UK, he spoke to Keith about it. As a team they need to stay focused on the technology and the performance, and didn’t necessarily have the capabilities in-house of hosting and running an event on this scale, so Keith put his hand up and said, “Why don’t we let Teamorigin Events run the events in support of the team?”

We had to bid for the right to host the events in Portsmouth. Obviously we won that bid from ACEA [America’s Cup Event Authority] and got the contract.

We were the only venue to host two events one year after the other.

How did it come about that Portsmouth held two events when other stops have only held one?

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It was our keenness more than anything else. We felt that having anything for the first time, as a one-off, takes a bit of time to build up a fanbase, build up awareness and get sponsors interested. Usually in events you do your hardest work in the first year and if anything a second year is just a little bit easier because you know so much more. So when we put the bid in we said we were keen to bid for two, and ACEA was very keen on that because it also helped them to go back to a venue for a second time. Having secured two events from the outset was also positive for us when we went to market, both from a fan engagement point of view but also in what we could offer to prospective sponsors and suppliers.

Was there a noticeable increase in interest and engagement by the time the second event came around?

Both were incredibly successful events from very different aspects, which was interesting. For the first year, 2015, we were really keen to appeal to people who wouldn’t normally come or even consider coming to a sailing event. We were careful to not position it as a niche, more traditional sailing event. Our tagline for the first event was ‘A Great British Day Out’, so it was very much about coming to see something you haven’t seen before: the

RIGHT

Leslie Greenhalgh, event director at Teamorigin Events

magnificent boats racing but also having a day out on Southsea Common, beside the sea. It was a great family day out, with lots to do and look at and we really went for the more mass appeal approach in 2015, really wanted to see if we could get people to come in volume, as opposed to only appealing to sailing fans.

For the first year we had both day and evening events, we ran some concerts in the evenings of the four-day event and we had what we called the ‘free-to-view’ area where we had a lot of content that was family-oriented, like a big wheel to appeal to families even if they weren’t big fans of the sport. So what that meant was we got a lot of volume – in total we engaged with 248,505 people in 2015. We had quite a small ticketed area in our first year which only had a capacity for 5,000 people, so it was a relatively small number of people

What form did that research take, and what were your major findings?

Our ticketing partner was Ticketmaster and that’s how people bought tickets to come to the event. In the first year people also had to register for the free tickets, so that gave us an extremely valuable database – we had over 248,000 people at the 2015 event. That was watching on water, watching in the free area, watching in the ticketed area, but a really large volume –

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Land Rover BAR during the America’s Cup World Series Portsmouth event

almost unheard of for a sailing event.

By everyone having to buy their tickets through Ticketmaster we then had access to that database, so we did a follow-up questionnaire and had an overwhelming response. Even Ticketmaster were surprised about how many people took the effort to respond.

The main findings were a demand for more information about the sport, a demand for more content that’s relevant to everything around the sport – particularly, ‘we want to see the sailors close-up’; ‘we want to look at the boats and understand how they fly’; ‘we want to have more highlight moments on-shore that educate us a bit more and inspire us’. That came through really, really strongly, which we were really pleased about because we were concerned that we didn’t want to make it too technical from an early stage.

Were you able to look at similar longrunning stadium sailing events like the Extreme Sailing Series and the World Match Racing Tour for inspiration?

Very much so. I’ve been involved in

both of those circuits and they’re very successful for lots of reasons. One of our biggest objectives from the outset of the bid process was to showcase what a great venue both Portsmouth and Southsea Common were because we had the ability to race literally right in the bay, within 50 metres of a green open space. It lent itself perfectly to an area where you can build your own race village and your own content right opposite a great sailing venue.

That set up performed even better in the second year because the weather was a bit kinder to us. We were particularly keen to show that it was all about ‘America’s Cup racing comes to shore’ in that actually the best place to watch the racing was from the race village. You have the big screens, you have the audio commentary, you have the technical information via the app and the racing is right in front of you.

For year two, in 2016, we created a much larger ticketed area, with a capacity of 20,000 versus 5,000 the year before. We built a much larger race village experience and within the race village we put in a lot more content, so we had a TechZone, we

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Picture by: Shaun Roster / Team Origin

who bought their ticket and sitting in the grandstand and getting that extra content – 7,100 people in total.

Before we finalised the concept for our second event, we carried out a lot of research after the first year and we had such strong feedback which clearly stated that irrespective of whether you’re a fan or just general public, everyone wanted more content about the sport, wanted to know more about the sailors, wanted to see the boats close up, wanted learn about the history of the America’s Cup. So year two was positioned as a world class sailing event; a world class sporting event.

Picture by: Ricardo Pinto

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had one of the AC45 race boats on display, we had shows involving not only the sailors but other people that are involved in the teams – the designers, the shore teams, for example.

We had a lot more exhibits and exhibitors wanting to come to the event the second time around so we really filled the race village experience and we lowered the entry price the second year around. It was UK£25 a ticket but we had four times the capacity over the first year and it was absolutely packed, especially on the Saturday and the Sunday.

What role do your sponsors and commercial partners play in helping to attract that increased audience and making sailing more accessible?

A big and very important role. As with other sports, sponsors are all involved for different reasons. We have sponsors like Bremont Watch Company, which is an America’s Cup partner, and they had an exhibition stand. They showcase their watches and they are also there to sell watches and to grow their brand profile, so they had a very nice hospitalitystyle exhibit. But you also have marine businesses like Marlow Ropes and Gaastra clothing that are there to sell their kit, and because of the volume coming they had a really successful experience – especially in year two.

We carried out business surveys with all of our sponsors and exhibitors and the

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Portsmouth’s

feedback from 2016 was an 86% positive response on business sales.

Southsea Common welcomed over 250,000 people for the ACWS event in 2016

The World Series has obviously proven a success and the world of America’s Cup appears to be keen to do more with it. How much farther can you at Teamorigin Events take the concept in Portsmouth or elsewhere in the UK? That is the subject of multiple reviews and discussions right now. There have been a number of assessments, not only post-Portsmouth but after all the events.

Each World Series event was paid for by the individual hosts, so as Teamorigin we managed and paid for the two Portsmouth events and there was relatively little overlap between the other global events. We had a lot of free rein in terms of generating income streams for the event but also had to ensure we managed all of the event costs.

While that is a good thing from certain aspects, it is also a missed opportunity from the point of view of economies of scale and global supplier relationships and sponsor relationships across a circuit of events. We shared a lot of information with the teams that ran the Chicago event, for example, and the Oman and Toulon events. By its very nature you end up helping each other out and sharing thoughts and consideration. Going forward, there is recognition that there needs to be a more joined-up approach to make sure that there is a cohesiveness.

Each event needs to be different to reflect culture and diversity but, equally, people go from event to event and should be able to expect a certain level of consistency as well.

From our point of view, Portsmouth is a fantastic venue to host one of these events and we are certainly very keen to see more events taking place in Portsmouth or indeed in the UK. We looked at the demographics of the people who came to our event and I think something like 60 per cent were from the south-east region, and the rest spread throughout the UK – mainly London and sailing venues in Scotland and Wales. I think if you took an event to Scotland you would significantly grow the fanbase there. We’re very keen to keep fanbase engaged and involved.

We have over 65,000 fans on our database through the Portsmouth events and some of those are fans that won’t necessarily continue to follow the whole America’s Cup story, they’re just fans because it was in Portsmouth. What we are focusing on now is how we continue to take those fans on the journey, make sure they follow the other events in Japan and obviously next year in Bermuda.

What would like to see done differently next time?

From a ‘bigger picture’ point of view, I think the commercial model for events like these needs to become more viable. They are expensive events to run and the more consistency and continuity you have, the more commercially viable they can be. If we had another event in our diary now we could be selling to sponsors now for 2018, for example, and without that certainty or the guarantee of continuity it’s difficult to retain sponsors and keep fans engaged. If we could have gone on sale with tickets straight after the end of the 2016 event, people would have bought straight away for sure, so that’s something we are talking about and the whole America’s Cup world is talking about right now.

In terms of more local delivery, I think we would certainly continue in the vein of having more of a world class sporting showcase, bringing the sailors, the boats and the sporting content directly to fans.

Credit: Brian-Carlin

THE BRIEFING Open Sports Management (OSM), the organisation created in 2013 to commercialise International Monohull Open Classes Association (IMOCA) ocean racing, is coming to the end of its first cycle in charge of the newly inaugurated Ocean Masters World Championship. The forthcoming edition of the single-handed round-the-world Vendée Globe marks the finale of OSM’s initial period in charge, during which time it has attempted to create an ongoing narrative throughout the series of IMOCA events, with the Vendée Globe framed as the quadrennial conclusion to the contest.

To date, OSM’s involvement has been hugely successful, with its clear and structured approach revitalising interest in IMOCA regattas throughout the calendar and providing single-handed and double-handed yacht racing with a consistent schedule. The Vendée Globe is one of two round-theworld races that form the centre-pieces of the Ocean Masters World Championship, held in a two-year rotation with the Barcelona World Race.

In 2013, Peter Bayer was installed by IMOCA rights holder Sir Keith Mills to run OSM and to develop the Ocean Masters World Championship across its first cycle. With that period now coming to an end, Bayer offers the Sailing Black Book his assessment of his first four years in the job and looks forward to the future of the series.

You’ve just reached the end of the first major cycle of the Ocean Masters World Championship with the Vendée Globe. How do you assess those first three years?

Peter Bayer: When we started four years ago we were basically at ground zero.

There was nothing existing except the will and the conviction of a couple of people to create something new, a new sports property by creating a brand, in the Ocean Masters World Championship, with a points system that connects all these great events, and ultimately

ends in what I think is still the toughest adventure that is left for a human being to do in the Vendée Globe. It’s something quite unique. We’re happy to come to the end of this cycle.

The Vendée Globe is the ultimate pinnacle event of our series and of single-handed, round-the-world offshore sailing. That’s where the ultimate ocean master will be crowned – the winner of the Vendée Globe usually ranks very high up in the championship due to its importance and due to the coefficient that we give in terms of points. It’s a very nice success story for us.

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The New York to Vendée race allowed OSM to trial some of the hospitality facilities it will use for the Vendée Globe

At the start of this race we’ll have 29 skippers from 10 different nationalities.

That is also a great success because that’s one of the things we said we have to improve: we had to go and find new skippers from other countries, we had to go and support teams who are coming from other countries. We’ve got a skipper from Ireland, one from New Zealand, a Japanese guy, a Dutch guy, a Brit, Swiss, American, Hungarian.

We also have Spanish which is important for us, as we tried for many years to connect the Barcelona World Race, the double-handed round-the-

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OCEAN MASTERS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

world event with the Vendée Globe.

We have achieved that with the participation of Didac Costa, who starts as an ambassador of the Barcelona World Race in the Vendée Globe. So we have a great international side, alongsied all the fantastic French champions and skippers and legends who will be at the start.

warm-up event. That basically allowed us to fulfil the strategic goals which we have set, which were to internationalise.

So we went to New York with 14 teams and we had a great success. All the teams which were ready by then were at the start and raced back in a furious race across the Atlantic and arrived in France a couple of days later.

We had some great images and great content coming off the boats which is very important for us. For the first time we had sponsors helping us to finance the event. We had Delma Watches showing off their designer devices; Currency House as our financial partner; and Space Code, with their technology and hospitality that they did around the event. It was basically a proof of concept, after investing into this property after three years, that we could finally start harvesting a bit this year and we’ll see more of it come in at the Vendée Globe with this top international participation.

We’ve done a lot of work on the technical side and development of the foiling monohulls. It is honestly stunning to see in action and how far they’ve come, given the fact that about a year ago we had half of our fleet having technical problems with foils breaking which was devastating. It was a bit like having a Formula One Grand Prix with only six cars coming into the finish. So seeing how stable the guys are now and how fast they can go, I think it is super exciting and I think we’ll see a new record for the fastest boat to sail singlehanded non-stop around the world. I’m very confident that François Gabart’s 78 days will be beaten.

In terms of wider changes, we signed the contract to take over the management of the series just before the start of the last Vendée Globe, in October 2012, and OSM was created in 2013. We created a new business here in Switzerland, a new company with new people and quite quickly we got going and established a brand. So it’s not so much changed as created something totally new. But creating it also meant that we had to go and speak to every single stakeholder in the Ocean Masters family and tell them about what we think we can do together, tell them about how we think we should develop the governance model and the economic model of the class and finally the operating model of the World Championship.

We’ve established the basics over the past four years. The first time that we also had commercial partners accompanying us was this year in the New York to Vendée race, which was a

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The Ocean Masters Series visits only one or two cities at a time due to the format of the races. How have you tried to maximise the geographical spread of the whole series and tie sponsors in to multi-race deals to give them maximum value?

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Conditions are tough on the Vendée Globe

That has been one of the tricky bits really because we, and everyone in this sort of sailing, are very proud of the fact that we go around the world non-stop single-handed or doublehanded. But the downside of it is that commercially speaking, and looking at host city partnerships and revenues,

What have you done to attract more spectators to the shore?

Credit: Yann Elies

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What are the most important changes you’ve made ahead of this final showpiece of the Ocean Masters World Championship?

it’s obviously challenging if you’re not allowed to stop. So we’ve been going out, looking at new cities. New York was definitely a huge success because it is super easy for everyone to get to – that’s something we underestimated a bit because sometimes it’s more difficult to get to France in some certain remote areas than to get to New York because every airport offers a connection to New York nowadays. It’s simply a magic city that allows people to do great hospitality and great entertainment with clients. It was a great adventure for some of the teams and the skippers because they hadn’t been there and that, at the end of the day, was also – to put it bluntly – what opened the purse of the sponsors, because they saw it was a great sailing event, it was a great adventure but it was also in New York and connecting New York to France was a very important asset for them.

Looking toward the future, we are trying to understand what else could we do rather than just go to New York and race back. One of the things that we are discussing for the Barcelona World Race is a stopover in a global city somewhere down in the southern hemisphere. The discussions are ongoing with Sydney at the moment to stop the Barcelona World Race there for about fifteen days and then we’ll restart the race, and that will have a huge effect. We’re basically opening the whole southern Asian market, which will help us to engage with sponsors down there.

It’s about creating more exposure for the existing sponsors by promoting the teams a bit more than just the skipper, and it’s about opening new markets by stopping in Sydney and therefore creating a new form of racing which hasn’t been seen in our class yet.

Every single team that is competing in the Ocean Masters World Championship and in the Vendée Globe is aligned with our communications strategy. The teams will start to feature the Ocean Masters with social media hashtags and videos.

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Bayer feels that the revamped Ocean

day alone, which is, besides the logistical challenge, a huge emotional experience for everyone.

Masters World Championship has provided a much stronger platfrom for OSM to give maximum value to its sponsors

Having had a full cycle behind you on the Ocean Masters series, what will you be looking to put in place for the next four years, with the Barcelona World Race in two years and then the subsequent Vendée Globe in 2020?

The main things that we are discussing and negotiating today with looking at the next four years is first the Barcelona stopover in Sydney which really is changing the concept of that event. I think that was quite a significant success and what we are aiming to do now is look at two new potential races that we’d like to introduce to the calendar.

One is focusing on Europe and trying to connect somehow the Mediterranean cities and countries with the North Sea and the northern parts of Europe.

The other thing that we’re discussing is potentially reaching out to the Middle East and Asia, which is obviously the

more difficult bit but we would have a slot in late 2019 to do a race there.

More importantly than finding new events, what we really try to come up with is a consolidated offer to one or two global presenting partners that can join the whole series and benefit from the exposure over the span of four years.

Because one of the big things that we’re discussing, and it’s also an important point to make, is that so far we’ve been running on a two-year cycle for the World Championship, and what we’re moving toward now is to open that up by accepting the status of the Vendée Globe as the Olympic Games of ocean racing.

We’ll build the world championship over a span of four years, and use it more as an umbrella brand to tell the story and connect the events, because sometimes, even for me, I look at the programme and I think this looks a bit like a mix of candy in the box. So working on a greater coherence over the whole of the calendar, hopefully by involving a major partner in unifying the series, is our most important goal for the next cycle.

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Credit: Alex Thomson

So by cross-promoting each other we’re hoping to get some real momentum on our digital media. At the same time we’ll be engaging with all the press, there are a couple of hundred journalists who are expected for the start of the race.

And we’ll bring lots of potential partners down there to introduce them to this truly amazing event. We’re expecting two million people to the start of the event over a span of two weeks.

It’s mind-blowing, breath-taking, really outstanding, if you sit there on safe land and see the guys disappearing and you know that they are going to sail around the world. It’s something that you really have to experience in order to understand and that’s why we’re hoping to take a lot of people there. We’re going for the full shebang of event promotion and belowthe-line promotion that you can think of.

It’s a big showcase for the sport and for the Ocean Masters and we’re expecting that there will be two million people visiting the exhibition and village over the span of two and a half weeks. There are a think 400,000 to 500,000 on the first

LA SOLITAIRE URGO LE FIGARO: THE ‘LONE RANGERS’ OF THE SEA THE BRIEFING

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During the historic first stage finish of the Solitaire du Figaro, Europe’s premier single-handed race, race chairman Mathieu Sarrot spoke about his future hopes of the unique competition. The race is highly regarded in France but is becoming ever more of an international event, with UK sailors accounting for almost a quarter of the field.

Single-handed offshore sailing is, to many, the purest test of a sailor’s skills.

The skipper – who is alone for the entirety of the race – must be an assured, competent and self-sufficient seaman with a consummate tactical brain.

Furthermore, the lone sailor must have supreme physical fitness to undertake jobs usually taken care of by two sailors, such as changing the sails, regardless of the weather – which is often a tempest.

The ultimate event in singlehanded sailing is the Vendée Globe, the quadrennial non-stop race around the world, but in Europe the annual Solitaire le Figaro – previously called the Course de l’Aurore – is the main solo race. Created in 1970 by Jean-Louis Guillemard and Jean-Michel Barrault, it is seen as the traditional breeding ground for the Vendée Globe and is one of the most cherished events in French sailing.

Now in its 47th year, the four-stage race spans 1,425 miles of Europe’s roughest waters. The 2016 edition set off from Deauville and, for the first time in the race’s history, a leg of the race finished at the home of sailing in the UK, Cowes on the Isle of Wight – also the base of OC Sport, the sporting body which has recently taken over organisational duties for the Solitaire.

“We are very happy to come to for a stopover in Cowes because, in my opinion, it is the best place to come and

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race,” says Mathieu Sarrot, the chairman of the Solitaire le Figaro. “The America’s Cup was born in Cowes and all of the British and Norman skippers used to sail into here each year.”

Though there is a Gallic accent to proceedings and a high percentage of French competitors, the 2016 field had a wholly international feel to it, with skippers hailing from Switzerland, Italy, Spain and the UK. Moreover, the first winner of the race in 1970 was, of course, from Belgium.

The original organiser of the race was the French newspaper L’Aurore but when that title was bought out by the French daily newspaper Le Figaro, the race became known as the Solitaire du Figaro.

The newspaper has continued to be the principal sponsor of the race for 46 years.

In 2003, the French eyewear company Alain Afflelou joined as an associate sponsor until it was replaced by Japnaese motor manufacturer Suzuki in 2008.

The previous title sponsor, cashmere jumper brand Eric Bompard, came on board in 2011 and the name of the race became Le Solitaire du Figaro Eric Bompard Cashmere – a name which, according to Sarrot, was very difficult for journalists to write and, likewise, awkward to market succinctly. “So, we decided to rebrand the race as Le Solitaire Bompard du Figaro,” he says.

Le Solitaire du Figaro rebranded again in the summer of 2016 when it was

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Crowds gather for the start of the Solitaire du Figaro

announced that French healthcare group URGO – which had become an official partner of the Solitaire for 2016 – was to take the naming rights for the next three races, until the 2019 edition. The new title sponsorship was unveiled alongside a fresh visual identity for the newly rechristened La Solitaire URGO Le Figaro.

“With the new organisers of the race, OC Sport, we now have an office in Cowes, which makes it easier to organise a stopover in England or Ireland,” says Sarrot . “I think it is important for the race to see different ports and harbours. Over the next decade, however, I would like to maybe organise to stop over in Cowes two or three times.”

The race has previously finished in the French city of Nantes, so a city finale is not out of the question but, needless to say, it would be extremely difficult to organise the finish so far away from the sea.

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The addition of an English leg to the Solitaire has helped open new commercial avenues for the race

important to make an event in another event. Maybe in the future we will organise the race during Cowes Week?

“This year we tried to have an agreement with Brest to organise the finish line during the Fête Maritime de Brest, which is an annual meeting of ancient boats, which has one million visitors to it. The French federation explained that because the Tour de France would be running at the same time it would be impossible but next year we will aim to organise the race during another major event.”

The addition of an English leg is not new – the race has previously stopped in Torbay and Portsmouth – but there is an ever-stronger English contingent, primarily because of the purpose-built academy for single-handed sailors – formerly known as the Artemis Academy until the title sponsorship ended in June 2016. The academy was created by OC Sport in 2010 and, under the careful stewardship of Charles Darbyshire, it has successfully expanded the pool of single handed sailors in the UK. In the 2016 race, Academy-supported Alan Roberts was the highest-finishing Briton in 16th,one spot ahead of the bestplaced rookie, Will Harris. The increase in UK participation will enlarge the race’s profile and spread its fanbase from esoteric to continental in, perhaps, the

way that cycling has in the past decade in the UK. Nevertheless, as much as a glorious finish in an iconic city or a ‘grand depart’ that coincides with a famous nautical or cultural event will increase the race’s notoriety, Sarrot believes that focusing on the sailors’ extreme, lonely and demanding conditions will ultimately entice new fans and sponsors.

“I think we need more media coverage of the race, which is so important,” says Sarrot. “We need to show the public the real race because when we speak about it, I have to try and explain that it is a difficult race because the skippers can’t sleep during the race but nobody sees that.

“We are now working on a media solution to see the difficulty of the race.

Last time on the Transat AG2R we put on the boat a satellite transmission, so you can see the race in the Atlantic – the real Atlantic – because when we see a picture or a video of the race it is usually taken from a helicopter and doesn’t give the real feeling of being alone in the boat with the big waves.

“Next year we will test the Lily Camera, which is a waterproof autonomous drone.

The skipper throws the drone out and it returns back into the boat. In five years we will hopefully be able to automatically send pictures or videos from each boat and show the magic of the race.”

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Furthermore, the nature of singlehanded sailing means that having tight finish, like on the final stage of the Tour de France on the Champs-Élysées, with all the boats racing down a river at the same period of time, is virtually impossible.

The only way to determine such a finish would, of course, be to manipulate it thus potentially compromising the integrity of the race.

Fundamentally, the reason that the race organisers want to be seen in a city is the sheer volume of possible publicity: when the race departed from Bordeaux, 600,000 people turned up to watch.

“What has been successful has been the media coverage for the race, for our title sponsors, and Le Figaro,” continues Sarrot. “The equivalent media coverage would be €10 million (US$11.2 million) in France. It is therefore very important that we have the best skipper in the world representing the race – Michel Desjoyeaux used to come on the race and Roland Jourdain as well.”

Sarrot also cites the large cost of the race as a key reason for the need for increased exposure. “Funding is so important,” he says. “For one edition of the race it costs €2 million (US$2.2million), because we have 70 people working on the race for one month, three super yacht boats that follow the race, lots of technology, a production team of ten people, one helicopter.

“When I first ran the race, it set off in August which meant that hospitality was very difficult to organise because everyone was on holiday at that time.

Now we organise it in June, strong sponsorship has returned to the race because there is the possibility to arrange public relations, hospitality, and the chance to host the race in a major iconic city. Previously if you wanted to organise the start in Deauville or St Malo it was impossible, because the harbours are full and the hotels are full.

“So since we moved, in 2012, to the low season, the harbours and hotels have been very happy to receive the race. It has become mutually beneficial.

In Bordeaux, when we departed, we coincided it with the large wine festival called the Fête le Fleuve. I feel that it is

TOUR DE FRANCE À LA VOILE THE BRIEFING

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The Tour de France à la Voile – sailing’s equivalent of cycling’s most feted contest – was founded in 1978, and next year will celebrate its 40th consecutive edition. Taking place every July over a three-week period, the Tour de France à la Voile visits nine cities spanning the French coast, with last year’s beginning in Dunkirk in the north-east and travelling right round to Nice on the Mediterranean coast. Both of those venues featured three days of sailing action, with the seven in between hosting two days apiece.

Already one of the most historic sailing events in France, its profile has only increased since it was purchased in 2012 by Amaury Sports Organisation (ASO), the operator of, among many other sporting properties, the Tour de France itself. The Tour de France à la Voile’s once flagging popularity has been revitalised since the buyout, with ASO bringing its singular vision to the tour, showing the influence of elements from other successful ‘stadium sailing’ products such as the Extreme Sailing Series and the America’s Cup World Series.

With the 39th edition now finished, the attention of Jean-Baptiste Durier, director of the Tour de France à la Voile, has already turned toward the jamboree 40th, for which Durier and ASO are targeting a more international outlook, both in terms of the teams on the water and from its broadcast product.

What are the challenges faced in staging the Tour de France à la Voile?

them understand the rules and simplify the rules. Our real challenge is to enlarge that audience and target the general public.

Jean-Baptiste Durier: We have to get all the authorisations from the local authorities and the nautical authorities to bring sailing close to the shore during the summer, which is a challenge because of course we are not the only user of the sea and of the beach at this time of the year.

Once we have done that we really have the ambition to offer a real stadium show, which means that we of course have a big village with a giant screen, with all the general look and feel and atmosphere of a stadium in terms of visuals, in terms of music, in terms of live commentary and live broadcast of the races. We really try to make the spectator feel like they’re in a stadium.

We attract something like 25,000 spectators in each of the stopovers, which means more than 200,000 at the end of the tour, which is a large number but we think we can take this much further.

Our general approach is very pedagogical. We want to teach sailing to the public. We know in France that people are really interested in off-shore sailing and especially in single-handed off-shore sailing, so we’ve got a good basis to work on. But regattas are quite a bit different, so we really have to teach them and make

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What changes have you made to the sporting side of things to make the tour more accessible to audiences?

We took some key decisions like the end of the redress rule. The redress rule means that if you’re a victim of an accident during the regatta you can bargain a bit and the judges will give you a finish at a certain position and give you some points. We stopped this and now, like in Formula One for example, even if you’re a victim of a collision, it’s a pity but you do not have redress; it’s just a sporting fact.

It is very important for us to do these kinds of new rules because we are planning a daily live TV show covering the Tour. You cannot stop your live TV show to say, “OK, the front team today is this team, but let’s follow it tonight because things might change after the decision.” You cannot imagine a football game that Team A won 1-0, but where the referee might revisit the game at the end of the day.

Another change is that all racing starts under the black flag, which means that each false start from a team means they are excluded from the race. Again, it’s quite

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The Tour de France à la Voile is watched by over 200,000 live spectators during its three weeks of racing

a strong rule but again it helps the public understand what happens on the water and it also helps us accelerate the different races because we do not have to restart.

So we’re really keeping the pace up and people aren’t getting bored.

The final change was to look at the way the standings happen at the end of each day. In the Olympics, the final standings are taken from the average of a series of races. We have to understand that for people who are not interested in sailing this is complicated to follow.

So during every day we have qualification races and at the end of the day we keep only the six best teams from qualifying who compete in the Super Final.

That means that before the Super Final everything is clear – if you qualified in first or in sixth, you have the same chances at

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A daily live TV show will show the Super Final from all nine

How are you developing the broadcast product?

acts of the Tour de France à la Voile in 2017

Everything we do is to enlarge our audience. That means adapting the sporting format, adapting to audience requirements. Broadcasters have often been a bit afraid of sailing because it’s very hard to show three continuous hours of coverage. We adapted our model to be able to offer premium broadcast content daily during the three weeks, from 3.30pm to 4.30pm, so we can show the Super Final.

This year was a kind of test year just to see if we were able to deal with the sporting format in order to fill this major TV requirement. As well as offering the live event we also propose a lot of extra material from throughout the day and we’ve got quite a bit coverage in France already that we put out online – you can say that online you have a potential audience of seven billion but it is not like this, you really only reach an audience who is interested in sailing.

To go live at a very visible time will mean that you catch what we call in France ‘an audience of opportunities’. Which means people that are watching TV, they like sport, they might not know about sailing but they can find your programme and, because of the changes we’ve made to the format, they can follow it and understand.

Increasing the number participants as well as spectators is very important to you. How crucial is the fact that the race is open to amateurs and sailors from across the spectrum?

Our goal is really to bring back the sailing to the shore and closer to the public. It is a one-design competition, so the crews sail the M24 boat which is built in Brittany.

There are three sailors on the boat and it is a very fast boat. It’s very important for us that it is a really accessible boat in terms of budgets. They cost €55,000, which allows us to gather a large number of crews.

What we want to do now is grow internationally, and what we are going to do to really attract international teams starting from 2017 is develop a lot of turnkey entries for them. At the end of the day we want international teams to be able to arrive in France, take their boat and sail.

We will take care of the logistical side of the project so they can really focus on the sailing itself. We want to simplify everything.

We are using another ASO event, the Dakar Rally, as a template for what we want to do here. We are now working on a media offer devoted to the international teams of the Tour de France à la Voile.

The idea will be to create a deal in which these teams will buy nine one-peract devoted video reports and we will guarantee the team the broadcast on a domestic channel of their country. Which means that a team coming from Poland, for example, will be able to buy these nine video reports devoted to their time and we will guarantee them a package that we will negotiate with a Polish broadcaster so they can be visible within Poland during the tour. We hope that can create value for them, which is important for the international audience.

RIGHT

The tour takes in some of France’s most beautiful and iconic coastal landmarks

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the beginning of the Super Final, and then the resolution is simple: If you win the final, you are the winner of the day.

ROLEX SYDNEY HOBART YACHT RACE THE BRIEFING

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The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia (CYCA) was established in 1944 and one year later presided over the first ever Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, an open ocean race from Sydney on the mainland of Australia to Hobart on the island of Tasmania. The Sydney Hobart is renowned as one of the most gruelling yacht races in the world, attracting competitors from around the world to compete for the prestigious title. The race departs annually on Boxing Day, and has become a strong Christmas tradition, particularly in Hobart, where crowds gather to watch the boats come in from the frontrunners on the 27th to the final arrivals up to four days later.

The CYCA appointed its new chief executive, Karen Grega, in February 2016, with one of her key tasks being to investigate how the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht race can turn its decades of tradition into a greater commercial profile. With a landmark 75th edition looming in 2019, Grega sat down with the Sailing Black Book to discuss how she has begun putting her own mark on to the race and the plans for developing the race over the next few years.

What kind of shape did you find the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in when you joined early in 2016?

Karen Grega: I think if we look to the big news this year, we’ve just had one of our youth sailing academy graduates, Will Ryan, win a silver medal in Rio, alongside Mathew Belcher, in the 470 class. That’s been a huge marker of the success of our youth sailing academy that has been going now for 20-plus years. A number of Olympians and very senior and highly acclaimed sailors have some through our elite sailing academies, so that’s something we’re very proud of.

Last year at Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race we had 108 competitors and they were from eight different countries, we had 28 boats that came from overseas so the race has certainly got a more international profile. This year the notice of race was translated into Mandarin for the first time because last year we had our first two entrants from mainland China and one of them has already booked to come back.

So far for 2017, in addition to our local entries, we’ve got two from the USA, we’ve got Sweden, mainland China, the UK and New Zealand. To have 44 boats at this stage of the year is exceptional. Normally,

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we wouldn’t have anywhere near that amount by this point so the international profile of the race is certainly growing every year. We see lots of potential growth from the Asian market as well.

How have you looked to promote that growth further and attract entries from farther afield?

When you’re coming from overseas, coming to Australia is a fairly significant commitment. There is a certain amount of time and planning that needs to be done.

So this year for the first time, rather than wait for July or August to put the Notice of Race out, it went out in May. It was substantially earlier.

Having it translated into simple Chinese was something that we felt was worthwhile. Sometimes in English translation, things can get lost and it’s pretty important that people understand the safety requirements of entering this race. It’s 628 nautical miles from Sydney to Hobart and it’s some pretty treacherous waters at times. So it’s very important that the safety rules and regulations are understood, hence the reason for having the Notice of Race translated.

Like everyone at the moment, we’re promoting through websites, through social media. Our website

hits from overseas countries were exceptionally high last year because of the international contingent competing.

That’s a bit of a self-perpetuating promotional opportunity as well: more people, more hits to our website, more people understanding what we’re doing and being able to follow the race on the yacht tracker on the site to keep tabs on their own local boats. What we really want to do now is enhance those relationships with the countries that are coming to us by communicating with them more often and earlier.

You have been involved with other sports before your appointment at the CYCA. Can you give some examples of lessons you’ve learned from your past experience?

A very simple thing is that in Australia, events like the AFL [Australian Football League] Grand Final or the Rugby League Grand Final, for instance, will have fairly extensive and traditional corporate launch functions where they kick off the event to the corporate sector to encourage and promote the event. This race has never done that, and yet it’s got a significant profile across Australia. This year for the first time we will be having a corporate launch where the winning jockey of last

INFLUENCERS EVENTS / 2/ 1

Rick Rycroft/AP/Press Association Images

year’s Tattersall’s Cup [one of Australia’s premier horse races] will be a guest speaker. It will be an opportunity for us to thank our existing sponsors but also to blood in new sponsors with additional packages that we’ve got.

On the actual race day itself there are thousands of people on the marina, but usually they start to disappear at 11 o’clock as the boats go to the start line. For me, that’s an opportunity to capture those people in our race village, which is something we started last year, and to develop a family open day here at the club and really activate our site a lot more, not just while the boats are here. We want to give people an opportunity of watching the race on our large outdoor screen, and also give our sponsors an opportunity to get a bit more exposure as well, like they would get from other sports. It’s really about

ABOVE

Comanche, left, the winner of the 2015 Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, crosses behind Wild Oats, which set the all-time race record of 42 hours, 40 minutes and ten seconds in 2012

trying to maximise the opportunities that we have in and around the event while the profile’s high.

This year, we’re starting a pilot schools programme leading up to the race where schools can come and have a look at some of the boats that are already here. We’ve also got a deal with Sailors with Disabilities, a not-for-profit group that we work with.

Many of them have actually raced in the Sydney to Hobart so we want to get them involved, too, just to prove that anybody and everybody, if they’ve got a real desire to want to achieve something, can do it. It’s looking at a holistic approach for how we can get to the grassroots and encourage and excite kids to get involved in sailing at a much younger age using the profile of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race as the main vehicle to do that.

How do you take that holistic approach to your sponsors and partners, and how can you give them value throughout year despite being an annual event?

Like everybody, we’re all concisions of bottom lines. When you’re putting on a race like this, it’s not an insignificant amount of money. The Rolex title sponsorship is absolutely gold for us and they’ve been a sponsor since 2002, so that’s tremendous that they have been such a loyal sponsor. But, with costs escalating all the time, if it wasn’t really for the fact that both in Sydney and in Hobart there is an enormous amount of volunteer support given to the race, it would become absolutely exorbitant to stage such a race.

This year I’m looking to activate the site in Hobart under the banner of ‘Sailabration

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Rick Rycroft/AP/Press Association Images

The 75th race is something you’re starting to build toward already. What can we expect to see in 2019?

Time’. Really celebrate everything around the race: teamwork, camaraderie, health and wellbeing.

With our race village down there I really want to bring other sports together to build good relationships, and it starts to blood in people who perhaps would come down to see a well-known AFL player or a well-known cricketer and to use that as the springboard to learn about sailing a bit more as well.

Even just the way we’re packaging up the sponsorships as well. From our point of view, the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is the pinnacle at the end of the year.

I’m looking to develop packages that give people opportunities to be associated with a number of different facets of the clubs throughout the year. That way it all ties in closer to the clubs, rather than just for one small time of the year, because we just want to be able to also encourage and get people to support our youth sailing programme as well, which is the lifeblood of providing future Rolex Sydney Hobart yachtsmen and women.

What are your spectator figures like, both on the marina itself and from the TV audience, and how have you tried to grow that side of things?

We estimate that around the harbour to watch the start of the race on 26th December there’s roughly around 600,000 people on the harbour there

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ABOVE

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is renowned as one of the toughest and most gruelling in the sport

live to watch. There’s also live television coverage of the race through the Seven Network. The first hour and a half is shown live; after that the government broadcasters, through ABC [Australian Broadcasting Corporation] and one of their offshoots, follow the race down the coast to provide update footage.

Then in Hobart there are tens of thousands of people, morning, noon and night to welcome the boats at the finish. It’s quite the tradition in Hobart – it’s one of those must-see sights that people want to be there not only when the first boat crosses over but traditionally come down to welcome every single finishing boat. It’s a real festival atmosphere down there and it’s a tourist destination as well; it’s a holiday time of the year for us in Australia. A lot of sailors do comment on the fact that one of the highlights is the amount of people that are there to greet them at the other end.

And a lot of the crews’ families and friends will fly down there to meet them as well. We envisage that we personally deliver about 2,000 people to Hobart through the crew and family and friends.

A lot of people down there talk about growing up and their fathers were competing and that was something you’d do every Boxing Day, going down to Constitution Dock to welcome the boats in. After 75 years we have quite a lot of tradition for this race.

Traditionally a 75th race has a significant amount of competitors and we can expect an absolute bumper number of competitors in that year, so there will be some people who perhaps won’t do the 74th. Everything’s gearing up to probably having nearly 300 boats competing in 2019. That’s a huge logistical exercise in its own right but the main thing is that we are an international race, we want to make sure that the international focus grows each year, and we just need to make sure that we start to community in the respective countries that we’re getting some interest from.

Certainly Asia is one of those because at least it’s a bit closer – they can sail here first in a reasonable amount of time compared to some other countries.

Although that hasn’t stopped some of the super maxis competing: I guess if you can afford to own a super maxi you can afford to come to Australia!

There is a lot of tradition for the race and that has to be preserved. Each year we’re just trying to look for new ways in which we can preserve and acknowledge that history. When it was the 70th anniversary there was a book written, for the 75th we’re currently forming a committee to look at what we can do to acknowledge it. We’re working very closely with the Australian National Maritime Museum already on developing a major exhibition for them.

It is deemed to be an event of national significance, so that’s really going to be our focus between now and 2019.

We had a guy last year who was competing in his 50th continuous Rolex Sydney Hobart Race. There are a lot of stories we want to tell, and a lot of history, so we really just need to highlight a lot of those and start to establish our programme now. I think, because of its significance, we believe we have an obligation not just to our members or the clubs but really to sailing, to use it as an opportunity to promote the sport.

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CONTACTS

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AGENCIES/SPONSORS Aston Harald Sports Aston Harald Sports Aston Harald Sports Banque Bénédict Hentsch Bic Sport Brandspot Danish Tourist Board Edelman India Pvt. Ltd Event Management Group Focus on Sports Guo Chuan Racing Management Co. Ltd. HSE CAKE IWC Schaffhausen LP - Luxury Properties Malta Sailing Academy Malta Tourism Authority MdH Communications My Yacht F1 NDA Group Orchid Communications Owen Marine Marketing Progressive Sports & Enterainment Marketing Pro-Sail Renaissance Services SAOG Rolex S.A. S3605, Sailing 360o Sponsorships, LLC Seychelles Yachting Association Sigma IT Consulting SineQuaNon International Ltd. Sponsorcom SportsMark The Sea Mood S.A.R.L. The Sports Consultancy The Sports Consultancy Tinkoffsport A/S - Tinkoff Saxo Tourism Australia Velux VELUX Danmark A/S Yacht Charter International Yachting Partners International Yachting Partners International

MAGNUSSON, Robert MURCH, Sam SOHTELL, Martin PENNONE, Grégoire TREGUILLY, Benoit TORSTENSON, Jan JONSSON, Lars Erik BAHL, Richa WALDER, Jayne TSOLIS, Akis LIU, Lingling DOWLING, Jim LEFORT, Yan NEISH, David GAUCI, Michael GRECH DIMECH, Janet DE HAAS, Mick FRANKL, Nicholas DELARUE, Emanuel WATTS, Sam ROBERTS, Roy WORLEY, Matthew WATSON, Tim THOMAS, Stephen GRUAU, Delphine PERRY, Beth ALCINDOR, Alain KUNDIG, Per RITCHIE, Chris EGEBLAD, Ole STOTT, Joanna LENSEN-PEROT, Valérie BUCHANAN, Angus DATNOW, Robert ORPHANIDIS, Pierre RONSON, Lisa K. RASMUSSEN, Michael HASSELBALCH, Anne-Marie WALKER, Laura CRUMP, Russell GATHERCOLE, Annemarie

EVENTS/PROMOTERS 49er Class Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week Amaury Sport Organisation Amaury Sport Organisation Antigua Sailing Week Canadian Ocean Racing Cape Horn Race Charleston Race Week, LLC Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Cowes Week Limited Extreme Sailing Series Extreme Sailing Series Kiel Sailing City Kieler Woche/ Point of Sailing Korean Match Cup OC Sport OC Sport OC Sport

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SPILLANE, Marcus WARNER, Michelle DURIER , Jean-Baptiste LE MOENNER, Yann SLY-ADAMS, Alison REILLY, Meg HONEY, Alec DRAFTZ, Randall KNOX-JOHNSTON, Sir Robin LEVY, Jonathan WARD, William QUARRIE, Stuart MANZANAS DE LAS HERAS, Eugenia MOREIRA, Marcio BAUERDORF, Axel RICKERS, Nikolaus YOUNG KIM, Dong DAWSON, Nicola DUCHEMIN, Remi FAVRE, Herve

OC Sport OC Sport Offshore Racing Congress Open Sports Management Origin Sports Group OSM - Open Sports Management SA Portugal Ocean Race Round the Island - Island Sailing Club Samui Regatta Seriously Cool Events SG Boating Ltd. St. Maarten Regatta St. Moritz Match Race Suma Events SuperYachtsMonaco Sydney Harbour Regatta Team Origin Events, LLP The Great Cup BV The Superyacht Cup Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race Volvo Ocean Race World Match Racing Tour

OVER, Scott TOURELL, Andy RODRIGUEZ, Vivian MILLS, Keith GREENHALGH, Leslie BAYER, Peter DINIZ, Ricardo ATKINSON, Dave LAING, Callum FRASER, Charlie KOH, Eric WIKKELING, Jerry DE MARIA, Enrico MAFFEI PLOWDEN, Susan AULD, James HEMERY, Peter KETTLE, Emma LENNE, Laurent THOMPSON, Jane ARMAND, Agathe AZNAR, Iñigo BACKLUND, Karin BICE, Nick BOLANOS, Antonio DEPPE, Rick LLOYD , Jack NEVES , Jordi TOUBER, Tom TURNER, Mark URRUTIA, Laura WARD, Lizzie TUEN, Ivan

GOVERNANCE Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club Adriatic Croatia International Club D.D American Sailing Association America’s Cup America’s Cup America’s Cup Event Authority America’s Cup Event Authority America’s Cup Event Authority Angolan Federation of Nautical Sports Antigua Sailing Association Armenian Sailing Federation Aruba Sailing Association ASC - Australian Sports Commission Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association Austrian Sailing Federation Bahamas Sailing Association Bahrain Maritime Sports Association Balatonfüredi Yacht Club Barbados Sailing Association Belarus Sailing Federation Belize Sailing Association Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute Botswana Yacht Racing Association Bulgarian Sailing Federation BWA Yachting Caribbean Sailing Association Cayman Islands Sailing Club Club Nautique de Nice Confederação Brasileira de Vela Croatian Sailing Federation Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Cuban Sailing Federation

SHAGHOYAN, Vivian KRAINER , Gracia NOBLES, Charlie BARNETT, Dan COUTTS, Russell CHIGNELL, Will HOLLIS, Sam RUSCH, Peter GOMES, Nuno PIDDUCK, Geoffrey SOGHOMONYAN, Bagrat MOONS, Robert-Jan HOLLINGSWORTH , Simon BEAUDREY, Raphael KORNFELD, Rainer LOWE, Lori AL-KHALIFA, S.K.B. A ANETT, Fenyofalvi GOODRIDGE, Renata RACHKOVSKI, Igor HARDWICK, Sharon FERSON, Mel WALKER, Andrew MAVRODIEV, Evgeniy TOSITTI, Stefano HOLMBERG, Peter MOON, Andrew ALLO, Frederic DE SA RIBEIRO, Marco Aurelio MILARDOVIC, Marin GREGA, Karen CALERO DISOTUAR, Raidel

PHOTIOS, Yiannos BAUER, Karel KOLTE-OLSEN, Mads NATORP, Hans BAEHR, Rolf SUESS, Gerhard Philipp LLOYD, Gareth KHALIL, Medhat ELSTEIN, Egon FRIEND, John PREDIERI, Marco GRAF, Kai MUIANGA, Decio REIS NUNES LEANDRO, José Manuel ROCHA, Luis M. PLA, Josep DOUAT CORREDOR, Paula RÍOS-MOLLINEDA, Raúl PEREZ, Irina CORREA PLAZA, Annabella ALOI, Ing. Giovanni CAPPELLETI, Guillermo PEREZ, Maria Adela ATBI, Mohamed DAOUD, Abdoulkader Houmed CHAMPION, Jean-Pierre CHAGHOURY, Edmond MERGEN, Martine BALDÉ, Abdoulaye HARS, Thierry EL GHARBI, Hedi FERREIRO, Guillermo BRODIE, Shayne ROLLAND-MCKENZIE, Corinne SALANTERÄ, Samuli TSOMAIA, Jumber BENOIT, James TORRES, Victor DIMITRAKOPOULOS, Antonis PAPATHANASIOU, Apostolos DOWNES, Warkwick KOLLÁR, Dr. Lajos HROBJARTSSON, Ulfur TWOMEY, John PRAMONO, Djoko RICHARDS, Danielle GILBERT, Lester AMINI, Gholamreza LOVEGROVE, David TREACY, John AMIR, Gilad STORTI, Gianni KONO, Hirofumi ATAMBAYEW, Almazbek MWAMBODZE NDARO, Teddy VAN DEN BOSCHE, Peter SNOEKC, Hugo PARK, Gyeongjo RECI, Aber ALFAHD, Fahd ELKREKSHI, Nureddin Eseddig NASVYTIS, Naglis DIMITROV, Antonio JACOBSON ANDRIANIRINA, Brice ABU KASSIM, Tuan Kamaruzzaman ROSSI, Anna TANG, Winnie BALDWIN, Karen DENISIUC, Alexandr VUJOVIC, Pero

Myanmar Yachting Federation Namibia Sailing Association Netherlands Antilles Sailing Federation New York Yacht Club Nigeria Rowing, Canoe and Sailing Federation Norwegian Sailing Federation Norwegian Sailing Federation Oman Sail Oman Sail Oman Sailing Committee Pago Pago Yacht Club, Inc. Palestine Sailing & Rowing Federation Panama Sailing Association Papua New Guinea Yachting Association Philippine Sailing Association Polish Yachting Association Qatar Sailing and Rowing Federation Real Club Nautico Valencia Real Federacion Espanola de Vela RFEV Real Federacion Espanol de Vela Romanian Yachting Federation Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club Royal Huisman Royal Ocean Racing Club Royal Ocean Racing Club Royal Southern Yacht Club Royal Yacht Squadron Royal Yachting Association Royal Yachting Association Russian Yachting Federation Sail Newport Sailing Aarhus Sailing Association of the Principality of Liechtenstein Sailing Association of Zimbabwe Sailing Cook Islands Sailing Federation of Kyrgyzstan Sailing Federation of Ukraine Sailing News TV Salvador Sailing Federation Samoa Sailing Association Saudi Arabia Maritime Sports Federation Serbian Sailing Association Singapore Sailing Federation Singapore Sailing Federation Slovak Sailing Union Slovenian Sailing Federation South African Sailing South American Sailing Conferedation Southern California Yachting Association St. Lucia Sailing Association Sudan Sailing Federation Swedish Sailing Federation Swedish Sailing Federation Swiss Sailing Tanzania Sailing Association Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association Turkish Sailing Federation UAE Sailing & Rowing Federation UAE Sailing & Rowing Federation UK Sport UK Sport US Sailing USAF - Uganda Sailing Federation Limited Vanuatu Sailing Association Vietnam Canoeing, Rowing and Sailing Federation Virgin Islands Sailing Association World Sailing World Sailing World Sailing World Sailing Yacht Club de Monaco Yacht Club Uruguayo

MYINT, U Moe GEIGER, H. SCHNEIDER, Jurgen TOWES JR., Robert C. PORBENI, Fib GUTTORMSEN, Espen MOINICHEN, Tor AL EISSA, Mohammed GRAHAM, David AL KINDI, Rashid Ibrahim MCGUIRE, James KABARITI, Mahfouz MICOLTA, Mario THOMSON, Rhys ECHAUZ, Ernesto KACZMAREK, Wieslaw AL-SEWAIDI, Khalifa M PONS GARCIA, Manuel RODRIGUEZ SANTOS, José Angel TORRES, Manuel PENCIU, Robert PHILLIPS, Robert VAN ‘T VERLAAT, Jurjen ELLIOTT, Nick WARDEN OWEN, Edward STUART-HUNT, Peta LEWINGTON, Patricia NICHOLLS, Louise TRESEDER, Sarah SILKIN, Vladimir COOPER, Kim CAPITANI NIELSEN, Thomas FRICK, Albert MORRIS, Peter TIERNEY, Anne KIRIK, Vladimir GUREYEV, Vasyl DUMARD, Christian ERNESTO, Jorge SASS, Nynette EID ALBALAWI, Rear Admiral Awwad SVIRACEVIC, Svetislav TAN, Dr. Ben WEARN HAW, Tan BABJAK, Marian TOMAZ, Aljosa BAUM, Philip DREYER, Lepoldo HINE, Gail E. MEIXNER, Ulrich ZUMRAWI, Salah ENGSTRÖM, Lena RAHM, Stefan HAGIN, Vincent BUSH, Alastair LOE, Mark BELLI, Mehmet Serhat AL OBAIDLY, Abdullah AL NEHAYAN, Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Bin Saqr BRITTEN (NICHOLLS), Esther CARR, Rodd GIERHART, Jack LUGEMWA LUSWATA, Stephen JENKIN, Justin DUONG, Nguyen Hai SHANNON, Phillip CHAMBERS, Hugh CROCE, Carlo HUNT, Andy PAGE, Malcolm SAYERS CULPIN, Amélie PEREZ, Sergio

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CYSAF - Cyprus Sailing Federation Czech Sailing Association Danish Sailing Association Danish Sailing Association Deutscher Segler Verband Deutscher Segler Verband Dubai Offshore Sailing Club Egyptian Sailing & Water Ski Federation Estonian Yachting Union EUROSAF - European Sailing Federation EUROSAF - European Sailing Federation Fachhochschule Kiel, University of Applied Sciences Federação Moçambicana de la Vela e Canoagem Federação Portuguesa de Vela Federação Portuguesa de Vela Federacio Andorrana de Vela Federacion Colombiana de Vela Federacion de Vela de Puerto Rico Federación Dominicana de Vela, Inc. Federacion Ecuatoriana de Yachting Federacion Mexicana de Vela Federacion Peruana de Vela Federacion Venezolana de Vela Fédération Algérienne de Voile Fédération Djiboutienne des Voiles et des Sports Nautique Fédération Française de Voile Federation Libanaise de Yachting Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Voile Federation Sénégalaise De Voile Federation Tahitienne de Voile Federation Tunisienne de Voile FEPAVE - Federacion Paraguaya de Vela Fiji Yachting Association Finn Class Association Finnish Sailing and Boating Federation Georgian Sailing Federation Grenada Sailing Association, Inc. Guam Sailing Federation Hellenic Sailing Federation Hellenic Sailing Federation Hong Kong Sailing Federation Hungarian Yachting Association Icelandic Sailing Association IFDS - International Association for Disabled Sailing Indonesia Sailing Federation Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association International Radio Sailing Association Iran Canoeing, Rowing & Sailing Federation Irish Sailing Association Irish Sports Council Israel Yachting Association Italian Sailing Federation Japan Sailing Federation Kazakhstan Sailing Federation Kenya Yachting Association Koninklijk Belgisch Yachting Verbond/ Fédération Royale Belge du Yachting Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond Korea Sailing Federation Kosovo Sailing Federation Kuwait Sea Sport Club Libyan Sailing Federation Lithuanian Yachting Union Macedonia Sailing Association of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Madagascar Yachting, Rowing, Canoeing & Surfing Squadron Federation Malaysian Yachting Association Malta Sailing Federation Martello Yachting International (Asia) Ltd. MIA - Marina Industries Association Moldovian Yachting Federation Montenegro Sailing Federation

Yacht Racing Association of Thailand Under Royal Patronage Yacht Racing Association of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Yachting Association of India Yachting Association of Sri Lanka Yachting Australia Inc Yachting Europe Yachting New Zealand Yachting Union of Latvia

CHANSUVANICH, Kraisorn KI CHOL, Jon DHOWAN PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, Admiral Rk KENNY, Joseph ALLEN, Matt LEIRDAL, Erik ABERCROMBIE, David DALE, Ansis

MEDIA 1080 Media TV Boat International Media Icarus Sailing Media Into the Blue Red Handed Television SportsPro Media

WEBB, Clifford LISTER, Victoria MARINOPOULOS, Panagiotis GRINDLEY, Jo USHER, Sam MEACHAM, Nick

CONTACTS / 3

SUPPLIERS Amardeep Fabrics Ltd. Amouage Amouage Aquanautic Atlantic Campaigns Blade Runner Shipping Ltd. Blu Boats Bonnier Corporation BR Marinas Breeze Studios Buell Software Burgess Cazenove Loyd Cehipar Chevrier Technologies Coast Graphics Complete Marine Freight Curvelle DB Schenker Douglas Gill International Ltd. Douro Marina Dubois Navel Architects Ltd. Ellip 6 Elvstrom Sails Evolution Sails Farr Yacht Design Ltd. Farr Yacht Design Ltd. Fast Track Sailing Fraser Yachts Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica Hart Marine Heesen Yachts Heol Composites Hong Seh Marine Pte. Ltd. Jongert King Marine Kingship Marine Limited La Marca Marine Pte. Ltd. Lamborghini - Euro Sports Auto Pte. Ltd. Leopard3 London & Partners Luxury Yachts Pte. Ltd. Marc Lombard S.A.R.L. Marina Projects Marine Camera Solutions Marine Pool Mech Marine Engineering Pte. Ltd. MillionaireAsia Pte. Ltd. Multi One Design SA

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NANWANI, Deepak AL BUSAIDI, Sayyid Khalid Bin Hamad CRICKMORE, David RODRIGUES LOPES, Maurice HOLTER , Nikki ROSE, Mike SCHERRER, Christian HELME, Sally PETERS, Klaus GEORGE, Elizabeth VON DER BURCHARD, Yvette PALFREY, Sonia SHERMON, Amberley MARON, Adolfo CHEVRIER, Jean-François SCANLON, Maxine SELL, Tom VAN ZANTEN, Luuk V CLARKE , Matthew STEWART, Bryan CUNHA, Manuel DUBOIS, Ed TANTOT, Pierre BANK, Jesper GIBBS, Scott SCHMICKER, Jim SHAUGHNESSY, Patrick LEASK, Inga PECK, Lisa JOURDAIN, Christian HART, Malcolm CONBOY, Thom TOURNIER, Laurent LUCIANA, Rose BEELEN, Ted MARIANI, Gabriel FUNG, Petulia STADLER, Roger THENG, Carolyn WHITE, Louise EDMONDSON, Iain CHONG, Lily LOMBARD, Marc WARD, Mike SLEEP, Rob STARK, Robert KOH, Kevin YIM, Brian SIMEONI, Marco

Multimarine Musto Musto Musto Nautical Jewelry Originals New England Boatworks Northill Capital, LLP Northrop and Johnson Asia Limited Ooredoo Oman Palmer Johnson Poralu Premier Composite Technologies Premium Nautical ProMetheus Marine Pte. Ltd. QXI IBC Oman QXI International FZE QXI International Ltd. Sapphire Marine F2C Seychelles Tourism Board Speciality Brands Spinlock Ltd. Supratechnic Pte. Ltd. The Moorings The Moorings U-Boat Worx B.V. Veolia VMG Racing Electronics S.L. Volvo 70 Charter Vortec Marine Ltd. Westport Whitecap Ltd. Wider Yacht Asia Worldhotel Bel Air The Hague

NEWTON, Darren CARRAN, Petra PARKER, Amy BUSBY, Simon DIAZ, Maria SHARKEY , Bob LITTLE, Jonathan JAN KIMMAN, Bart AL FADHIL, Hussein MORRIS, Russell SEGURA, Virginie WAIMER, Max RUBBO, Brent PICKERING, Alan QUIGLEY, John QUIGLEY, John QUIGLEY, John DUNDON, Jim GRANDCOURT, Elsia SEALE, Chris HALL, James TAN, Sebastian PEDERSON, Ian RYVES, Tom HOP, Maykel BOULOT, Marine FREIRE, Carlos BUDGEN, Andy COLLINGWOOD, Ross PURCELL, Philip CLAY, Simon PHILP, David TOLEDO , Carla

TEAMS Alex Thomson Racing Audi Sailing Team - All 4 One - K Challenge Emirates Team New Zealand Emirates Team New Zealand Land Rover BAR Land Rover BAR Mike Golding Yacht Racing Ltd. Oracle Team USA Oracle Team USA Sailing-Team-Germany, Academy STG Sailing Team Germany - Konzeptwerft Structeam Ltd. Team Vestas Wind - VOR Team The Wave, Muscat Nyssearrudasailing.com

HILSDON, Amanda NADIN, Stephanie DALTON, Grant DOUGLAS, Warren ALEXANDER, Sarah WHITMARSH, Martin GOLDING, Mike ELLISON, Larry HURD, Mark HELLMICH, Joachim JEUTHE, Benjamin SELLIER, Julien COX, Neil STAFFORD, David ARRUDA, Nysse

INFLUENCERS CONTACTS / /3 1 BLACK BOOK SAILING 2016

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A ABERCROMBIE, David Position: CEO Company Name: Yachting New Zealand Address: PO Box 33 1487, Takapuna, Auckland, 0740, New Zealand Phone: +64 9361 1471 Fax: +64 9360 2246 Email: dabercrombie@yachtingnz.org.nz Website: www.yachtingnz.org.nz

CONTACTS / 3

ABU KASSIM, Tuan Kamaruzzaman Position: President Company Name: Malaysian Yachting Association Address: Suite 1.14, Level 1, Wisma OCM (Olympic Council of Malaysia), Hang Jebat Road, Kuala Lumpur, 50150, Malaysia Phone: +603 2026 4524 Email: sailmalaysia@gmail.com Website: www.sailing.org.my AL BUSAIDI, Sayyid Khalid Bin Hamad Position: Chairman Company Name: Amouage Address: 14 Lowndes Street, London, SW1X 9EX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 3031 9874 Fax: +44 (0) 20 3155 1081 Email: joyce@amouage.com Website: www.amouage.com AL EISSA, Mohammed Position: Regional PR Manager Company Name: Oman Sail Address: Ruwi, PC 112, P.O. Box 2394, Oman Phone: +968 2418 1400 Email: mohd.ae@omansail.com Website: www.omansail.com AL FADHIL, Hussein Position: Branding, Sponsorship & Events Leader & Rebranding Project Lead Company Name: Ooredoo Oman Address: P.O. Box 874, 111, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 9501 1500 Fax: +968 2200 9610 Email: info@ooredoo.om Website: www.ooredoo.om AL KINDI, Rashid Ibrahim Position: Chairman Company Name: Oman Sailing Committee Address: P.O.Box 2394, Ruwi, PC 112, “Sultanate of Oman” Phone: +968 9588 1951 Fax: +968 2455 4239 Email: omansailing@gmail.com

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AL NEHAYAN, Sheikh Khalid Bin Zayed Bin Saqr Position: President Company Name: UAE Sailing and Rowing Federation Address: P.O. Box 15, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 4332 2332 Fax: +971 4332 8432 Email: info@sarf.ae Website: www.sarf.ae AL OBAIDLY, Abdullah Position: General Secretary Company Name: UAE Sailing & Rowing Federation Address: P.O.Box: 15, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 4332 2332 Fax: +971 4332 8432 Email: info@sarf.ae Website: www.sarf.ae ALCINDOR, Alain Position: Chairman Company Name: Seychelles Yachting Association Address: P.O. Box 584, Victoria, Mahe, Seychelles Phone: +248 467 1200 Fax: +248 4610183 Email: noas@seychelles.net Website: www.nation.sc/index.php ALEXANDER, Sarah Position: Press Officer Company Name: Land Rover BAR Address: The Camber, East Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2JJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9228 7814 Mobile: +44 (0) 77 6639 1276 Email: sarah.alexander@landroverbar.com Website: www.land-rover-bar.americascup.com ALFAHD, Fahd Position: President Company Name: Kuwait Sea Sport Club Address: Salmiya, Block - 1, Hamad Al-Mubarak St, Kuwait Phone: +965 25731155 Fax: +965 2561 6117 Email: kssclub22@yahoo.com Website: www.kssclub.com AL-KHALIFA, S.K.B. A Position: President Company Name: Bahrain Maritime Sports Association Address: P.O. Box 11622, Manama, Manama, Bahrain Phone: +973 1731 0252 Fax: +973 1731 0262 Email: bmsa@bhseasports.com Website: www.bhsailing.com

ALLEN, Matt Position: President Company Name: Yachting Australia Inc Address: Locked Bag 806, Milsons Point, NSW 2061, Australia Phone: +61 284 247 400 Email: info@yachting.org.au Website: www.yachting.org.au ALLO, Frederic Position: President Company Name: Club Nautique de Nice Address: 50 Bd F. Pilatte, 6300, France Phone: +33 493 893 978 Email: info@cnnice.fr Website: www.cnnice.fr ALOI, Ing. Giovanni Position: President Company Name: Federacion Mexicana de Vela Address: Saltillo 119, Col Condesa, Mexico DF, 06140, Mexico Phone: +52 55 5648 5949 Email: fmva@terra.com.mx Website: www.velamexico.com AL-SEWAIDI, Khalifa M Position: President Company Name: Qatar Sailing and Rowing Federation Address: P.O. Box 23515, Doha, Qatar Phone: +974 4470 8338 Fax: +974 442 0308 Email: qatarsailing@yahoo.com Website: www.qatarsailing.org AMINI, Gholamreza Position: President Company Name: Iran Canoeing, Rowing & Sailing Federation Address: Azadi Sport Complex, Tehran, 1484815174, Iran Phone: +98 21 4473 9135 Fax: +98 21 4473 9136 Email: crsf@msy.gov.ir Website: www.icf.ir AMIR, Gilad Position: President Company Name: Israel Yachting Association Address: 6 Shitrit St., Tel-Aviv, 69482, Israel Phone: +972 3648 2860 Fax: +972 3648 2854 Email: isrsa@sailing.org.il Website: www.sailing.org.il ANETT, Fenyofalvi Position: Marketing, PR & Media Manager Company Name: Balatonfüredi Yacht Club Address: Zakonyi Ferenc utca 2., Balatonfured, 8230, Hungary Phone: +36 706 004 544 Mobile: +36 706 004 544 Email: byc@byc.hu / fenyofalvi.anett@byc.hu Website: www.byc.hu

ARMAND, Agathe Position: French Web Writer Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 682 700 169 Fax: +33 6228 26733 Email: agathe.armand@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com ARRUDA, Nysse Position: Journalist & Author Company Name: Nyssearrudasailing.com Address: Apartado 2930, 1123-001, Lisbon, Portugal Phone: +351 963 961 066 Email: nyssearruda@yahoo.com Website: www.nyssearrudasailing.com ATAMBAYEW, Almazbek Position: President Company Name: Kazakhstan Sailing Federation Address: Akimat, Gambul St. 13, Kapshagay, Almaty Oblast, 040800, Kazakhstan Phone: +7 72 7724 2298 Email: konkurent31@gmail.com ATBI, Mohamed Position: President Company Name: Fédération Algérienne de Voile Address: Boite Postale No 565 El-Biar, Algiers, Algeria Phone: +213 2325 8251 Fax: +213 2325 8251 Email: m.atbi@yajoo.fr Website: www.favoile.dz ATKINSON, Dave Position: Marketing & Communications Company Name: Round the Island - Island Sailing Club Address: The Island Sailing Club, 70 High Street, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7RE, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 78 8979 0698 Email: dvatkin@googlemail.com Website: www.roundtheisland.org.uk AULD, James Position: Director Company Name: SuperYachtsMonaco Address: Le Beau Rivage, 9 Ave Ostende, 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 93 25 03 48 Fax: +377 93 25 03 49 Email: ja@superyachtsmonaco.com Website: www.superyachtsmonaco.com

AZNAR, Iñigo Position: Head of Commercial Partnerships Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 187 Email: inigo.aznar@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com

B BABJAK, Marian Position: President Company Name: Slovak Sailing Union Address: Junacka 6, Bratislava, 832 80, Slovakia Phone: +421 918 529 304 Fax: +421 249 249 206 Email: szj@sailing.sk Website: www.sailing.sk BACKLUND, Karin Position: Commercial Director Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 180 Website: www.volvooceanrace.com BAEHR, Rolf Position: President Company Name: Deutscher Segler Verband Address: Gruendgensstrasse 18, Hamburg, D-22309, Germany Phone: +49 406 320 090 Fax: +49 406 320 0928 Email: regatta@dsv.org Website: www.dsv.org BAHL, Richa Position: Account Manager Company Name: Edelman India Pvt. Ltd Address: 4th Floor K S House, 118 Shahpur Jat, New Delhi, 110049, India Phone: +91 11 4605 5000 Email: marketing@emmindia.com Website: www.asiaspaindia.com BALDÉ, Abdoulaye Position: Secretary General Company Name: Federation Sénégalaise De Voile Address: 17 Bvd de la Republique, Dakar, Etoile, Senegal Phone: +221 338 428 891 Fax: +221 849 8889 Email: fsvoile@orange.sn Website: www.fsvoile.sn

BANK, Jesper Position: Commercial & R&D Director Company Name: Elvstrom Sails Address: Paul Elvstromsvej 4, Aabenraa, 6200, Denmark Phone: +45 7362 4800 Mobile: +45 2060 2080 Email: jeb@elvstromsails.com Website: www.elvstromsails.com BARNETT, Dan Position: Chief Commercial Officer Company Name: America’s Cup Address: Windward Place, Third Floor, 24 Crow Lane, Bemproke, HM19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 519 0382 Email: dan.barnett@americascup.com Website: www.americascup.com BAUER, Karel Position: President Company Name: Czech Sailing Association Address: Zatopkova 100/2, 160 17 Prague 6 – Brevnov, Czech Republic Phone: +420 242 429 253 Email: jachting@cstv.cz Website: www.sailing.cz BAUERDORF, Axel Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: Kiel Sailing City Address: Kiel-Marketing GmbH, Kiel Sailing City, Andreas-Gayk-Straße 31B, Neues Rathaus, 24103, Germany Phone: +49 431 901 2987 Fax: +49 431 9017-42987 Email: axel.bauerdorf@kiel.de Website: www.kiel-sailing-city.de BAUM, Philip Position: President Company Name: South African Sailing Address: Unit B40, Pinelands Business Park, New Mill Road, Pinelands, 7405, South Africa Phone: +27 21 531 1860 / +27 21 531 Fax: +27 21 531 0220 Email: info@sailing.org.za Website: www.sailing.org.za BAYER, Peter Position: CEO Company Name: OSM - Open Sports Management SA Address: Cassini House, 57 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LD, United Kingdom Email: welcome@ opensportsmanagement.com Website: www.oceanmasters.com

BEAUDREY, Raphael Position: Honorary Secretary Company Name: Asia-Pacific Superyacht Association Address: Suite 19, 1/F, New Henry House, 10 Ice House Street, Central Hong Kong, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2575 5084 Email: info@apsuperyacht.org Website: www.apsuperyacht.org BEELEN, Ted Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: Jongert Address: Kluisgat 1, Wieringerwerf, 1771 MV, Netherlands Phone: +31 227 549 400 Email: t.beelen@jongert.nl Website: www.jongert.nl BELLI, Mehmet Serhat Position: President Company Name: Turkish Sailing Federation Address: Ulus İş Hanı A Blok Kat:2 No: 207-208, Ulus / Ankara, 06050, Turkey Phone: +90 31 2311 2361 Fax: +90 31 2311 00 78 Email: tyf-ankara@tyf.org.tr Website: www.tyf.org.tr BENOIT, James Position: President Company Name: Grenada Sailing Association, Inc. Address: PO Box 1171, Grand Anse, St George’s, Grenada Phone: +1 473 415 2762 Fax: +1 473 439 1002 Email: grenadasailingassociation@yahoo.com Website: www.grenadasailingassociation.org BICE, Nick Position: Head of the Boatyard Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 122 Fax: +34 966 080 389 Email: nick.bice@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com BOLANOS, Antonio Position: Managing Director Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 110 Fax: +34 966 080 389 Email: antonio.bolanoslopez@ volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com

BOULOT, Marine Position: International Communications Director Company Name: Veolia Address: 8th Floor, 210 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9JY, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7812 5000 Email: marine.boulot@veolia.com Website: www.veolia.co.uk BRITTEN (NICHOLLS), Esther Position: Head of Major Events Company Name: UK Sport Address: 40 Bernard Street, London, WC1N 1ST, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7211 5100 Email: esther.nicholls@uksport.gov.uk Website: www.uksport.gov.uk BRODIE, Shayne Position: President Company Name: Fiji Yachting Association Address: P.O. Box PD 62, Denarau, Nadi, Fiji Phone: +679 3663 3258 Fax: +679 3310 0866 Email: fijiyachtingassociation@ gmail.com Website: www.sailing.org BUCHANAN, Angus Position: Director Company Name: The Sports Consultancy Address: One de Walden Court, 85 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6XD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7323 0007 Mobile: +44 (0) 79 5622 4652 Email: angus@thesportsconsultancy.com Website: www.thesportsconsultancy.com BUDGEN, Andy Position: Director Company Name: Volvo 70 Charter Address: 233 Hunts Pond Road, Titchfield Common, Fareham, Hampshire, PO144PJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 78 6658 9824 Email: budgenandy@aol.com Website: www.volvo70charter.co.uk BUSBY, Simon Position: Brand Director Company Name: Musto Ltd. Address: Spitalfields, 10 Crispin Street, London, E1 6HQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 12 6849 1555 Email: simon.busby@musto.com Website: www.musto.com

BUSH, Alastair Position: Chairman Company Name: Tanzania Sailing Association Address: P.O.Box 110219, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Phone: +255 688 501444 Email: tzsailingassociation@gmail.com Website: www. tanzaniasailingassociation.webs.com

C CALERO DISOTUAR, Raidel Position: President Company Name: Cuban Sailing Federation Address: Coliseo de la Ciudad Deportiva, Via Blanca y Boyeros, Cerro Zona, Postal 10500, Cuba Phone: +53 7648 5009 Email: vela@inder.cu CAPITANI NIELSEN, Thomas Position: CEO Company Name: Sailing Aarhus Address: Sailing Aarhus House Of Sport Vest, Stadion Alle 70, 2nd Floor, Aarhus C, 8000, Denmark Phone: +45 2040 8442 Email: tcn@sailing-aarhus.dk Website: www.sailing-aarhus.dk CAPPELLETI, Guillermo Position: President Company Name: Federacion Peruana de Vela Address: Bolognesi 761, La Punta, Callao 5, Peru Phone: +51 1465 3326 Fax: +51 1465 3326 Email: fpv@sailperu.com Website: www.sailperu.com CARR, Rodd Position: Chairman Company Name: UK Sport Address: 40 Bernard Street, London, WC1N 1ST, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7211 5100 Email: rodd.carr@uksport.gov.uk Website: www.uksport.gov.uk CARRAN, Petra Position: Senior Marketing Manager Company Name: Musto Address: Unit 4 Juniper West, Fenton Way, Laindon, Essex, SS15 6SJ, United Kindgom Phone: +44 (0) 1268 495 824 Email: petra.carran@gmail.com Website: www.musto.com

CHAGHOURY, Edmond Position: President Company Name: Federation Libanaise de Yachting Address: P.O. Box 774, Jounieh, Lebanon Phone: +961 964 4604 Fax: +961 991 0282 Email: lyf_ec@hotmail.com CHAMBERS, Hugh Position: Chief Commercial Officer Company Name: World Sailing Address: Ariadne House, Town Quay, Southampton, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8063 5111 Email: hugh.chambers@sailing.org Website: www.sailing.org CHAMPION, Jean-Pierre Position: President Company Name: Fédération Française de Voile Address: 17 rue Henri Bocquillon, 75015, France Phone: +33 140 603 700 Fax: +33 140 603 737 Email: international@ffvoile.fr Website: www.ffvoile.org CHANSUVANICH, Kraisorn Position: President Company Name: Yacht Racing Association of Thailand Under Royal Patronage Address: c/o Navy Headquarters, Building No 5, Royal Thai Navy, ArunAmarin Road, Bangkok, Thailand Phone: +66 2475 5455 Fax: +66 2472 0852 Email: sail@yrat.or.th Website: www.yrat.or.th CHEVRIER, Jean-François Position: President Company Name: Chevrier Technologies Address: Domaine de la Tour, 302 rue de la Salsepareille, 83700, France Phone: +33 494 824 451 Email: jf.chevrier@chevriertechnologies.com Website: en.chevrier-technologies.com CHIGNELL, Will Position: Chief Marketing & Communications Officer Company Name: America’s Cup Event Authority Address: Windward Place, Third Floor, 24 Crow Lane, Bemproke, HM19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 519 0382 Email: will.chignell@americascup.com Website: www.americascup.com

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INFLUENCERS CONTACTS / /3 1

BALDWIN, Karen Position: Director Company Name: MIA - Marina Industries Association Address: c/o PO Box 106, Seaforth, 2092, Australia Phone: +61 299 691 244 Email: karen@mhyc.com.au Website: www.marinas.net.au

CHONG, Lily Position: Executive Director Company Name: Luxury Yachts Pte. Ltd. Address: 11 Cove Drive, 400 Orchard Road, 06-14 Palais, Renaissance, 238875, Singapore Phone: +65 6732 7727 Email: lily@luxyacht.com Website: www.luxyacht.com

CONTACTS / 3

CLARKE, Matthew Position: Vice President Global Strategy & Business Development Company Name: DB Schenker Address: Schenker AG , 81 Alfredstrasse, Essen, 45130 , Germany Mobile: +39 39 2144 2817 Email: matthew.clarke@amadeusholdings.com, matthew.clarke@ dbschenker.com Website: www.dbschenker.com CLAY, Simon Position: Founder Company Name: Whitecap Ltd. Address: 8 Firelly Road, Hamble Point Marina, Hamble, Southampton, SO314NB, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8045 0112 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 8157 2970 Email: simon@whitecapltd.com Website: www.whitecapltd.com COLLINGWOOD, Ross Position: Managing Director Company Name: Vortec Marine Ltd. Address: Unit 18 Universal Marina, Crableck Lane, Sarisbury Green, SO31 7ZN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 14 8985 4850 Mobile: +44 (0) 75 1122 3998 Email: rcollingwood@vortecmarine.com Website: www.vortecmarine.com CONBOY, Thom Position: Director of Sales Company Name: Heesen Yachts Address: Rijnstraat 2, Oss, 5347 KL, Netherlands Phone: +31 412 665 544 Mobile: +31 412 665 566 Email: tconboy@heesenusa.com Website: www.heesenyachts.com COOPER, Kim Position: Marketing Director Company Name: Sail Newport Address: 60 Fort Adams Drive, Newport, RI 02840, USA Phone: +1 401 846 1983 Email: kim.cooper@sailnewport.org Website: www.sailnewport.org

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CORREA PLAZA, Annabella Position: President Company Name: Federacion Ecuatoriana de Yachting Address: Ave.Kennedy, Bajos Coliseo Cubierto, P.O. Box 09-06-2291, Guayaquil, Ecuador Phone: +593 4239 0413 Fax: +593 4239 0404 Email: feyecuador@gmail.com Website: www.fevelaecuador.org COUTTS, Russell Position: CEO Company Name: America’s Cup Address: Windward Place, Third Floor, 24 Crow Lane, Bemproke, HM19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 519 0382 Email: russell.coutts@americascup.com Website: www.americascup.com COX, Neil Position: Shore & Project Manager Company Name: Team Vestas Wind - VOR Team Address: Vestas Wind Systems A/S, Hedeager 44, Aarhus, 8200, Denmark Phone: +45 97 30 00 00 Email: vestas@vestas.com Website: www.teamvestaswind.vestas.com CRICKMORE, David Position: CEO Company Name: Amouage Address: 14 Lowndes Street, London, SW1X 9EX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 3031 9874 Fax: +44 (0) 20 3155 1081 Email: david@amouage.com Website: www.amouage.com CROCE, Carlo Position: President Company Name: World Sailing Address: Ariadne House, Town Quay, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8063 5111 Fax: +44 (0) 23 8063 5789 Email: president@isaf.org Website: www.sailing.org CRUMP, Russell Position: Sales Director Company Name: Yachting Partners International Address: Le Panorama, 57 rue, Grimaldi, MC 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 9999 9797 Email: russell.crump@ypigroup.com Website: www.ypigroup.com CUNHA, Manuel Position: General Manager Company Name: Douro Marina Address: Rua Joao Oliveira Salgado lote 7 fraccao B e C, Costa, Guimaraes, 4810-015, Portugal Phone: +351 253 520 900 Mobile: +351 963 019 913 Email: manuel.cunha@douramarina. com Website: www.douramarina.com

D DALE, Ansis Position: President Company Name: Yachting Union of Latvia Address: Grostonas Str. 6B, Riga, LV 1013, Latvia Phone: +371 29216040 Email: ansis.dale@sailinglatvia.lv Website: www.sailinglatvia.lv DALTON, Grant Position: CEO Company Name: Emirates Team New Zealand Address: 135 Halsey Street, Freemans Bay, Auckland, New Zealand Phone: +64 9355 0900 Email: grant.dalton@emiratesteamnz.com Website: www.emirates-team-newzealand.americascup.com DAOUD, Abdoulkader Houmed Position: President Company Name: Fédération Djiboutienne des Voiles et des Sports Nautique Address: P.O. Box Number 1366, Djibouti Phone: +253 7781 7623 Email: f.voile_djibouti@yahoo.fr DATNOW, Robert Position: Co Founder & Joint Managing Director Company Name: The Sports Consultancy Address: One de Walden Court, 85 New Cavendish Street, London, W1W 6XD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7323 0007 Email: robert@thesportsconsultancy.com Website: www.thesportsconsultancy.com DAWSON, Nicola Position: Communications Director Company Name: OC Sport Address: Cowes Waterfront, Venture Quays, Castle Street, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6EZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8328 2797 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 1570 4020 Email: nicola.dawson@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com DE HAAS, Mick Position: CEO Company Name: MdH Communications Address: Helmhout 6, 1271 GJ Huizen (NH), The Netherlands Phone: +31 35 5480 555 Mobile: +31 655 737 000 Email: mick@mdh.nl Website: www.mdh.nl

DE MARIA, Enrico Position: Race Organiser Company Name: St. Moritz Match Race Address: RWD, Bergstrasse 23, Dietikon, CH-8953, Switzerland Phone: +41 792 267 242 Email: enrico.demaria@gmx.ch Website: www.stmoritz-matchrace.ch DE SA RIBEIRO, Marco Aurelio Position: President Company Name: Confederação Brasileira de Vela Address: Square - Mahatma Gandhi, z, Group 1210, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Phone: +55 21 2533 0194 Fax: +55 21 2220 8785 Email: cbvela@cbvela.org.br Website: www.cbvela.org.br DELARUE, Emanuel Position: Owner & CEO Company Name: NDA Group Address: Rm C601, 525, FaHuaZhen Rd, Shanghai, 200052, China Phone: +86 216 082 5482 Fax: +86 216 082 5486 Email: edelarue@newdesign.cn Website: www.ndateam.com DENISIUC, Alexandr Position: President Company Name: Moldovian Yachting Federation Address: Str. Vasilie Lupu 23, Chisinau, 2008, Moldova Phone: +373 2274 7908 Fax: +373 2274 7908 Email: moldsailing@starnet.md DEPPE, Rick Position: Associate Producer & Media Crew Member Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 100 Fax: +34 966 080 389 Email: rick.deppe@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com DHOWAN PVSM, AVSM, YSM, ADC, Admiral Rk Position: Acting President Company Name: Yachting Association of India Address: Room No. 403, IV Floor, Chanakya Bhawan, Chankya Puri, New Delhi, 110 021, India Phone: +91 11 2687 0354 Fax: +91 11 2688 4855 Email: yaiindia@gmail.com;yaiindia2@ gmail.com Website: www.yai.org.in

DIAZ, Maria Position: Proprietor Company Name: Nautical Jewelry Originals Address: 8306 Mills Drive, #525, Miami, FL 33176, USA Phone: +1 305 271 0372 Mobile: +1 305 586 3544 Fax: +1 305 273 0167 Email: info@nauticaljewelry.net Website: www.nauticaljewelry.net DIMITRAKOPOULOS, Antonis Position: President Company Name: Hellenic Sailing Federation Address: Marina Delta Falirou, P.O. Box 78550, Athens, 176 02, Greece Phone: +30 21 0940 4825 Fax: +30 210 940 4829 Email: secretariat@eio.gr Website: www.eio.gr DIMITROV, Antonio Position: President Company Name: Macedonia Sailing Association of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia Address: Kej Marsal - Tito bb, Ohrid, 6000, Macedonia (FYRO) Phone: +389 46 262 697 Fax: +389 46 266 396 Email: office@efm.org.mk Website: www.efm.org.mk DINIZ, Ricardo Position: Co-founder & President (Global Marketing & Event Management) Company Name: Portugal Ocean Race Address: Av. Casal Ribeiro, N.15-9, 1000-090, Portugal Phone: +351 932 000 133 Email: ricardo@portugaloceanrace.com Website: www.portugaloceanrace.com DOUAT CORREDOR, Paula Position: President Company Name: Federacion Colombiana de Vela Address: Diagonal 35B, No. 19 - 31 piso, Bogota D.C, Colombia Phone: +57 1 320 3072 Fax: +57 1245 9231 Email: info@fedevelacolombia.org Website: www.fedevelacolombia.org DOUGLAS, Warren Position: Head of PR & Communications Company Name: Emirates Team New Zealand Address: 168 Beaumont St, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand Phone: +64 9355 0900 Fax: + 64 9 355 0901 Email: warren.douglas@ emiratesteamnz.com Website: www.emirates-team-newzealand.americascup.com

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DOWLING, Jim Position: CEO Company Name: HSE CAKE Address: The Entertainment Hub, 15 Bedford Street, London, WC2E 9HE, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7307 3100 Email: jimd@cakegroup.com Website: www.hse-cake.com DOWNES, Warkwick Position: President Company Name: Hong Kong Sailing Federation Address: Room 1009, Olympic House, 1 Stadium Path, So Kon Po, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2504 8159 Fax: +852 2504 0681 Email: hksf@sailing.org.hk Website: www.sailing.org.hk

CONTACTS / 3

DRAFTZ, Randall Position: Event Director Company Name: Charleston Race Week, LLC Address: 4208 Pace Street, Unit C, N. Charleston, SC 29405, USA Phone: +1 843 557 6082 Email: rdraftz@charlestonyachting.com Website: www.charlestonraceweek.com DREYER, Lepoldo Position: President Company Name: South American Sailing Conferedation Address: c/o Chilean Sailing Federation, Ramon Cruz No. 1176 of. 401, Santiago, Chile Phone: +56 2 6358323 Fax: +56 2 26358323 Email: presidencia@csudamvela.org Website: www.csudamvela.org DUBOIS, Ed Position: Managing Director Company Name: Dubois Navel Architects Ltd. Address: Beck Farm, Sowley, Lymington, Hampshire, SO41 5SR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 15 9062 6666 Fax: +44 (0) 15 9062 6666 Email: design@duboisyachts.com Website: www.duboisyachts.com DUCHEMIN, Remi Position: Executive Director Company Name: OC Sport Address: Route du Lac 3, Switzerland Phone: +41 225 481 028 Email: remi.duchemin@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com

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DUMARD, Christian Position: Director & Owner Company Name: Sailing News TV Address: 17 Rue du Danemark, ZA Portes Océanes, 56400, France Phone: +33 297 558 092 Email: christian@dumard.com Website: www.sailingnewstv.com

EGEBLAD, Ole Position: Owner Company Name: Sponsorcom Address: Krogholmgårdsvej 56, 2950, Denmark Phone: +45 2113 0075 Email: ole@sponsorcom.dk Website: www.sponsorcom.dk

DUNDON, Jim Position: CEO Company Name: Sapphire Marine F2C Address: P.O. Box 1632, 211, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 2456 6566 Fax: +968 2456 6822 Email: sapphire@sapphire-marine.com Website: www.sapphire-marine.com

EID ALBALAWI, Rear Admiral Awwad Position: President Company Name: Saudi Arabia Maritime Sports Federation Address: P.O. Box 2100, Riyadh, 11451, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Phone: +966 1288 5235 Fax: +966 1288 5230 Email: info@samsf.sa Website: www.samsf.net

DUONG, Nguyen Hai Position: Secretary General Company Name: Vietnam Canoeing, Rowing and Sailing Federation Address: No.36, Tran Phu Street, Ba Dinh District, Hanoi, Vietnam Phone: +84 437 475 908 Fax: +84 437 475 909 Email: vcrsf@vnn.vn DURIER, Jean-Baptiste Position: Director, Tour de France à la Voile Company Name: Amaury Sport Organisation Address: 253 quai de la bataille de Stalingrad, Issy-les-Moulineaux, 92130, France Mobile: +33 633 199 785 Email: jbdurier@aso.fr Website: www.aso.fr / www.tourvoile.fr

E ECHAUZ, Ernesto Position: President Company Name: Philippine Sailing Association Address: c/o Standard Insurance Co., Inc, 30/f Petron Mega Plaza, 358 Sen. Gil J Puyat Avenue, Makati, 1200, Philippines Phone: +63 2988 6388 Fax: +63 2988 6335 Email: eechauz@standard-insurance.com Website: www.philsailing.com EDMONDSON, Iain Position: Head of Major Events Company Name: London & Partners Address: 6th Floor, 2 More London Riverside, London, SE1 2RR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7234 5800 Email: iedmondson@ londonandpartners.com Website: www.londonandpartners.com

EL GHARBI, Hedi Position: President Company Name: Federation Tunisienne de Voile Address: Maison des Federations Sportives, 1003 Tunis - Bloc “B”, 5eme etage, Tunisia Phone: +216 3117 1916 Fax: +216 7123 6902 Email: ftv@ftv.org.tn ELKREKSHI, Nureddin Eseddig Position: President Company Name: Libyan Sailing Federation Address: c/o National Olympic Committee, P.O. Box 879, Omar Mukhtar St, 7th October Stadium, Tripoli, Libya Phone: +218 214 780 481 Fax: +218 214 780 510 Email: sailinglibya@hotmail.com ELLIOTT, Nick Position: Racing Manager Company Name: Royal Ocean Racing Club Address: 82 High Street, Cowes, PO31 7AJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7493 2248 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7493 5252 Email: racing@rorc.org Website: www.rorc.org ELLISON, Larry Position: Executive Chairman of the Board & Chief Technology Officer Company Name: Oracle Team USA Email: contact@oracleracing.com Website: www.oracle-team-usa. americascup.com ELSTEIN, Egon Position: President Company Name: Estonian Yachting Union Address: Regati 1-5P room 306, Tallinn, 11911, Estonia Phone: +372 639 8960 Email: puri@puri.ee Website: www.puri.ee

ENGSTRÖM, Lena Position: Chairman Company Name: Swedish Sailing Federation Address: Af Pontins vag 6, S-115 21, Sweden Phone: +46 8459 0990 Fax: +46 8459 0999 Email: ssf@ssf.se Website: www.svensksegling.se ERNESTO, Jorge Position: President Company Name: Salvador Sailing Federation Address: Complejo Acuatico Deportivo “El Polvorin”, Fesavela, Local 4, San Salvador, El Salvador Phone: +503 2270 2892 Email: fesavela.gerencia@gmail.com

F FAVRE, Herve Position: Offshore Sailing Project Director Company Name: OC Sport Address: 9 bis rue Delerue, 92120 Montrouge, Paris, France Phone: +33 147 464 870 Mobile: +33 787 404 982 Email: herve.favre@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com FERREIRO, Guillermo Position: President Company Name: FEPAVE - Federacion Paraguaya de Vela Address: Rio de Janeiro esq Capitan, Urbieta, Edificio Internacional Planta, Baja, Paraguay Phone: +595 21 214799 Fax: +595 2120 0956 Email: federacionparaguayadevela@gmail.com Website: www.fepave.org.py FERSON, Mel Position: Director Company Name: Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute Address: 40 Crow Lane, Pembroke HM 19, Hamilton, HM 19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 292 7219 Mobile: +1 441 505 8116 Fax: +1 441 296 6141 Email: director@buei.bm Website: www.buei.bm FRANKL, Nicholas Position: Founder & CEO Company Name: My Yacht F1 Address: 8033 Sunset Boulevard, West Hollywood, CA 90046, USA Phone: +1 310 463 1936 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 3158 6256 Website: www.myyachtf1.com

FRASER, Charlie Position: Director Company Name: Seriously Cool Events Address: Glebe Farm Stable, Back Lane, Tilshead, SP3 4RZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 84 5871 0166 Email: charlie@seriouslycoolevents.com Website: www.seriouslycoolevents.com FREIRE, Carlos Position: Marine Electrical & Electronics Engineer & Professional Navigator Company Name: VMG Racing Electronics S.L. Address: Marina Real Juan Carlos I Base, Nº1, Muelle Nazaret Valencia, 46024, Spain Phone: +34 961 932 893 Mobile: +34 619 512 063 Email: info@vmgelectronics.com Website: www.vmgelectronics.com FRICK, Albert Position: President Company Name: Sailing Association of the Principality of Liechtenstein Address: c/o Hofag AG, Im alten Riet 121, Schaan, FL-9494, Liechtenstein Phone: +423 377 1582 Fax: +423 377 1581 Email: frick@hofag.com FRIEND, John Position: Secretary General Company Name: EUROSAF - European Sailing Federation Address: 274/276 Bolton Road West, Ramsbottom, BLO 9PX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 17 0682 9360 Mobile: +44 (0) 16 1761 0077 Fax: +44 (0) 17 0682 9360 Email: john.friend@eurosaf.org Website: www.eurosaf.org FUNG, Petulia Position: Assistant Marketing Manager Company Name: Kingship Marine Limited Address: 1512, 15th Floor, Chevalier Commercial Center, 8 Wang Hoi Road, Kowloon, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2530 4848 Fax: +852 2530 4433 Email: info@kingship.com Website: www.kingship.com

G GATHERCOLE, Annemarie Position: Director, Yacht Charter Company Name: Yachting Partners International Address: Le Panorama’, 11th Floor, 57 rue Grimaldi, MC 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 9999 9797 Mobile: +33 622 072 407 Fax: +377 99 99 97 98 Email: annemarie.gathercole@ypigroup.com Website: www.ypigroup.com

GEIGER, H. Position: President Company Name: Namibia Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 9988, Windhoek, Namibia Phone: +264 6123 0320 Fax: +264 6130 3405 Email: namibiansailingassociation@gmail.com Website: www.sailing.org GEORGE, Elizabeth Position: Founder Company Name: Breeze Studios Phone: +44 (0) 7866 364 966 Email: liz@breeze-studio.co.uk Website: www.breeze-studio.co.uk GIBBS, Scott Position: Owner Company Name: Evolution Sails Address: 8632 Commerce Drive, Easton, MD 21601, USA Phone: +1 410 819 8886 Fax: +1 410 819 8788 Email: scott@evolutionsails.com Website: www.evolutionsails.com GIERHART, Jack Position: Executive Director Company Name: US Sailing Address: 15 Maritime Drive, Portsmouth, RI 02871, USA Phone: +1 401 683 0800 ext. 631 Fax: +1 401 683 0840 Email: jackgierhart@ussailing.org Website: www.ussailing.org GILBERT, Lester Position: Chairman Company Name: International Radio Sailing Association Address: 93 Bullwood Road, Dunoon, Argyll, PA23 7QL, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 79 0433 3430 Email: chairman@radiosailing.org Website: www.radiosailing.org GOLDING, Mike Position: Managing Director Company Name: Mike Golding Yacht Racing Ltd. Address: 2A Zodiac House, Calleva Park, Aldermaston, Berkshire, RG7 8HN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 77 6829 5444 Email: info@mikegolding.com Website: www.mikegolding.com

GOMES, Nuno Position: Vice President Company Name: Angolan Federation of Nautical Sports Address: Av. Murtala Mohammed, Clube Naval de Luanda, Luanda, Angola Phone: +244 924987900 Email: vela@faden-angola.com Website: www.faden-angola.com

GREENHALGH, Leslie Position: Director Company Name: Origin Sports Group Address: Cassini House, 57 St James’s Street, London, SW1A 1LD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7389 1902 Email: leslie@originsportsgroup.com Website: www.originsportsgroup.com

GOODRIDGE, Renata Position: President Company Name: Barbados Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 40, Bridgetown, BB11000, Barbados Phone: +1 246 417 4726 Mobile: +1 246-233-2170 Email: renatabdos@gmail.com Website: www.sailbarbados.com

GREGA, Karen Position: CEO Company Name: Cruising Yacht Club of Australia Address: 1 New Beach Road, Darling Point, Sydney, NSW 2027, Australia Phone: +61 282 927 820 Mobile: +61 418 965 936 Fax: +61 293 639 745 Email: karen.grega@cyca.com.au Website: www.cyca.com.au

GRAF, Kai Position: Chief Scientist & Researcher Company Name: Fachhochschule Kiel, University of Applied Sciences Address: Sokratesplatz 1, 24149, Germany Phone: +49 431 2100 Fax: +49 431 210 1900 Email: kai.graf@fh-kiel.de Website: www.fh-kiel.de

GRINDLEY, Jo Position: Owner & Founder Company Name: Into the Blue Address: One The Parade, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7QJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8324 7286 Email: jo.grindley@intotheblue.biz Website: www.intotheblue.biz

GRAHAM, David Position: CEO Company Name: Oman Sail Address: P.O. Box 2394, Muscat, 112, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 2418 1400 Email: david@omansail.com Website: www.omansail.com

GRUAU, Delphine Position: Corporate Events, Communication & Image Company Name: Rolex S.A. Address: Rue François-Dussaud, 3-5-7, Geneva 26, 1211, Switzerland Phone: +41 223 082 200 Email: info@rolex.com Website: www.rolex.com

GRANDCOURT, Elsia Position: CEO Company Name: Seychelles Tourism Board Address: P.O. Box 1262, Bel Ombre, Victoria, Mahé, Seychelles Phone: +248 467 1300 Fax: +248 462 062 0 Email: info@seychelles.travel Website: www.seychelles.travel

GUREYEV, Vasyl Position: President Company Name: Sailing Federation of Ukraine Address: Str. Esplanadna 42, Office 815, Kyiv-601, 01601, Ukraine Phone: +380 44 289 5073 Fax: +380 442 895 073 Email: sfu@sfu.com.ua Website: www.sfu.com.ua

GRECH DIMECH, Janet Position: Manager - Sports Tourism Marketing Company Name: Malta Tourism Authority Address: Auberge d’Italie, Merchants Street, Valletta, VLT 1170, Malta Phone: +356 2291 5238 Fax: +356 2291 5398 Email: janet.grech-dimech@visitmalta.com Website: www.mta.com.mt

GUTTORMSEN, Espen Position: Secretary General Company Name: Norwegian Sailing Federation Address: Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, NO0840, Norway Phone: +47 2102 9710 Fax: +47 2102 9715 Email: seiling@nif.idrett.no Website: www.seiling.no

H HAGIN, Vincent Position: President Company Name: Swiss Sailing Address: House of Sport, TalgutZentrum 27, Ittigen, CH-3063, Switzerland Phone: +41 313 597 266 Fax: +41 313 597 269 Email: vincent.hagin@swiss-sailing.ch Website: www.swiss-sailing.ch HALL, James Position: Marketing & Sales Manager Company Name: Spinlock Ltd. Address: 41 Birmingham Road, Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO31 7BH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8329 5555 Email: prosupport@spinlock.co.uk Website: www.spinlock.co.uk HARDWICK, Sharon Position: Chairwoman Company Name: Belize Sailing Association Address: PO Box 601, Belize City, Central America, Belize Phone: +501 622 2820 Fax: +501 226 3379 Email: belizesailingassociation@gmail.com HARS, Thierry Position: President Company Name: Federation Tahitienne de Voile Address: P.O. Box 650, Papeete, BP 650-98713, French Polynesia Phone: +689 26 25 26 Email: fedetahitivoile@mail.pf Website: www.ftvoile.wordpress.com HART, Malcolm Position: Managing Director & Owner Company Name: Hart Marine Address: 66 Yuilles Road, Mornington, Victoria, 3931, Australia Phone: +61 359 755 622 Email: infor@hartmarine.com.au Website: www.hartmarine.com.au HASSELBALCH, Anne-Marie Position: Global Director - Portfolio & Project Management Company Name: VELUX Danmark A/S Address: Aadalsvej 99, Hoersholm, 2970, Denmark Phone: +45 45 16 45 16 Fax: +45 4516 4555 Email: velux-dk@velux.com Website: www.velux.dk

HELLMICH, Joachim Position: Overall Coordination Company Name: Sailing-TeamGermany, Academy Address: Soling 12, Sportzentrum Schilksee - Clubraum 7, Kiel, 24159, Germany Phone: +49 (0) 40 226 316 4-12 Fax: +49 402 2631 645 Email: j.hellmich@stg-academy.org Website: www.stg-academy.org HELME, Sally Position: Group Publisher Company Name: Bonnier Corporation Address: 460 N. Orlando Ave., Suite 200, Winter Park, FL 32789, USA Phone: +1 401 845 4405 Email: sally.helme@bonniercorp.com Website: www.bonniercorp.com HEMERY, Peter Position: Regatta Sailing Director Company Name: Sydney Harbour Regatta Address: c/o P.O. Box 106, Seaforth, New South Wales, 2092, Australia Phone: +61 299 691 244 Fax: +61 2 9969 3326 Email: info@mhyc.com.au Website: www.shr.mhyc.com.au HILSDON, Amanda Position: Marketing & Sponsorship Manager Company Name: Alex Thomson Racing Address: Unit 12 Haslar Marina, Haslar Road, Gosport, PO12 1NU, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9252 4343 Fax: +44 (0) 23 9252 4646 Email: amanda@alexthomsonracing.com Website: www.alexthomsonracing.com HINE, Gail E. Position: Event Director Company Name: Southern California Yachting Association Address: 5855 Naples Plaza, Suite 211, Long Beach, CA 90803-5080, USA Phone: +1 562 433 7426 Mobile: +1 951 677 8121 Email: gail@scya.org Website: www.scya.org HOLLINGSWORTH, Simon Position: CEO Company Name: ASC - Australian Sports Commission Address: Leverrier Street, Bruce ACT, 2616, Australia Phone: +61 262 141 111 Fax: +61 26 214 1836 Email: simon.hollingsworth@ausport.gov.au Website: www.ausport.gov.au

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GAUCI, Michael Position: Managing Director Company Name: Malta Sailing Academy Address: Triq Ganni Attard , Swatar B’Kara , BKR 4172, Malta Phone: +356 2149 6496 Mobile: +356 7943 2526 Email: info@maltasailingacademy.com Website: www.msa. maltasailingacademy.com

HOLLIS, Sam Position: Chief Operating Officer Company Name: America’s Cup Event Authority Address: Windward Place, Third Floor, 24 Crow Lane, Bemproke, HM19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 519 0382 HOLMBERG, Peter Position: Past President & Officer Company Name: Caribbean Sailing Association Address: Antigua Yacht Club Marina, English Harbour, Antigua Phone: 1 (268) 734-6366 Email: peter@caribbean-sailing.com Website: www.caribbean-sailing.com

CONTACTS / 3

HOLTER, Nikki Position: Event Coordinator Company Name: Atlantic Campaigns Address: Ruiz de Padrón 1 1A, San Sebastián De La Gomera, Canarias, Spain Phone: +34 609 14 09 63 Email: nikki@atlanticcampaigns.com Website: www.atlanticcampaigns.com HONEY, Alec Position: President Company Name: Cape Horn Race Address: BP 4, Cassis, 13714 Cedex, France Phone: +33 682 311 463 Mobile: +33 682 311 463 Email: alec@capehornrace.org / alec.honey@live.fr HOP, Maykel Position: Managing Director Company Name: U-Boat Worx B.V. Address: Oosterhoutseweg 77, Breda, 4816 KC, Netherlands Phone: +31 765 713 096 Email: info@uboatworx.com Website: www.uboatworx.com HROBJARTSSON, Ulfur Position: General Manager Company Name: Icelandic Sailing Association Address: Engjavegi 6, 104 Reykjavik, Iceland Phone: +354 514 4210 Fax: +354 514 4001 Email: sil@isisport.is Website: www.silsport.is HUNT, Andy Position: CEO Company Name: World Sailing Address: Ariadne House, Town Quay, Southampton, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8063 5111 Fax: +44 (0) 23 8063 5789 Email: ahunt@sailing.org Website: www.sailing.org

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HURD, Mark Position: CEO Company Name: Oracle Team USA Address: 500 Oracle Parkway, Redwood Shores, CA 94065, USA Phone: +1.650.506.7000 Email: mark.hurd@oracle.com Website: www.oracle.com

J JACOBSON ANDRIANIRINA, Brice Position: Product Manager Company Name: Madagascar Yachting, Rowing, Canoeing & Surfing Squadron Federation Address: BP 4054, 101 Antananarivo, Madagascar Phone: +261 320 436 618 Email: bricejacobson@aol.co.uk JAN KIMMAN, Bart Position: CEO / Managing Director Asia / Senior Yacht Sales Broker Company Name: Northrop and Johnson Asia Limited Address: 1007 LOWER DELTA, 18-03, 099310, Singapore Phone: +65 6401 0655 Mobile: +65 297 597 845 Email: bart.kimman@northropandjohnson.com Website: www.northropandjohnson.com JENKIN, Justin Position: President Company Name: Vanuatu Sailing Association Address: 8 Paradise Point, Ifira Peninsula, P.O. Box 5176, Port Vila, Vanuatu Phone: +678 22909 Mobile: +678 776 7360 Fax: +678 23405 Email: vsa@sailing.vu Website: www.sailing.vu JEUTHE, Benjamin Position: Project Manager Company Name: STG Sailing Team Germany - Konzeptwerft Address: Englische Planke 8, Hamburg, 20459, Germany Phone: +49 (40) 226 316 4-70 Fax: +49 226 316 488 Email: b.jeuthe@konzeptwerft.com Website: www.sailing-team-germany.de JONSSON, Lars Erik Position: Deputy Chief Executive Company Name: Danish Tourist Board Address: Islands Brygge 43, Copenhagen S, 2300, Denmark Phone: +45 3288 9900 Fax: +45 3288 9901 Email: lej@visitdenmark.com Website: www.visitdenmark.dk

JOURDAIN, Christian Position: Head of Marketing & Communication, Service Business Unit Company Name: Gamesa Corporación Tecnológica Address: Parque Tecnológico de Bizkaia, edificio 222, Zamudio, Vizcaya, 48170, Spain Phone: +34 944 037 352 Email: cjourdain@gamesacorp.com Website: www.gamesacorp.com

K K. RASMUSSEN, Michael Position: Senior Vice President, Brand Company Name: Velux Address: Adalsvej 99, Hørsholm, DK 2970, Denmark Phone: +45 4516 4516 Fax: +45 4516 4555 Email: michael.rasmussen@velux.com Website: www.velux.co.uk KABARITI, Mahfouz Position: President Company Name: Palestine Sailing & Rowing Federation Address: Gaza, Almeena, Palestine Phone: +970 8283 9971 Fax: +970 8282 5052 Email: palsailing@hotmail.com KACZMAREK, Wieslaw Position: President Company Name: Polish Yachting Association Address: al. ks. J. Poniatowski 1, Warsaw, 03-901, Poland Phone: +48 225 416 363 Fax: +48 225 416 369 Email: pyabiuro@pya.org.pl Website: www.pya.org.pl KENNY, Joseph Position: President Company Name: Yachting Association of Sri Lanka Address: P.O. Box 256, Colombo, Sri Lanka Mobile: +94 777 589 678 Fax: +94 114 523 620 Email: kenny@freelanka.com Website: www.yasl.info KETTLE, Emma Position: Commercial Director Company Name: Team Origin Events, LLP Address: Land Rover BAR, The Camber, East Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2JJ, United Kindgom Phone: +44 (0) 78 7969 1447 Mobile: +44 (0) 23 9228 7814 Email: emmakettle@teamorigin.com Website: www.teamorigin.com

KHALIL, Medhat Position: President Company Name: Egyptian Sailing & Water Ski Federation Address: 82 Abdel Aziz Al Soud Str., El Manial, Cairo, 11451, Egypt Phone: +20 127 155 5842 Fax: +202 2368 3679 Email: info@eswf-egy.com KI CHOL, Jon Position: President Company Name: Yacht Racing Association of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Address: Kumsong-dong 2, Mangyongdae District, Pyongyang, North Korea Phone: +850 218 111 ext. 8164 Fax: +850 2381 4403 Email: prk@star-co.net.kp KIRIK, Vladimir Position: President Company Name: Sailing Federation of Kyrgyzstan Address: Erkindik boulevard #12 app.3, Bishkek, 720040, Kyrgyzstan Phone: +996 555 923 603 Fax: +996 312 300 152 Email: fpskr@mail.ru KNOX-JOHNSTON, Sir Robin Position: Chairman & Co-Founder Company Name: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Address: 1A Granary and Bakery, Royal Clarence Marina, Weevil Lane, Gosport, PO12 1FX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9252 6000 KOH, Eric Position: Sales Manager Company Name: SG Boating Ltd. Address: 10 Tuas West Drive, Raffles Marina, 638 404, Singapore Phone: +65 9119 1872 Fax: +65 6469 3430 Email: sgboating@singapore.com Website: www.sgboating.com KOH, Kevin Position: Vice President Company Name: Mech Marine Engineering Pte. Ltd. Address: 6, Tues Avenue 10, 639130, Singapore Phone: +65 6278 3666 Fax: +65 6273 7956 Email: kevinkoh@mechmarine.com Website: www.mechmarine.com KOLLÁR, Dr. Lajos Position: President Company Name: Hungarian Yachting Association Address: Istvanmezei ut 1-3, Budapest, H-1146, Hungary Phone: +36 1460 6925 Fax: +36 1460 6926 Email: hunsail@hunsail.hu Website: www.hunsail.hu

KOLTE-OLSEN, Mads Position: Secretary General Company Name: Danish Sailing Association Address: Idraettens Hus, Brøndby, 2605, Denmark Phone: +45 8820 7015 Fax: +45 4326 2191 Email: mko@sejlsport.dk Website: www.sejlsport.dk KONO, Hirofumi Position: President Company Name: Japan Sailing Federation Address: Dr. Kishi Memorial Hall, 1-1-1 Jinnan, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, 150-8050, Japan Phone: +81 3348 12357 Fax: +81 334 810 414 Email: head@jsaf.or.jp Website: www.jsaf.or.jp KORNFELD, Rainer Position: President Company Name: Austrian Sailing Federation Address: Seestrasse 17b, A-71000, Neusiedl am See, Austria Phone: +43 (0) 2167/40 243-0 Fax: +43 216 740 375 Email: office@segelverband.at Website: www.segelverband.at KRAINER, Gracia Position: Head of PR & Marketing Company Name: Adriatic Croatia International Club D.D Address: Maršala Tita 151, Opatija, 51410, Croatia Phone: +385 5127 1288 Fax: +385 512 7182 Email: aci@aci-club.hr Website: www.aci-club.hr KUNDIG, Per Position: Key Account Manager Company Name: Sigma IT Consulting Address: Lindholmspiren 9, Göteborg, 417 56, Sweden Phone: +46 771 550 500 Mobile: +46 702 66 90 04 Email: per.kundig@sigma.se Website: www.sigmaitc.se

L LAING, Callum Position: Chairman Company Name: Samui Regatta Address: c/o Centara Grand Beach Resort, Samui 38/2 Moo 3, Borpud, Chaweng Beach, Koh Samui, Suratthani, 84320, Thailand Phone: +66 7631 9272 Fax: +66 7631 9272 Email: info@samuiregatta.com Website: www.samuiregatta.com

2017

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LE MOENNER, Yann Position: CEO Company Name: Amaury Sport Organisation Address: 253 quai de la bataille de Stalingrad, Issy-les-Moulineaux, 92130, France Phone: +33 141 331 400 Fax: +33 141 331 419 Email: ylemoenner@aso.fr Website: www.aso.fr

CONTACTS / 3

LEASK, Inga Position: Managing Director Company Name: Fast Track Sailing Address: 6th Floor, Southside, 105 Victoria Street, London, SW1E 6QT , United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7593 5200 Mobile: +44 (0) 77 8529 4321 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7593 5201 Email: inga.leask@fasttracksailing.com Website: www.fasttracksailing.com LEFORT, Yan Position: Global Head of Sponsorship & Partnerships Company Name: IWC Schaffhausen Address: Baumgartenstrasse 15, Schaffhausen, 8201, Switzerland Phone: +41 52 235 73 63 Mobile: +41 799 557 789 Fax: +41 526 356 505 Email: yan.lefort@iwc.com Website: www.iwc.com LEIRDAL, Erik Position: Owner Company Name: Yachting Europe Address: Darres Gate 14, Oslo, 0175, Norway Phone: +47 2142 0888 Mobile: +47 9706 7001 Email: charter@yachtingeurope.com Website: www.yachtingeurope.com LENNE, Laurent Position: Owner, Founder, CEO & Sales Company Name: The Great Cup BV Address: De Corantijn 28E, Zwaag , 1689AP, The Netherlands Phone: +31 613 347 842 Mobile: +31 615 015 731 Email: laurent@thegreatcup.com Website: www.thegreatcup.com LENSEN-PEROT, Valérie Position: Owner Company Name: The Sea Mood S.A.R.L. Address: Domaine du Grand Duc , 3, Avenue Mozart , Mandelieu, 06210, France Phone: +33 625 953 256 Email: valerie@theseamood.com Website: www.berthforyacht.com

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LEVY, Jonathan Position: Global Business & Communications Director Company Name: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Address: 1A Granary and Bakery, Royal Clarence Marina, Weevil Lane, Gosport, PO12 1FX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9252 6000 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 1394 8385 Email: jlevy@clipper-ventures.com Website: clipperroundtheworld.com LEWINGTON, Patricia Position: Secretary Company Name: Royal Yacht Squadron Address: The Castle, Cowes, Isle of Wight, P031 7QT, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8329 2191 Fax: +44 (0) 19 8320 0253 Email: mail@rys.org.uk Website: www.rys.org.uk LISTER, Victoria Position: Commercial Director Company Name: Boat International Media Address: 41-47 Hartfield Rd., London, SW19 3RQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 8545 9330 Email: victoria.lister@ boatinternationalmedia.com Website: www.boatinternationalmedia.com LITTLE, Jonathan Position: Founder, CEO & Partner Company Name: Northill Capital, LLP Address: 1 Curzon Street, London, W1J 5HD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7016 4040 Email: info@northill.com Website: www.northill.com LIU, Lingling Position: Managing Director Company Name: Guo Chuan Racing Management Co. Ltd. Address: Beijing, China Mobile: +86 13 910 864 981 Email: liulingling@yahoo.com Website: www.guochuanracing.com LLOYD, Gareth Position: General Manager Company Name: Dubai Offshore Sailing Club Address: P.O. Box 11881, Dubai, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 4394 1669 ext. 106 Email: info@doscuae.com Website: www.dosc.ae LLOYD, Jack Position: Race Director Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 100 Fax: +34 966 080 389 Email: jack.lloyd@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com

LOE, Mark Position: President Company Name: Trinidad and Tobago Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 3140, Carenage, Trinidad, West Indies Phone: +1 868 634 4519 Fax: +1 868 634 4376 Email: setsail@ttsailing.org Website: www.ttsailing.org LOMBARD, Marc Position: Owner Company Name: Marc Lombard S.A.R.L. Address: Le Sextant, Rue de la trinquette, La Rochelle, 17000, France Phone: +33 546 453 030 Email: marc.lombard@marclombard.com Website: www.marclombard.com LOVEGROVE, David Position: President Company Name: Irish Sailing Association Address: 3 Park Road, Dun Laoghaire, Co. Dublin, Ireland Phone: +353 1280 0239 Fax: +353 1280 7558 Email: lovegrovedk@gmail.com Website: www.sailing.ie LOWE, Lori Position: Rules & Appeal Committee Company Name: Bahamas Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box N-752, Nassau, Bahamas Phone: +1 242 322 4782 Fax: +1 242 394 8326 Email: lorilowe30511@gmail.com Website: www.bahsailing.org LUCIANA, Rose Position: Sales & Marketing Executive (Marine Division) Company Name: Hong Seh Marine Pte. Ltd. Address: ONE˚15 Marina Club, 11 Cove Drive, #02-04, Sentosa, 098497, Singapore Phone: +65 6274 9702 Email: roseluciana@hongseh.com.sg Website: www.hongsehmarine.com.sg LUGEMWA LUSWATA, Stephen Position: President Company Name: USAF - Uganda Sailing Federation Limited Address: P.O. Box 10829, Kampala, Uganda Phone: +256 414 286 492 Email: slugemwaluswata@gmail.com

M M. PLA, Josep Position: President Company Name: Federacio Andorrana de Vela Address: Naus Terravella 11 FAV, Av. Tarragona 93, Andorra la Vella, Andorra Phone: +376 811 195 Fax: +376 811 199 Email: federacioandvela@andorra.ad, contact@andorravela.com Website: www.andorravela.com MAFFEI PLOWDEN, Susan Position: Director Company Name: Suma Events Address: 45 Calvert Place, Jamestown, RI 02835, USA Phone: +1 401 855 0234 Email: suma@sumaevents.net Website: www.sumaevents.net MAGNUSSON, Robert Position: CEO Company Name: Aston Harald Sports Address: Östra Hamnen 26, Hönö, 475 42, Sweden Phone: +46 3196 8600 Mobile: +46 730 795 546 Email: robert.magnusson@astonharald.com Website: www.astonharald.com MANZANAS DE LAS HERAS, Eugenia Position: PR & Media Director Company Name: Extreme Sailing Series Address: Venture Quays, Castle Street, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6EZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8328 2797 Mobile: +44 (0) 77 6468 8882 Email: eugenia.manzanas@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com MARIANI, Gabriel Position: Director & COO Company Name: King Marine Address: Calle en Proyecto 1 Ppi 2, 23, Alginet, Valencia, 46230, Spain Phone: +34 961 759 212 Fax: +34 961 759 211 Email: gabriel.mariani@king.es Website: www.kingmarine.es MARINOPOULOS, Panagiotis Position: Head of Marketing & Sales Company Name: Icarus Sailing Media Address: 223 Siggrou Avenue & 2 Tralleon Str., Nea Smyrni, Athens, 17121, Greece Phone: +30 21 0980 1726 Email: info@icarussailingmedia.com Website: www.icarussailingmedia.com

MARON, Adolfo Position: Head of R&D Company Name: Cehipar Address: Carretera de la Sierra s/n, El Pardo, 28048, Spain Phone: +34 91 376 21 00 Fax: +34 913 760 176 Email: adolfo.maron@cehipar.es Website: www.cehipar.es MAVRODIEV, Evgeniy Position: President Company Name: Bulgarian Sailing Federation Address: 75 Vasil Levski Blvd, Sofia, 1040, Bulgaria Phone: +359 2930 0624 Mobile: +359 887 060 865 Fax: +359 2 4788208 Email: secretary@bulsaf.bg Website: www.bulsaf.bg MCGUIRE, James Position: President Company Name: Pago Pago Yacht Club, Inc. Address: PO Box 1215, Pago Pago, AS 96799, American Samoa Phone: +1 684 699 9234 Mobile: +1 684 733 0964 Fax: +1 684 699 9136 Email: pagocharters@gmail.com Website: www. pagopagomarinecharters.com MEACHAM, Nick Position: Managing Director Company Name: SportsPro Media Address: Floor 3, 2 America Square, London, EC3N 2LU, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7549 3250 Email: nmeacham@sportspromedia.com Website: www.sportspromedia.com MEIXNER, Ulrich Position: President Company Name: St. Lucia Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 764, Castries, St. Lucia, West Indies Phone: +1 758 452 8350 Mobile: +1 758 721 9060 Fax: +1 758 452 0183 Email: info@stluciayachtclub.com Website: www.stluciayachtclub.com MERGEN, Martine Position: Member Company Name: Fédération Luxembourgeoise de Voile Address: 57 rue de Schoenfels, Bridel, L-8151, Luxembourg Phone: +352 309 191 301 Fax: +352 308 333 Email: secretaire@flv.lu Website: www.flv.lu

MILARDOVIC, Marin Position: President Company Name: Croatian Sailing Federation Address: Trg Franje Tudjmana 3, Split, 21000, Croatia Phone: +385 2134 5788 Fax: +385 2134 4334 Email: hjs@hjs.hr Website: www.hjs.hr MILLS, Keith Position: Founder & Chairman Company Name: Open Sports Management Address: EPFL Innovation Park, Building I, Lausanne, CH–1015, Switzerland Phone: +41 21 693 8262 Email: welcome@opensportsmanagement.com Website: www.opensportsmanagement.com MOINICHEN, Tor Position: President Company Name: Norwegian Sailing Federation Address: Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, NO0840, Norway Phone: +47 2102 9710 Fax: +47 2102 9715 Email: seiling@nif.idrett.no MOON, Andrew Position: Commodore Company Name: Cayman Islands Sailing Club Address: P.O. Box 32137, Grand Cayman, KY1-1208, Cayman Islands Phone: +1 345 947 7913 Fax: +1 345 947 4904 Email: admin@sailing.ky Website: www.sailing.ky MOONS, Robert-Jan Position: President & Managing Director Company Name: Aruba Sailing Association Address: Schotlandstraat 73, Oranjestad, Aruba Phone: +297 594 3900 Fax: +297 582 0799 Email: martin@asdaruba.com Website: www.asdaruba.com

MOREIRA, Marcio Position: Director Company Name: Extreme Sailing Series Address: Rua Augusto Stresser 1573, Sala 8 Curitiba, 80.040-310, Brazil Email: commercial@extremesailingseries.com Website: www.extremesailingseries.com MORRIS, Peter Position: Chairperson Company Name: Sailing Association of Zimbabwe Address: P.O. Box HG 940, Highlands, Harare, Zimbabwe Phone: +263 772 308 172 Email: sailingzimbabwe@gmail.com MORRIS, Russell Position: Managing Director & Owner Company Name: Palmer Johnson Address: Panorama, 57 Rue Grimaldi, 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 99 99 40 30 Email: info@palmerjohnson.com Website: www.palmerjohnson.com MUIANGA, Decio Position: President Company Name: Federação Moçambicana de la Vela e Canoagem Address: Av, da Marginal, nº 5714, Maputo, Mozambique Phone: +258 249 1373 Fax: +258 2149 3245 Email: fmvelaecanoagem@gmail.com Website: www.sailing.org MURCH, Sam Position: Head of Operations Company Name: Aston Harald Sports Address: Östra Hamnen 26, Hönö, 475 42, Sweden Phone: +46 3196 8600 Email: sam.murch@astonharald.com Website: www.astonharald.com MWAMBODZE NDARO, Teddy Position: President Company Name: Kenya Yachting Association Address: c/o Beglin Woods Architects and Interior Designers, Riverside Drive, P.O. Box 22759, Nairobi, 00400, Kenya Mobile: +254 700 832 474 Email: teddyndaro@yahoo.com Website: www.sailing.org MYINT, U Moe Position: President Company Name: Myanmar Yachting Federation Address: 132 Inya Roadb, Kamayut Township, Yangon, Myanmar Phone: +95 153 1003 Fax: +95 150 1501 Email: moemyint@myintassociates.com.mm Website: www.myanmarsailing.com

N NADIN, Stephanie Position: Marketing Director Company Name: Audi Sailing Team - All 4 One - K Challenge Address: Port America’s Cup, Muelle de Nazaret, Valencia, 46024, Spain Phone: +34 611 506 521 Email: stephanie.nadin@all4onechallenge.com Website: www.audisailingteambyall4one.com NANWANI, Deepak Position: Director Company Name: Amardeep Fabrics Ltd. Address: 1 Kaki Bukit Road 1, Enterprise One, Unite 02-05, 415934, Singapore Phone: +65 6749 7451 Email: amardeep@singanet.com.sg Website: www.amardeepfabrics.com NASVYTIS, Naglis Position: President Company Name: Lithuanian Yachting Union Address: Zemaites 6, LT-03117, Vilnius, Lithuania Phone: +370 5278 8446 Email: ltulbs@gmail.com Website: www.lbs.lt

NEWTON, Darren Position: Managing Director Company Name: Multimarine Address: Foss Quarry, PW10 1EN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 17 5282 3513 Email: darren@multimarine.co.uk Website: www.multimarine.nl

PALFREY, Sonia Position: Charter Manager Company Name: Burgess Address: 16/17 Pall Mall, London, SW1Y 5LU, United Kingdom Phone: +377 97 97 81 21 Email: spalfrey@burgessyachts.com Website: www.burgessyachts.com

NICHOLLS, Louise Position: Communications Manager Company Name: Royal Yachting Association Address: RYA House, Ensign Way, Hamble, SO31 4YA, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8060 4209 Mobile: +44 (0) 77 8955 6080 Fax: +44 (0) 23 8060 4299 Email: louise.nicholls@rya.org.uk Website: www.rya.org.uk

PAPATHANASIOU, Apostolos Position: Secretary General Company Name: Hellenic Sailing Federation Address: Marina Delta Falirou, P.O. Box 78550, Tzitzifies, 176 02, Greece Phone: +30 21 0940 4825 Fax: +30 210 940 4829 Email: secretariat@eio.gr Website: www.eio.gr

NOBLES, Charlie Position: Executive Director Company Name: American Sailing Association Address: 5301 Beethoven Street, Suite #265, Los Angeles, CA 90066, USA Phone: +1 310 822 7171 Email: cnobles@asa.com Website: www.american-sailing.com

O

NATORP, Hans Position: President Company Name: Danish Sailing Association Address: Idraettens Hus, Broendby, DK-2605, Denmark Phone: +45 4326 2182 Fax: +45 4326 2191 Email: hans@natorp.dk Website: www.sejlsport.dk

ORPHANIDIS, Pierre Position: Director of Communications Company Name: Tinkoffsport A/S - Tinkoff Saxo Address: Tinkoff-Saxo, Tinkoff Sport A/S, Lyngsø Allé 3, Hørsholm, DK-2970, Denmark Phone: +34 666 811 555 Email: po@tinkoffsport.com Website: www.valenciasailing.com

NEISH, David Position: Advertising & Marketing Director Company Name: LP - Luxury Properties Address: 2/F Chinaneal Centre, Jaffe Road, Wanchai, 414-424, Hong Kong Phone: +852 2165 2823 Email: davidn@bluincmedia.com Website: www.lpdibiao.com

OVER, Scott Position: Extreme Sailing Series Commercial Director Company Name: OC Sport Address: Cowes Waterfront, Venture Quays, Castle Street, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6EZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8328 2797 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 3426 6184 Email: scott.over@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com / www.extremesailingseries.com

NEVES, Jordi Position: Chief Digital Officer Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 170 Email: jordi.neves@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com

P PAGE, Malcolm Position: Chief Marketing Officer Company Name: World Sailing Address: Ariadne House, Town Quay, Southampton, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8063 5111 Email: malcolm.page@sailing.org Website: www.sailing.org

PARK, Gyeongjo Position: President Company Name: Korea Sailing Federation Address: Rm. 501 Olympic Centre, 424 Olympic-Ro, Songpa-gu, Seoul, 138-749, Korea Phone: +82 2420 4392 Fax: + 82 2420 4391 Email: ksaf@sports.or.kr Website: www.ksaf.org PARKER, Amy Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: Musto Address: Christy Way, SS15 6TR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 12 6849 1555 Email: amy.parker@musto.com Website: www.musto.com PECK, Lisa Position: Global Marketing Manager Company Name: Fraser Yachts Address: Le Coronado, 20 Avenue de Fontvieille, Monaco, 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 9310 0480 Email: lisa.peck@fraseryachts.com Website: www.fraseryachts.com PEDERSON, Ian Position: Marketing Manager, NA Company Name: The Moorings Address: 93 North Park Place Blvd., Clearwater, FL 33759, USA Phone: +1 800 669 6529 Email: sales@moorings.com Website: www.moorings.com PENCIU, Robert Position: President Company Name: Romanian Yachting Federation Address: Str. Vasile Conta nr. 16, Sector 2, Bucharest, Romania Phone: +40 213 172 546 Mobile: +40 722 610 411 Email: penciu.robert@gmail.com Website: www.fry.ro

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INFLUENCERS CONTACTS / /3 1

MICOLTA, Mario Position: President Company Name: Panama Sailing Association Address: APAVELAS, Taboga Sailing School, Panama Mobile: +507 6112 4260 Email: apavelassecre@hotmail.com

PENNONE, Grégoire Position: Secretary General Company Name: Banque Bénédict Hentsch Address: 5, avenue de Châtelaine, P.O. Box 5110, CH-1211, Switzerland Phone: +41 223 609 100 Email: gregoire.pennone@bbh360.ch Website: www.bbh360.ch

CONTACTS / 3

PEREZ, Irina Position: President Company Name: Federación Dominicana de Vela, Inc. Address: C/Isabel La Catolica 162, Edif.

Scotiabank, 3ra Planta, Zona Colonial, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Phone: +1 809 688 5838 Fax: +1 809 688 5271 Email: oficina@fdvela.org Website: www.fdvela.org PEREZ, Maria Adela Position: President Company Name: Federacion Venezolana de Vela Address: c/o Venzuelan Olympic Committee, A Street with Stadium Avenue, El Paraiso, Caracas, Venezuela Phone: +58 21 2492 4870 Fax: +58 21 2451 2327 Email: federacionvenezolanadevela@gmail.com PEREZ, Sergio Position: Commodore Company Name: Yacht Club Uruguayo Address: Rambla Euclides Peluffo, s/n Puerto del Buceo, Montevideo, CP 11300, Uruguay Phone: +598 2622 1221 Fax: +598 2622 1584 Email: secretaria@ycu.org.uy Website: www.ycu.org.uy PERRY, Beth Position: President Company Name: S3605, Sailing 360o Sponsorships, LLC Address: P.O. Box 38809, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA Phone: +1 410 599 4672 Fax: +1 410 732 2683 Email: bperry@s360s.com Website: www.s360s.com PETERS, Klaus Position: Director of Development Company Name: BR Marinas Address: Av. Infante Dom Henrique, S/N, Marina da Glória, Rio de Janeiro, 22440-034, Brazil Phone: +55 21 2512 7070 Email: cacau@brmarinas.com.br Website: www.brmarinas.com.br

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PHILLIPS, Robert Position: President Company Name: Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club Address: P.O. Box 200, Road Town, Tortola, British Virgin Islands Phone: +1 284 494 3286 Fax: +1 284 494 2034 Email: admin@royalbviyc.org Website: www.royalbviyc.org PHILP, David Position: Director Sales & Marketing Company Name: Wider Yacht Asia Address: 22nd Floor, Wisma Genting, Jalan Sultan Ismail, Kuala Lumpur, 50251, Malaysia Phone: +603 2302 8828 Email: sales@wider-yachts.com Website: www.wider-yachts.com PHOTIOS, Yiannos Position: President Company Name: CYSAF - Cyprus Sailing Federation Address: P.O. Box 51813, Limassol, 3508, Cyprus Phone: +357 2532 0559 Fax: +357 2532 8953 Email: cyacyp@cytanet.com.cy Website: www.cysaf.org.cy PICKERING, Alan Position: Managing Director Company Name: ProMetheus Marine Pte. Ltd. Address: Raffles Marine, 10 Tuas West Drive, 638404, Singapore Phone: +65 6299 1603 Email: alan@promarine.com.sg Website: www.promarine.com.sg PIDDUCK, Geoffrey Position: President Company Name: Antigua Sailing Association Address: English Harbour, Antigua Phone: +1 268 720 7702 Email: geoffrey@geoffreypidduck.com Website: www.antiguasailingassociation.com PONS GARCIA, Manuel Position: President Company Name: Real Club Nautico Valencia Address: Camino Canal 91, Valencia, 46024, Spain Phone: +34 963 67 90 11 Email: rcnv@rcnauticovalencia.com Website: www.rcnauticovalencia.com PORBENI, Fib Position: President Company Name: Nigeria Rowing, Canoe and Sailing Federation Address: National Stadium Complex, Surulere, Lagos, Nigeria Phone: +234 8038 0863 99 Fax: +234 1585 0530 Email: nigyfed01@gmail.com Website: www.nigerianrycf.org

PRAMONO, Djoko Position: President Company Name: Indonesia Sailing Federation Address: (PORLASI), Jl.Borobudur, 20 Menteng, Jakarta, 10320, Indonesia Phone: +62 21 390 4288 Email: djoko.pram@yahoo.com Website: www.indonesiasailing.org PREDIERI, Marco Position: President Company Name: EUROSAF - European Sailing Federation Address: Via Cimarosa,10, 20144, Italy Phone: +39 248 001 182 Mobile: +39 348 749 8098 Email: marco.predieri@eurosaf.org, marco@predieri.eu Website: www.eurosaf.org PURCELL, Philip Position: Vice President Company Name: Westport Address: 2957 State Road 84, FT Lauderdale, FL 33312, USA Phone: +1 954 316 6364 Email: onegrove@gmail.com Website: www.westportyachts.com

Q QUARRIE, Stuart Position: Sales & Marketing Director Company Name: Cowes Week Limited Address: Regatta House, 18 Bath Road, Cowes, PO31 7QN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8329 5744 Email: stuart.quarrie@aamcowesweek.co.uk Website: www.cowesweek.co.uk QUIGLEY, John Position: Chief Executive Company Name: QXI IBC Oman Address: P.O. Box 910, Haye Al Mina, Muscat, PC 114, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 9912 3791 Email: johnquigley@qxii.net Website: www.qxii.net QUIGLEY, John Position: Chief Executive Company Name: QXI International FZE Address: P.O .Box 2503, Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 509 675 086 Email: johnquigley@qxii.net Website: www.qxii.net QUIGLEY, John Position: Chief Executive Company Name: QXI International Ltd. Address: Court Place, Rue du Manoir, St Peter Port, Guernsey, GY1 3XZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 77 6838 4545 Email: johnquigley@qxii.net Website: www.qxii.net

R RACHKOVSKI, Igor Position: President Company Name: Belarus Sailing Federation Address: 709, 25 Masherova Ave, Minsk, 220002, Belarus Phone: +375 173 348 589 Fax: +375 173 348 589 Email: info@yachting.by Website: www.yachting.by RAHM, Stefan Position: Secretary General Company Name: Swedish Sailing Federation Address: Af Pontins vag 6, S-115 21, Sweden Phone: +46 8459 0990 Fax: +46 8459 0999 Email: ssf@ssf.se Website: www.svensksegling.se RECI, Aber Position: President Company Name: Kosovo Sailing Federation Address: A Gazmend Zajmi 75, House of Sports, Prishtine, 10000, Kosovo Phone: +381 38 233 951 ext.112 Fax: +381 3824 7578 Email: arber.reci@kosovosailing.org REILLY, Meg Position: PR & Partnerships Manager Company Name: Canadian Ocean Racing Address: 16 Johnson Street, Scotch Plains, NJ 07076, USA Phone: +1 908 294 2222 Email: mreilly@canadianoceanracing.com Website: www.canadianoceanracing.com REIS NUNES LEANDRO, José Manuel Position: President Company Name: Federação Portuguesa de Vela Address: Doca de Bélém, Lisboa, 1300038, Portugal Phone: +351 213 658 500 Fax: +351 2136 60531 Email: fpvela@fpvela.pt Website: www.fpvela.pt RICHARDS, Danielle Position: Graduate Secretary Company Name: Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association Address: Yocum Sailing Center, US Merchant Marine Academy, Kings Point, NY 11024-1699, USA Phone: +1 516 773 5232 Fax: +1 516 773 5344 Email: danielle.richards@ussailing.net Website: www.collegesailing.org

RICKERS, Nikolaus Position: Managing Director Company Name: Kieler Woche/ Point of Sailing Address: Hindenburgufer 70, Kiel, 24105, Germany Phone: +49 431 800 9811 Email: nikolaus.rickers@pointofsailing.de Website: www.kieler-woche.de RÍOS-MOLLINEDA, Raúl Position: President Company Name: Federacion de Vela de Puerto Rico Address: La Colina B#28, Guaynabo, 00969, Puerto Rico Phone: +1 787 403 2625 Fax: +1 787 785 2085 Email: rarmpneumo@aol.com Website: www.sailingpur.org RITCHIE, Chris Position: Managing Director Company Name: SineQuaNon International Ltd. Address: Chiltern House, 45 Station Road, Hanley-on-Thames, RG9 1AT, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 14 9184 5420 Fax: +44 (0) 14 9184 5501 Email: chris.ritchie@sinequanon-intl.com Website: www.sinequanon-intl.com ROBERTS, Roy Position: Owner & Founder Company Name: Owen Marine Marketing Address: Hall Place, South Street, Havant, PO9 1DA, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9248 6566 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 0262 7981 Email: dianen@theowenagency.co.uk Website: www.royowenroberts.com ROCHA, Luis Position: Secretary General Company Name: Federação Portuguesa de Vela Address: Doca de Bélém, 1300-038, Portugal Phone: +351 213 658 500 Fax: +351 2136 20215 Email: fpvela@fpvela.pt Website: www.fpvela.pt RODRIGUES LOPES, Maurice Position: Director Company Name: Aquanautic Address: Time-Max SA, Pl du Molard 9, 1204, Switzerland Phone: +41 223 108 232 Email: maurice@aquanautic.com Website: www.aquanautic.com

RUSCH, Peter Position: Director of Communications Company Name: America’s Cup Event Authority Address: Windward Place, Third Floor, 24 Crow Lane, Bemproke, HM19, Bermuda Phone: +1 441 519 0382 Email: peter.rusch@americascup.com Website: www.americascup.com

RODRIGUEZ SANTOS, José Angel Position: President Company Name: Real Federacion Espanola de Vela Address: Luis de Salazar, 9, Madrid, E-28002, Spain Phone: +34 915 195 008 Fax: +34 914 164 504 Email: info@rfev.es Website: www.rfev.es

RYVES, Tom Position: Marketing Manager, UK Company Name: The Moorings Address: DST House, St Mark’s Hill, Surbiton, KT6 4BH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 33 0332 1505 Email: yacht-charter@moorings.co.uk Website: www.moorings.co.uk

ROLLAND-MCKENZIE, Corinne Position: Executive Director Company Name: Finn Class Association Address: International Finn Association Inc., 39 rue du portal d’amont, Pezilla la Riviere, 66370, France Phone: +33 468 926 046 Email: corinne.mckenzie@orange.fr Website: www.finnclass.org RONSON, Lisa Position: Chief Marketing Officer Company Name: Tourism Australia Address: GPO Box 2721, 1006, Australia Phone: +61 293 601 111 Email: lronson@tourism.australia.com Website: www.australia.com ROSE, Mike Position: Managing Director Company Name: Blade Runner Shipping Ltd. Address: Berth 33, Off European Way, Dock Gate 4, Southampton, SO14 3XD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8033 7795 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 7650 8267 Fax: +44 (0) 23 8023 6925 Email: miros@bladerunnershipping.co.uk Website: www.bladerunnershipping.co.uk ROSSI, Anna Position: President Company Name: Malta Sailing Federation Address: 10 Bachillier Street, San Pawl tat-targa, Naxxar NXR06, Malta Phone: +356 9949 4657 Email: arossi@go.net.mt RUBBO, Brent Position: Yacht Broker & Director Company Name: Premium Nautical Address: 11 Cove Drive, Unit 02-04, ONE°15 Marina Club, 098497, Singapore Phone: +65 6274 5055 Email: brent.rubbo@premiumnautical.com Website: www.premiumnautical.com

S SALANTERÄ, Samuli Position: President Company Name: Finnish Sailing and Boating Federation Address: Westendinkatu 7, 02160, Finland Phone: +358 207 964 200 Fax: +358 207 964 111 Email: toimisto@spv.fi Website: www.spv.fi SASS, Nynette Position: President Company Name: Samoa Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 23275, Apia, Samoa Phone: +685 757 4250 Email: nynette.sass@gmail.com SAYERS CULPIN, Amélie Position: Marketing Coordinator & Foreign Clubs Coordinator Company Name: Yacht Club de Monaco Address: 16 Quai Antoine 1er , 98000, Monaco Phone: +377 6079 3396-5 Fax: +377 9350 8088 Email: ycm@yacht-club-monaco.mc Website: www.membre.yacht-clubmonaco-ycm.com SCANLON, Maxine Position: Managing Director Company Name: Coast Graphics Address: Unit A Hamble Court B.Park, Hamble Lane, Hamble, Hampshire, SO314QJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 80 0032 9980 Email: maxine.scanlon@ cityandcountygraphics.co.uk Website: www.coast-graphics.co.uk

SCHERRER, Christian Position: Owner Company Name: Blu Boats Address: Kellermattstrasse 1, 6044, Switzerland Phone: +41 794 216 217 Email: cs@bluboats.com Website: www.bluboats.com SCHMICKER, Jim Position: Vice President & Senior Naval Architect Company Name: Farr Yacht Design Ltd. Address: 613 Third Street, Suite 20, Annapolis, MD 21403-0964, USA Phone: +1 410 267 0780 Fax: +1 410 268 0553 Email: jim@farrdesign.com Website: www.farrdesign.com SCHNEIDER, Jurgen Position: President Company Name: Netherlands Antilles Sailing Federation Address: P.O. Box 3124, Curacao, Netherlands Antilles Phone: +599 9 7377193 Email: info@ahosailing.org Website: www.ahosailing.org SEALE, Chris Position: Managing Director Company Name: Speciality Brands Address: Unit 7, Space Business Park, Abbey Road, Park Royal, London, NW10 7SU, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 8838 9367 Fax: +44 (0) 20 8838 9366 Email: chris@specialitybrands.com Website: www.specialitybrands.com SEGURA, Virginie Position: Asia Area Manager Company Name: Poralu Address: 6/F, Room 602, Chinese, Overseas Venture Building, South District, Nanshan Hi-Tech Industry Park, Shenzhen Guangdong, 518057, China, Phone: +86 18 603 007 410 Email: v.segura@poralu.com Website: www.poralu.com SELL, Tom Position: Commercial Director Company Name: Complete Marine Freight Address: Gremi Sabaters 34, Poligono Son Castello, 07009, Spain Phone: +34 672 261 922 Email: tom@completemarinefreight.com Website: www.completemarinefreight.com SELLIER, Julien Position: Managing Director Company Name: Structeam Ltd. Address: Old Rigger’s Loft, Marina Walk, PO31 7XJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 1983 240 534 Email: julien.sellier@structeam-ltd.com Website: www.structeam-ltd.com

SHAGHOYAN, Vivian Position: Event Coordinator Company Name: Abu Dhabi International Marine Sports Club Address: P.O Box 45656, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 2681 5566 ext. 227 Mobile: +971 5082 1484 2 Fax: +971 2681 5577 Email: marketing@adimsc.ae Website: www.adimsc.ae

SLEEP, Rob Position: Director Company Name: Marine Camera Solutions Address: Unit C, East Courtyard, Efford Park, Milford Road, SO41 0JD, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 15 9067 3868 Email: info@marinecamerasolutions.com Website: www. marinecamerasolutions.com

SHANNON, Phillip Position: President Company Name: Virgin Islands Sailing Association Address: P.O. Box 7155, St. Thomas, VI 00801, US Virgin Islands Phone: +1 340 775 4701 Email: lreid@islands.vi;alltravel@islands.vi

SLY-ADAMS, Alison Position: Commercial Director Company Name: Antigua Sailing Week Address: Antigua Hotels & Tourist Association, P.O. Box 454, Antigua and Barbuda Phone: +1 268 725 4692 Email: info@sailingweek.com Website: www.sailingweek.com

SHARKEY, Bob Position: Project Manager Company Name: New England Boatworks Address: New England Boat Works, 1 Lagoon Road, Portsmouth, RI 02871, USA Phone: +1 401 683 4000 Email: bsharkey@neboatworks.com Website: www.neboatworks.com

SNOEKC, Hugo Position: President Company Name: Koninklijk Nederlands Watersport Verbond Address: Postbus 2658, NL-3430 GB Nieuwegein, Netherlands Phone: +31 307 513 700 Fax: +31 306 564 783 Email: info@watersportverbond.nl Website: www.watersportverbond.nl

SHAUGHNESSY, Patrick Position: President Company Name: Farr Yacht Design Ltd. Address: 613 Third Street, Suite 20, P.O. Box 4964, MD 21403, USA Phone: +1 410 267 0780 Fax: +1 410 268 0553 Email: patrick@farrdesign.com Website: www.farrdesign.com SHERMON, Amberley Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: Cazenove Loyd Address: Imperial Studios, 3-11 Imperial Road, London, SW6 2AG, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7384 2332 Email: amberley@cazloyd.com Website: www.cazloyd.com SILKIN, Vladimir Position: President Company Name: Russian Yachting Federation Address: Luzhnetskaya street 8, Office 448, Moscow, 119992, Russia Phone: +7 495 725 4703 Fax: +7 495 637 0905 Email: info@vfps.ru Website: www.vfps.ru SIMEONI, Marco Position: President Company Name: Multi One Design SA Address: Av. de provence 4, 1007, Switzerland Email: marco.simeoni@ multionedesign.com Website: www.multionedesign.com

SOGHOMONYAN, Bagrat Position: President Company Name: Armenian Sailing Federation Address: 49 Nalbandyan street, Apt. 19, Sevan 150, Armenia Phone: +374 9436 3499 Fax: +374 1056 0817 Email: spinnakerash@yahoo.com SOHTELL, Martin Position: Head of Marketing & Media Company Name: Aston Harald Sports Address: Östra Hamnen 26, Hönö, 475 42, Sweden Phone: +46 3196 8600 Mobile: +46 708 805 884 Email: martin.sohtell@astonharald.com Website: www.astonharald.com SPILLANE, Marcus Position: President Company Name: 49er Class Address: 39 Harrison Street, Southampton, Hampshire, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Email: marcusspillane@gmail.com Website: www.49er.org STADLER, Roger Position: Managing Director Company Name: La Marca Marine Pte. Ltd. Address: 24 Cairnhill Road, 229654, Singapore Phone: +65 6887 4235 Email: roger@la-marca.com Website: www.lamarca-marine.com

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RODRIGUEZ, Vivian Position: Secretariat Company Name: Offshore Racing Congress Address: Casella Postale 21, Porto Rotondo (OT), 07020, Italy Phone: +39 347 602 9085 Fax: +39 789 398 034 Email: secretariat@orc.org Website: www.orc.org

STAFFORD, David Position: Vice President of Sales & Marketing Company Name: The Wave, Muscat Address: S.A.O.C, P.O. Box 87, PC 118, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 2453 4400 Email: david@thewavemuscat.com Website: www.thewavemuscat.com STARK, Robert Position: President Company Name: Marine Pool Address: Fraunhoferstraze 6, 82152, Germany Phone: +49 898 996 190 Fax: +49 898 575 060 Email: stark@marinepool.com Website: www.marinepool.de

CONTACTS / 3

STEWART, Bryan Position: Director Company Name: Douglas Gill International Ltd. Address: Gill, Manor House Road, Long Eaton, NG10 1LR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 11 5946 0844 Email: bryan.stewart@gilluk.com Website: www.gillmarine.com STORTI, Gianni Position: Secretary Company Name: Italian Sailing Federation Address: Corte Lambruschini, Piazza Borgo Pila 40, Torre A - 16 piano, 16129, Italy Phone: +39 1054 4541 Fax: +39 1059 2864 Email: segretariogenerale@federvela.it Website: www.federvela.it STOTT, Joanna Position: Vice President of Sales & Marketing Company Name: SportsMark Address: 781 Lincoln Avenue, Suite 380, San Rafael, CA 94901, USA Phone: +1 415 464 4128 Email: joannas@sportsmark.com Website: www.sportsmark.com STUART-HUNT, Peta Position: Press Officer Company Name: Royal Southern Yacht Club Address: Rope Walk, Hamble, SO31 4HB, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 15 9067 9621 Email: peta@prworksuk.com Website: www.royal-southern.co.uk SUESS, Gerhard Philipp Position: Secretary General Company Name: Deutscher Segler Verband Address: Gruendgensstrasse 18, D-22309, Germany Phone: +49 406 320 090 Fax: +49 406 320 0928 Email: regatta@dsv.org Website: www.dsv.org

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SVIRACEVIC, Svetislav Position: President Company Name: Serbian Sailing Association Address: Knez Mihailova 7/2, Belgrade, 11000, Serbia Phone: +381 113 346 369 Fax: +381 113 346 282 Email: jssrbije@sbb.rs Website: www.sailing.org.rs

T TAN, Dr. Ben Position: President Company Name: Singapore Sailing Federation Address: 1500 East Coast Parkway, National Sailing Centre, 468963, Singapore Phone: +65 6444 4555 Fax: +65 6448 0485 Email: info@singaporesailing.org.sg Website: www.sailing.org.sg TAN, Sebastian Position: Sales Manager Company Name: Supratechnic Pte. Ltd. Address: 16A Joo Koon Circle, 629048, Singapore Phone: +65 6862 2100 / 9747 0981 Email: sebastian@supratechnic.com.sg Website: www.supratechnic.com.sg TANG, Winnie Position: Regional Director South East Asia Company Name: Martello Yachting International (Asia) Ltd. Address: 18 Mohamed Sultan, Unit 03-02, 238967, Singapore Phone: +65 8468 6888 Email: info.sg@martelloyachts.com Website: www.martelloyachting.com TANTOT, Pierre Position: Owner Company Name: Ellip 6 Address: e6 LAB — PierSud, 26700, France Phone: +33 607 473 341 Email: pierre.tantot@ellip6.com Website: www.ellip6.com THENG, Carolyn Position: Marketing & Communications Director Company Name: Lamborghini - Euro Sports Auto Pte. Ltd. Address: 30 Teban Gardens Crescent, 608927, Singapore Phone: +65 9799 6206 Email: carolyntheng@eurosportsauto.com.sg Website: www.eurosportsauto.com.sg

THOMAS, Stephen Position: CEO Company Name: Renaissance Services SAOG Address: P.O. Box 1676, Muttrah, Ruwi, Muscat, 114, Sultanate of Oman Phone: +968 2476 5900 Fax: +968 2479 6639 Email: oman@tiscooman.com Website: www.renaissanceoman.com THOMPSON, Jane Position: Event & Sponsorship Coordinator Company Name: The Superyacht Cup Address: STP Boatyard, Global Building/Edificio Espigon, Local nº 8, Office 24, Spain Phone: +34 605 223 202 Email: jane@thesuperyachtcup.com Website: www.thesuperyachtcup.com THOMSON, Rhys Position: President Company Name: Papua New Guinea Yachting Association Address: P.O. Box 140, Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea Phone: +675 321 1700 Fax: +675 321 4935 Email: gm@rpyc.com.pg TIERNEY, Anne Position: President Company Name: Sailing Cook Islands Address: P.O. Box 569, Rarotonga, Cook Islands Phone: +682 28243 Fax: +682 29619 Email: anne@jta.co.ck Website: www.oceaniasport.com TOLEDO , Carla Position: Revenue Manager, Reservations Company Name: Worldhotel Bel Air The Hague Address: Johan de Wittlaan 30, The Hague, 2517 JR, The Netherlands Phone: +31 703 525 354 Fax: +31 703 525 353 Email: ctoledo@worldhotelbelair.com Website: www.worldhotelbelair.com TOMAZ, Aljosa Position: President Company Name: Slovenian Sailing Federation Address: Jadralna Zveza Slovenije, Kopalisko nabrezje 5 Koper-Capodistria, Slovenia Phone: +386 4024 0818 Email: info@jzs.si Website: www.jadralna-zveza.si

TORRES, Manuel Position: Secretary General Company Name: RFEV Real Federacion Espanol de Vela Address: Luis de Salazar 9, 28002, Spain Phone: +34 915 195 008 Email: secretariogeneral@rfev.es Website: www.rfev.es

TOWES JR., Robert C. Position: Commodore Company Name: New York Yacht Club Address: 37 West 44th Street, New York, NY 10036, USA Phone: +1 212 382 1000 Fax: +1 212 391 6368 Email: sailingoffice@nyyc.org Website: www.nyyc.org

TORRES, Victor Position: President Company Name: Guam Sailing Federation Address: P.O. Box 23294, Barrigada, 96921, Guam Phone: +1 671 472 4201-3 Fax: +1 671 477 1812 Email: victorharatorres@gmail.com

TREACY, John Position: CEO Company Name: Irish Sports Council Address: Top Floor Block A, West End Business Park, Blanchardstown, Ireland Phone: +353 1860 8800 Email: info@irishsportscouncil.ie Website: www.irishsportscouncil.ie

TORSTENSON, Jan Position: CEO & Founder Company Name: Brandspot Address: Birger Jarlsgatan 18, Stockholm, 114 34, Sweden Phone: +46 841 066 080 Email: jan@brandspot.com Website: www.brandspot.com TOSITTI, Stefano Position: CEO Company Name: BWA Yachting Address: Corporate Management, Via Serafino Balestra 27, Lugano, CH-6900, Switzerland Phone: +41 919 133 240 Fax: +41 919 133 249 Email: s.tositti@bwayachting.com Website: www.bwayachting.com TOUBER, Tom Position: COO Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 100 Fax: +34 966 080 389 Email: tom.touber@volvooceanrace. com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com TOURELL, Andy Position: Extreme Sailing Series Project Director Company Name: OC Sport Address: Cowes Waterfront, Venture Quays, Castle Street, East Cowes, Isle of Wight, PO32 6EZ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8328 2797 Mobile: +44 (0) 78 2466 1831 Email: andy.tourell@ocsport.com Website: www.ocsport.com / www. extremesailingseries.com TOURNIER, Laurent Position: Owner Company Name: Heol Composites Address: ZA de Kervoyel, Phone: +33 2975 31719 Email: laurent.tournier@wanadoo.fr Website: www.heol-composites.com

TREGUILLY, Benoit Position: Responsible Communication Company Name: Bic Sport Address: 58 Rue Alain Gerbault, 56000, France Phone: +33 297 437 528 Email: benoit.treguilly@bicworld.com Website: www.bicsport.com TRESEDER, Sarah Position: CEO Company Name: Royal Yachting Association Address: RYA House, Ensign Way, Hamble, SO31 4YA, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8060 4100 Fax: +44 (0) 23 8060 4299 Email: ceo@rya.org.uk Website: www.rya.org.uk TSOLIS, Akis Position: Co-Owner Company Name: Focus on Sports Address: 223 Syggrou Av, Nea Smyrni, 17121, Greece Phone: +30 21 0931 2881-2 Fax: +30 210 9316 505 Email: marketing@focusonsports.gr Website: www.focusonsports.gr TSOMAIA, Jumber Position: President Company Name: Georgian Sailing Federation Address: 8 Ninoshvili Street, Tbilisi, 102, Georgia Phone: +995 595 418 141 Email: info@gsaf.ge Website: www.gsaf.ge TUEN, Ivan Position: Brand & Marketing Company Name: World Match Racing Tour Address: Chester House, 81-83 Fulham High Street, Fulham, London, SW6 3JA, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 203 542 1616 Email: ivantuen@wmrt.com Website: www.wmrt.com

TWOMEY, John Position: President Company Name: IFDS - International Association for Disabled Sailing Address: c/o World Sailing, Ariadne House, Town Quay, SO14 2AQ, United Kingdom Email: johnct@eircom.net Website: www.jst.org.uk

U URRUTIA, Laura Position: Head of Museum & Creative Marketing Projects Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 154 Email: laura.urrutia@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com USHER, Sam Position: Managing Director Company Name: Red Handed Television Address: Unit 2A, Webbers Yard, Webbers Way, Dartington, TQ9 6JY, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 18 0373 2038 Mobile: +44 (0) 79 6654 6515 Email: samusher@redhandedtv.co.uk Website: www.redhandedtv.co.uk

V VAN DEN BOSCHE, Peter Position: President Company Name: Koninklijk Belgisch Yachting Verbond/Fédération Royale Belge du Yachting Address: Beatrijslaan 25, B-2050 Antwerpen, Belgium Phone: +32 3219 6967 Fax: +32 3219 7700 Email: isaf@belgiansailing.be Website: www.belgiansailing.be VAN ‘T VERLAAT, Jurjen Position: Marketing & Communications Company Name: Royal Huisman Address: Royal Huisman Shipyard B.V., Flevoweg 1, P.O. Box 23, 8325 ZG, Netherlands Phone: +31 527 243 131 Email: jurjen@royalhuisman.com Website: www.royalhuisman.com

VAN ZANTEN, Luuk V Position: Founder, Developer & Marketing Director Company Name: Curvelle Address: 180 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9HG, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7917 2976 Email: lvz@curvelle.com Website: www.curvelle.com VON DER BURCHARD, Yvette Position: Owner Company Name: Buell Software Address: Esmarchstraße 53, Kiel, 24105, Germany Phone: +49 431 80 45 47 Email: info@buell-software.com Website: www.buell-software.com VUJOVIC, Pero Position: President Company Name: Montenegro Sailing Federation Address: Skver b.b., Herceg Novi, 85340, Montenegro Phone: +382 3132 1357 Fax: +382 3132 2205 Email: cgjs@t-com.me Website: www.cgjs.me

W WAIMER, Max Position: Marine Technical Director Company Name: Premier Composite Technologies Address: Dubai Investments Park, P.O. Box 282777, United Arab Emirates Phone: +971 4886 8555 Email: kim@pct.ae Website: www.pct.ae WALDER, Jayne Position: Sales Director Company Name: Event Management Group Address: The Shipyard, Bath Road, Lymington, SO41 3YL, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 15 9067 0999 Email: jayne@emg.co.uk Website: www.emg.co.uk WALKER, Andrew Position: President Company Name: Botswana Yacht Racing Association Address: P.O. Box 862, Gaborone, Botswana Phone: +267 316 1609 Fax: +267 316 1609 Email: botswanayachtracing@gmail.com

WALKER, Laura Position: Director Company Name: Yacht Charter International Address: Scotland Road, Hendra Croft, TR8 5QR, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 18 7257 2602 Email: laurawalker@ walkerdevelopments.co.uk Website: www.yacht-charterinternational.com WARD, Lizzie Position: Senior Manager Port & Team Media Liaison Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 153 Email: lizzie.ward@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com WARD, Mike Position: Managing Director Company Name: Marina Projects Address: The Design Office, Endeavour Quay, Mumby Road, PO12 1AH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9252 6688 Email: mikeward@marinaprojects.com Website: www.marinaprojects.com WARD, William Position: CEO & Co-Founder Company Name: Clipper Round the World Yacht Race Address: 1A Granary and Bakery, Royal Clarence Marina, Weevil Lane, Gosport, PO12 1FX, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9252 6000 Email: wward@clipper-ventures.com Website: clipperroundtheworld.com WARDEN OWEN, Edward Position: CEO Company Name: Royal Ocean Racing Club Address: 20 St James’s Place, London, SW1A 1NN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7493 2248 Fax: +44 (0) 20 7493 5252 Email: ewo@rorc.org Website: www.rorc.org WARNER, Michelle Position: Sales & Marketing Director Company Name: Aberdeen Asset Management Cowes Week Address: Regatta House, 18 Bath Road, Cowes, PO31 7QN, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 19 8324 8003 Fax: +44 (0) 19 8329 5329 Email: michelle.warner@ aamcowesweek.co.uk Website: www.aamcowesweek.co.uk

WATSON, Tim Position: Owner & Director Company Name: Pro-Sail Address: Hobby House Farm, Alswear, Devon, EX36 4LH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 78 0395 9269 Email: tim.watson@pro-sail.co.uk Website: www.pro-sail.co.uk WATTS, Sam Position: Director Company Name: Orchid Communications Address: First Floor, 3 Mulcaster Street, Jersey, JE2 3NJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 15 3488 8992 Fax: +44 (0) 15 3488 8993 Email: sam@orchid.je Website: www.orchid.je WEARN HAW, Tan Position: CEO Company Name: Singapore Sailing Federation Address: 1500 East Coast Parkway, National Sailing Centre, 468963, Singapore Phone: +65 6444 4555 Fax: +65 6448 0485 Email: info@singaporesailing.org.sg Website: www.sailing.org.sg WEBB, Clifford Position: CEO Company Name: 1080 Media TV Address: The Academy, Queen’s Club, Palliser Road, London, W14 9EQ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7610 0891 Email: cwebb@1080media.org Website: www.1080media.org WHITE, Louise Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: Leopard3 Address: c/o Ocean Marine, Shamrock Quay, William Street, SO14 5QL, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 8065 8638 Mobile: +44 (0) 79 0966 2233 Email: louise@leopard3.com Website: www.leopard3.com WHITMARSH, Martin Position: CEO Company Name: Land Rover Ben Ainslie Racing Address: The Camber, East Street, Portsmouth, Hampshire, PO1 2JJ, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 23 9228 7814 Email: martin.whitmarsh@ landroverbar.com Website: www.land-rover-bar. americascup.com

WIKKELING, Jerry Position: Marketing Manager Company Name: St. Maarten Regatta Address: Welfare Road 90, Simpson Bay Bridge, Simpson Bay, Dutch Windward Islands Phone: +1 721 544 2079 Email: regatta.assistant@gmail.com Website: www.heinekenregatta.com WORLEY, Matthew Position: Director Company Name: Progressive Sports & Enterainment Marketing Address: 11 Calico Row, Plantation Wharf, London, SW11 3YH, United Kingdom Phone: +44 (0) 20 7223 5974 Email: matt@progressive-marketing.co.uk Website: www.progressive-marketing.co.uk

Y YIM, Brian Position: Group Publisher & Managing Editor Company Name: MillionaireAsia Pte. Ltd. Address: 545 Orchard Road, Unit 09, 05, Far East Shopping Center, 238882, Singapore Phone: +65 6838 5016 Email: brian@millionaireasia.com Website: www.millionaireasia.com YOUNG KIM, Dong Position: CEO Company Name: Korean Match Cup Address: 4th F. New World building, 743-3 GwangMyeong 7 dong, GwangMyeong City, 423-017, Korea Website: www.koreamatchcup.com

Z ZUMRAWI, Salah Position: President Company Name: Sudan Sailing Federation Address: P.O. Box 2343, Khartoum, Sudan Phone: +249 12377 6600 / 6633 Email: s_sailing@hotmail.co.uk Website: www.sailing.org

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TURNER, Mark Position: CEO Company Name: Volvo Ocean Race Address: Muelle nº10 de Levante, Puerto de Alicante, Alicante, 03001, Spain Phone: +34 966 011 154 Email: mark.turner@volvooceanrace.com Website: www.volvooceanrace.com

PORTS OF CALL AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES

104

CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE

106

QINGDAO, CHINA

108

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

110

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

PORTS OF CALL / 4

103

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Tim Ireland/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Spectators watch the action in Toulon, France from a cruise liner

PORTS INFLUENCERS OF CALL // 14

Softbank Team Japan in front of New York City’s dramatic skyline

The teams line up on the Hudson River in New York

AMERICA’S CUP WORLD SERIES

At the Chicago stop, Lake Michigan provided one of the more unusual racing venues

Christopher Ison/PA Wire/Press Association Images

Christopher Ison/PA Wire/Press Association Images

The America’s Cup World Series has spanned the globe over the course of the past two years, paying visits to Chicago, New York City, Muscat, Gothenberg, Portsmouth, Toulon, Fukuoka and, of course, the destination for next year’s final competition, Bermuda.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge watch the UK-based race

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Clipper 2015/16 Race winners LMAX Exchange sail past the Manhattan skyline

GREAT Britain leads the fleet through London’s Tower Bridge as the tenth edition sets sail

Sir Robin Knox-Johnston at the ever impressive welcome ceremony in Qingdao, China

The Visit Seattle yacht arrives home as the race visits the port for the first time

The Clipper Race’s first ever global charity partner, Unicef, arrives in Rio de Janeiro

CLIPPER ROUND THE WORLD YACHT RACE A new edition of the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race will set sail at the end of 2017. The 2015/16 edition began and ended in St Katherine’s Docks, London, stopping in some of sailing’s most prestigious and important ports along the way. Here is a look at eight of the Clipper’s key venues.

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CAPE HORN RACE 19/20 ® Start Nov 2019 Gibraltar (tbc) - Buenos Aires

Jan 2020 Buenos Aires - Ushuaia

Jan 2020 First race round Horn Island

Finish Feb 2020 Punta Arenas - Punta del Este CAPE HORN RACE 1520-2020 500th anniversary: Magellan Strait

®

®

CAPE HORN RACE 1974-2024 WK DQQLYHUVDU\ ÀUVW \DFKW UDFLQJ team “Round the Horn”

Cape Horn Race 19/20 ®, overall title sponsor 950K euro - Title sponsor Cape Horn Challenge ®, Argentina, 650K euro - Title sponsor Cape Horn Cup ®, Chile, 650K euro - Title sponsor Magellan Grand Prix, Chile ®, 650K euro - deposit 50K euro and monthly payments spread over 4 years, 2017-2020: including live television, high-level networking, race village, and corporate hospitality whilst racing round Cape Horn Island! Global blue economy investment and objectives uniting Europe with new markets. © All rights reserved. Photo © AFP/Alec Honey. alec@capehornrace.org +33 682 311 463. BP 4, Cassis, France, 13714.

Cape Horn Race 19/20 ®.

Credit: Aitor Alcalde Colomer

EXTREME SAILING SERIES: QINGDAO, CHINA

Sailing is a rapidly growing sport in the world’s most populous nation

The Oman Air team competing in Qingdao

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Credit: Aitor Alcalde Colomer

The Olympic rings were on display at this year’s event

Credit: Aitor Alcalde Colomer

Credit: Aitor Alcalde Colomer

China is increasingly growing as an important sailing hub, pumping money into the sport, with the city of Qingdao, in Shandong Provice, at the centre of this growth. The Extreme Sailing Series has held an act there since 2011.

Credit: Aitor Alcalde Colomer

PORTS OF CALL / 4

The teams jostle for space in the Jiaozhou Bay

Qingdao has become a staple of the Extreme Sailing Series calendar

Guo Chuan A sailing icon and brave pioneer from the east, the Chinese “Eric Tabarly”.

He is the first Chinese who completed the VOLVO Ocean Race in 2008-2009; He is the first Chinese who completed the Mini Transat in 2011.

In 2013, he completed solo non-stop circumnavigation in Class 40 and set a world record. In 2015, he led an international crew and successfully set a world record to sail non-stop through the Arctic Ocean Northeast Passage.

18 October 2016, Guo Chuan set sail from San Francisco to start an attempt to challenge the solo trans-Pacific world record. At 07.00 GMT, 25 October 2016, from then on,we have never heard back from him...

We do not know where Guo Chuan is, but wherever he is, he will be remembered, always. www.guochuanracing.com | www.guochuansailing.com

THE OLYMPIC GAMES: RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

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The Olympic Games sailing regatta is always one of the sport’s biggest events. The 2016 edition played out against the stunning backdrop of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The city overcame long-running controversies and worries regarding the quality of its waters to deliver a spectacular sailing regatta.

Christ the Redeemer watches the preliminary men’s skiff event

The three-person keelboat competition in front of Rio’s dramatic coastline

Competitors line up for the women’s solo dinghy

Rowers carry their boats to the water early in the morning

Peter Burling and Blair Tuke New Zealand celebrate their gold medal victory

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PORTS INFLUENCERS OF CALL // 14 The final of the women’s skiff 49er FX gets underway

Britain’s Hannah Mills and Saskia Clark won gold

A group protests against pollution ahead of the Games

Burling during the medal race

BLACK BOOK SAILING 2016

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The teams in the Extreme Sailing Series race in front of the iconic Sydney Opera House

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA Australia’s largest city has a strong sailing tradition, including the annual Sydney Hobart Yacht Race. It has held the final act of the Extreme Sailing Series for the past three years and could host a stop on the next Barcelona World Race.

Crew members prepare for the 71st Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The annual race is a key part of the Australian sailing calendar

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Sydney hosted the Extreme Sailing Series’ grand finale between 2014 and 2016

Discover the Thrill of Flight

Above & Below The Ocean

EXHIBIT

Crew an America’s Cup catamaran in virtual UHDOLW\ RU Ŵ\ DPRQJ PDQWD UD\V LQ RXU Liquid Galaxy Experience. The Ocean Discovery Centre at BUEI has it all.

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NEXT STEP IN RACING WORLD MATCH RACING TOUR & M32 SERIES

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