GUEST COLUMNIST


The Next Frontier


Dong-Young Kim, Organiser of the Korea Match Cup Photo: Gareth Cooke - Korea Match Cup


were maybe 500 dinghy sailors, and just a few club keelboat sailors. There were no regattas for the yachts, just some dinghy events organised by the Korea Sailing Federation. So we started the Korea Match Cup right at the beginning of the sport in my country.


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There was no other match racing going on in Korea when we began, although the Busan Woman’s International Match Race event has subsequently started. I chose a match racing event because good television coverage was essential. There were so few sailors in Korea that we knew we had to appeal to non-sailors, we


ailing was a very small sport in Korea when I began my career in the marine industry, there


in Korea. As our guest columnist, Dong-Young Kim explains his


motivations and vision for the future.


had to engage the mainstream sports fan. I felt that it would be a lot easier to make good television from match racing, compared to fleet racing. The other element of the decision was that by becoming part of the World Match Racing Tour we were able to invite some of the world’s top sailors. This gave the event an important credibility with the Korean audience, it helps us bring in the spectators, both at the event and for the television coverage.


Spectators were an essential part of the strategy, because sailing is not a popular participation sport in Korea, we knew we had to have spectators to make it work. They are a vital part of the success of the event. We promoted the event to spectators in three ways; firstly by combining the Korea Match


Cup with the Korea International Boat Show at the same event site, this provided us with a ready-made audience. Secondly, we worked hard at having things for the public to do at the event – ‘experiences’ if you like – things like trying sailing and other entertainment, so that they don’t just have to come to watch the sailing. And thirdly, we sponsored and promoted the Korea Match Cup with the most popular television drama programme. The results have been excellent, with spectator interest growing all the time.


We then decided to enter the America’s Cup to build on the platform provided by the World Match Racing Tour, and specifically to promote the boat building industry in Korea. An important part of the America’s Cup is building a competitive boat. boat. The Korea Match Cup and the World Match Racing Tour were vital in educating the public, government and sponsors about how exciting sailing can be, and this allowed us to move into the America’s Cup, and start to use that to promote another side of the marine industry in Korea.


Korea Match Cup 2011 in


Jeongok Harbour, South Korea. Photo: Chris Davies, WMRT


MATCH RACING 360° | NOVEMBER 2011


We’ve still got a long way to go, but the good news is that the government is developing marinas, and operating many sailing school programs. We now see the spectators we’ve drawn into the sport through the Korea Match Cup going sailing for themselves, and we can see the sport of sailing really starting to grow in Korea.


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Dong-Young Kim is the architect behind the Korea Match Cup, an


event that has created a groundswell of interest in the sport of sailing


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