Image credit: Lloyd Images
"In the 300 days of racing we have now had there hasn’t been an event that at the end of it you felt the format didn’t reward the right people."
As a comparison, we have been involved in three Vendee Globe races - four if you include the boat we built for Alex Thompson Racing for the last Vendee. The IMOCA class is a fantastic property but it’s not annual and global yet. It has an extremely high level of risk from a sponsor perspective. It’s very different: a 90 per cent emotional sell and 10 per cent business sell. Whereas the Extreme Sailing Series is weighted in the other direction, so we are attracting different people. Both have their appeals to different people and different markets. SRM: What would you say to people who say that stadium sailing is not 'proper' sailboat racing? Mark Turner: Stadium sailing and having guests on board are two things that some people said seven years ago didn't make it proper sailboat racing - very few people would say that now. Any sailor that has competed in it would strongly argue that the format absolutely allows the best guys to win. Whoever it was determined that you had to start with a windward beat to make it fair, I don’t know - but they were wrong. It tests skills in different ways for sure. There’s more tactics and maneuvers than strategy. You are just testing a lot of different skills, but what you see is the best guys, the best teamwork, the best forward thinkers and fast thinkers, those combinations, those guys, are winning. In the 300 days of racing we have now had there hasn’t been an event that at the end of it you felt the format didn’t reward the right people. There’s been some tough wins and loses in
July 2013 38
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67