Left: A very different kind of yacht race sailed by a very different kind of yachtsman. Whitbread Race addict Skip Novak skippers Alaska Eagle through the colder side of the Southern Ocean in the 1981-82 race which was won by the Frers-designed Flyer II – Eagle had herself won the previous race as Flyer I. Right: back again, Skip Novak took over command of the extraordinary, low freeboard Soviet entry Fazisi in the 1989-90 round-the-world race following the suicide of his Soviet co-skipper in Punta del Este at the end of the first leg
striving to enter it is always a struggle for teams actually to make it to the startline. While Knut’s era will be most remem- bered for the switch to one-design boats, the most significant change has actually been the increased commercialisation of the race. The emphasis has been on trying to increase its value to all sponsors and to do this there were wholesale changes in many areas. Most significant of these were the race route and the race format. There has also been a large investment in TV and media production – not least as Knut’s era has coincided with the digital and social media revolution. The
race route was changed to
accommodate new world markets and to raise money for the race through port rights-holder fees. The race format was changed by adding shorter legs, leaving more points on the table at the end to maintain excitement right up to the finish. The relevance of in-port racing was also increased markedly before being reined in
‘The VO65s were reliable and there was no serious damage to those boats that avoided coral reefs…’
again during the last edition.
The very successful pro-am racing during stopovers was also introduced and grows with every edition as an effective means to entertain sponsor clients. This is a unique selling point for sailing… and one that has been largely disregarded by the America’s Cup.
To cut costs the boats have been changed to identical one-designs, sail limi- tations imposed, crew numbers reduced, two-boat testing banned, stopovers short- ened and shore teams are now on the verge of extinction as the central boatyard continues to grow in scale. If you want to level the playing field and cut the cost of a winning team budget by as much as 30 per
cent – as has successfully been done – then you need to attack every line of the budget. Supporters of Knut’s brave new world would point to the 2.3 million people who visited the race stopovers last time, the cumulative TV audience of 1.7 billion viewers and most importantly many happy sponsors, a number of whom wish to re- enter the race. The VO65s were reliable, racing was closer than ever (every team won a leg if you count leg 0) and there was no serious damage to those boats that avoided coral reefs. The official race report makes for impressive reading. Critics would point to the fact that no teams have currently officially entered for the next race, the racing was at times pro- cessional and the emphasis was more often on not making a mistake than going for gold. The increased boat reliability, while good for the sponsors, was perhaps of less interest to the public – where would Formula 1 be if there were no crashes! Perhaps most concerning is the feeling
SEAHORSE 35
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SKIP NOVAK/PPL
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