Below: having been defeated by the Farr ketches Steinlager and Fisher&Paykel in the 1989-90 Whitbread, 1985 line honours winner Pierre Fehlmann came back in 1993 with a ketch of his own – Merit Cup. Now with the fleet divided into Maxis and Whitbread 60s, this time Fehlmann was beaten to the Maxi Class prize by Grant Dalton’s own Farr ketch NZ Endeavour… Far right: the smile always most closely identified with the Whitbread and then Volvo races, the late and much missed Magnus Olsson, friend to all who go to sea, 1997-98 race winner and a seven-time round-the-world veteran. Below: the late Florence Arthaud, the winner of the singlehanded Route du Rhum in 1990, competed in the 1989-90 Whitbread race onboard Alain Gabbay’s light-displacement entry Charles Jourdan
that the ‘soul’ of the race is disappearing; sailors’ views were not always listened to and the organisers were exerting more and more control over every facet of the race. I am sure Mark hoped that his main focus would have been future planning for the 2020/21 race but it looks increasingly as if there may be an immediate need for him to engage with sponsors and teams for the 2017/18 race. I sincerely hope I am wrong and that there are teams waiting in the wings who currently feel no need to declare their hand, or who are waiting for the 2017/18 marketing budgets to become available. One area that has been totally ignored in the quest for commercial value is the role that private owners can play. They pay for most professional and all amateur sailing. Even the America’s Cup, despite all its changes, is still fundamentally a private owners’ event disguised and offset by some commercial sponsorship. The Whitbread Race had a long and
proud history of private syndicate owner- ship, or sponsorship deals that were done as a result of the enthusiasm of one key decision-making individual. What can be
36 SEAHORSE
done to attract some of these wealthy and enthusiastic individuals back to the Volvo Ocean Race?
One of my concerns is that the Volvo Race has become less appealing for the top sailors. Certainly there will always be a queue of talented sailors wishing to sail the race, but it is important that the race attracts the very best sailors if it wishes to be rated as a pinnacle of the sport. The best offshore sailors want the appeal of the Southern Ocean, they want exciting boats that they prepare themselves, technical innovation, good race management, good competition – and proper rest time in stopovers to enjoy the experience. They do not want to feel like a pawn in a commer- cial or media merry-go-round.
The Volvo Ocean Race now has to compete for these best sailors who have the opportunity to earn good money in other professional environments, like the TP52 Super Series, RC44s, superyachting and other events. Certainly the shorter, leaner race contracts and the fact that the VOR takes you out of circulation for two summer seasons of work is also a factor.
It may well be that the race can no
longer sustain the costs of hiring these sailors. Maybe the VOR has to move on and simply offer the opportunity to the best of the younger offshore talent out there – but will that be a winning formula? Perhaps it is true that sailing round the world is no longer seen as the romantic, pioneering adventure that it was in the 1970s, but there is undeniably still a huge appetite for the race and on every metric the fanbase is growing.
New technology enables us to capture all the action in ever increasing ways and, with faster data transmission from the boats, the footage can be delivered to race supporters almost instantly.
While live TV remains a challenge for any sailing event, if ever there was a sport- ing event that is perfect for the internet then the Volvo Ocean Race is surely it. For 2017/18 the die is cast, with the race route announced, the boats built and the NOR pretty much finalised. The main areas where Mark could make changes are more likely to be the ‘soft furnishings’ like the media delivery, VIP entertainment and
BOB FISHER/BARRY PICKTHALL/PPL
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