Left: the Wally 80 Tango G racing in St Tropez. Drawing new fleets including the larger superyachts under the IMA umbrella is among Andrew McIrvine’s immediate ambitions. Above: Admiral’s Cup 1985 with 18 teams competing; at the time the event was still run for teams of three boats within an overall rating band. When the event was later changed to three level rating classes the wider attraction of ‘run what you brung’ vanished along with most potential competitors. The new format offered closer racing for increasingly professional crews but held very little appeal for all but the most competitive owners
am definitely a glutton for punishment. RW: Your RORC position as Admiral, is that really an honorary function? AM: It is essentially a trustee role. I advise the current commodore and chief execu- tive – but only when asked to do so. I am also closely involved with a lot of the club’s strategic decisions. RW: And IMA secretary – successor to the widely respected Gianfranco Alberini… AM: I was ‘headhunted’ for this by the then IMA president, Claus-Peter Offen. I knew little about the organisation initially and was meant to have had a year of over- lap before taking over from Gianfranco. Tragically he died just a few days after my appointment, so I then had to learn rather fast. It is a completely different role from being a commodore/admiral of RORC. I have had to get to know a lot of new people and new places.
The problems that maxi yachts and
their owners and boat captains bring to us are sometimes very challenging. So, yes, my role is mainly diplomatic and strategic – in that order. So far I am proud of some of my early achievements including getting agreement for the formation of the Maxi 72 Class. My main goals are to build on the concept of an umbrella organisation for maxi classes such as the Wallys, Maxi 72s and also to take on the J/Class. Hope- fully we can also encourage the Super- maxis back to our events, especially to the Rolex Maxi Worlds in September. RW: When you originally became the commodore of the RORC, you were quoted as having three main objectives, the first of which was to ‘return RORC to an organisation of international stature’. AM: I thought at the time that there was a danger that RORC was concentrating on cross-Channel races, so that it was really becoming impossible to differentiate us from JOG and other clubs. I knew we’d always had the pull of the Rolex Fastnet, and that we had an interest in the China Sea and Middle Sea races, but I was keen we came back internationally, because getting on for half of our now 4,100 members are from overseas. And I think we made good progress, with the RORC Caribbean 600 as a key piece of evidence. RW: With all the travelling you did on the club’s behalf you became the public face of the RORC. Asking you to be the Admiral was a logical step, but how easy is that for subsequent commodores? AM: I hope I have been careful not to have trampled on the current commodore’s space. You would have to ask both Michael Greville and current commodore Michael Boyd about that! We now have the 600 and also the Transatlantic where I have been able to combine both my roles plus bring in the IMA. The Transatlantic has not taken off as well as we would have
liked but, with negotiations to combine forces with Yacht Club Costa Smeralda and the Norddeutscher Regatta Verein, plus a change to a January start to avoid clashing with the ARC, I think the prospects are now excellent. RW: Second on your agenda was the relaunch of the Admiral’s Cup. First you had to get the cup back from Australia, but now it’s back at the RORC London club- house and sitting rather sadly in the cellar. AM: We have had almost endless discus- sions about this – unfortunately often cir- cuitous. Although we have many ideas there is still nothing concrete. I do have my ideas but they are not yet fully accepted… RW: I like the ‘yet’. Personally, as you know, I feel the Admiral’s Cup is instru- mental in restoring high-level international big boat competition. It will get owners to build. And once confidence is restored it will have a trickledown effect at national level. But my perspective is that this cannot be separated from a reorientation of the rating rules, which was point three on your agenda. You, of course, had your go at trying to get more uniformity into rating systems worldwide… AM: I entirely agree that it could be the successful catalyst to stimulate serious international competition. The America’s Cup heading off down what many feel is a relative blind alley should give us a great opportunity to bring back the Admiral’s Cup at the pinnacle of our sport. The Deed of Gift is much more open than that of the America’s Cup so we should have more room to devise an attractive competition. The dilemma is that we have almost too many options. Which boats should be used, should we have teams, should they be national, should it be entirely profes- sional, do we need sponsorship, and so on. But if we are to revive it we need to take decisions soon because as the years go by
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JONATHAN EASTLAND/DPPI
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