News Around the World
Readers, our world really is changing. He went into the Mini Transat after winning the last 15 Mini events – so obviously Ian Lipinski on his Raison-designed scow Griffon started the race as screaming favourite. Early on, however, Lipinski found himself with a fight on his hands on the shifty opening leg which he closed out by less than two minutes after 1,400nm of racing. Steadier conditions on the longer Leg 2 allowed Griffon to stretch her legs and Lipinski increased his overall lead to 20 hours over runner-up Jörg Riecher of Germany. The world, changing? The top three were all nice, fat scow designs; a new 6.50 scow has just begun series production
As a further boost to the profile of the regatta – which has always
fostered a strong international professional element – it coincided this year with the China leg of the World Match Racing Tour. However, the presence of the America’s Cup trophy was the jewel in the crown and drew huge attention. While the four-day regatta forms the on-the-water showcase,
serious business and networking are conducted off the water. RNZYS Commodore Steve Mair said there were multiple strands to the China mission, including promoting sailing as a leisure activity, highlighting the strong connection between the sport and the marine industry, fostering training opportunities and pathways to high - performance sailing, promoting New Zealand in general and supporting business and trade opportunities. He addressed a gathering of 1,000 people including represen-
tatives of central, state and civic government plus members of the China Sailing Association, emphasising the vital links between participation in sailing as a sporting and leisure activity and the marine industry. The Cup and members of the team also visited Chinese primary
and secondary schools as part of the sailing promotion campaign. Part of these presentations gave insights into the benefits of sailing for building confidence, self-reliance and affinities with the sea at a fundamental level, as well as the intense demands across fitness, skills, health and diet that go into an America’s Cup campaign. China is already investing a considerable amount in establishing
an infrastructure to support sailing. Large marinas are being built and the marine industry is growing. Public awareness of sailing has been awakened with China hosting the Olympic Games and Volvo Ocean Race stopovers. In terms of elite sailing, it is already well represented at Olympic
level. At the professional grand prix end of the spectrum, a China- France collaboration is currently in its second Dongfeng Volvo programme, while China has already competed at the 2007 America’s Cup, also with a heavy French involvement. To help increase Chinese participation in sailing, New Zealand
can offer considerable expertise. The highly successful RNZYS Youth Training Programme has long been recognised as a launch platform into grand prix racing. The addition of an RNZYS High Per- formance Programme further extends that pathway into elite sailing and the combination is already attracting international students. Initially the lack of basic training in China meant the competence gap was too large for admission into these programmes. ‘Now there
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are structures in place in China where young people can learn to sail, so the stage is set where they can take advantage of our more advanced training offerings,’ says Mair. This is already underway. After the China Cup members of the
Squadron’s youth programme stayed on for an additional week to conduct coaching clinics in Shenzhen. Earlier this year two RNZYS coaches spent a week at the Shanghai Yacht Club running training sessions. ‘In addition,’ says Mair, ‘we will have a group of Chinese youth sailors coming to New Zealand this summer to join our full- immersion two-week training camp at the RNZYS out-station at Kawau Island, north of Auckland.’ Alongside these more formal initiatives are the opportunities
presented in the normal course of international sailing events, where enduring friendships are forged. For example, one of the RNZYS crews at this year’s China Cup thought they were competing in a boat sponsored by the local university, whereas in fact it was a group of alumni from the university – including the head of one of China’s largest utility companies. These personal connections forged through sailing can prove
invaluable on multiple levels and combined with the excitement generated around the physical presence of the America’s Cup might plant seeds for future engagement. ‘I am sure the long game for China is to be a force in the America’s
Cup,’ says Commodore Mair. ‘For the short term there is definitely talk about competing in the Youth America’s Cup in New Zealand in 2021 and we would like to help them with that.’ While China does not have the ingrained multi-generational sailing
culture of many other nations, the sleeping giant is fast awakening. Backed by its vast industrial resources and a strategic determination to absorb expertise from the best in the business, the long march towards becoming a sailing power has well and truly begun. Ivor Wilkins
AUSTRALIA The inner belief – Tom Slingsby Seahorse Magazine: So what were the Oracle observers down in Auckland telling you ahead of the Cup… Tom Slingsby:We knew that ETNZ were going to come out cycling. The stories reached us a few months before they launched. But whether it was for real or not we still didn’t know – it could have been a feint. But we had been looking at cycling for a long time, even before the San Francisco Cup.
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CHRISTOPHE BRESCHI
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