Offshore Doubles
The disruption to racing last year and the mandating in many countries of a maximum crew size of just two gave a boost to double-handing, the influence of which will be with us for years to come. The combination of a desperation to get afloat and the intrigue of sailing with just two onboard led to big fleets of boats of all sizes; the JOG Great Escape Race seen here attracted 42 entries – a healthy entry for a crewed JOG race in normal times. It was not just dispensing with the long evenings on the phone persuading large numbers of crew to turn up on time – or just to turn up at all – it was often the personal thrill of finding out what you are really capable of when there is nobody else there to help
Catching the (global) mood
Fast out of the traps How many minutes of sailing have you seen covered on your TV in the past few Olympics? We, the sailing public, would of course like to see more. In an effort to make it more exciting we changed to faster, more exciting boats and even foiling but there has been little change in the amount of mainstream coverage sailing has received anywhere in the world. Why is this important? Especially as we’d like to see our sport grow and greater mainstream media coverage is one way to help that. The new Mixed Offshore Doubles Olympic Event tentatively sched-
uled for Paris 2024 (Marseilles) certainly has the potential to shake things up in this area and bring sailing to the mainstream public in a more humanised and accessible way – being on tap to view online 24/7 throughout a single ‘medal race’. Like the Olympic downhill... but with more than that 100 or so seconds in which to enjoy it. Imagine being able to listen in on the conversations of the one-
man-one-woman double-handed teams working together through the emotional highs and lows of a nail-biting offshore course. The adren- aline-pumped voices as they battle for position at the start or as they debate tactical and trim choices at the limits of exhaustion and mental fatigue after pushing hard for two or three long nights of no wind, too much wind and constant tactical and strategy decisions. All viewed in real time with an Olympic gold medal in the balance. No one can imagine a better place for the inaugural Mixed Off-
shore Doubles Event than France. In 2001, when we raced around the world in giant catamarans in The Race on Team Adventure, 85 per cent of the French non-sailing public knew not just our boat but
SEAHORSE
many of our names because they had been following us on radio and TV for the entire trip. The spirit of high seas adventure has long resonated with the
French public. We finished that circumnavigation a full three weeks after race winner Grant Dalton on Club Med, yet there were still more than 50,000 people out to cheer us home in Marseilles. The most recent example of what this all means to the French
public is that when the Vendée Globe started a few months ago more than a million e-sailing enthusiasts joined the virtual Vendée to try their hand outsmarting the singlehanded men and women sailors through the Southern Ocean for three months around the world. This is engagement of the non-sailing public greater than ever before and it’s a big way that we can grow our sport. Sailing and racing in boats broadly similar to those used in the
Olympic event make up about 70 per cent of our sport. Vast numbers of 20-36ft racing and cruising boats grace yacht clubs and anchor- ages around the world. This is relatable sailing to a great many people with a dose of adventure and all its twists and turns. It’s the first time in the sport’s history we get to tell the human story of competing night and day. Stan Honey, who among his many other talents and successes
– on and off the water – has been responsible for much of the best- known innovation in viewing sports on TV (including the America’s Cup, NASCAR and US Football) said, ‘My broadcast TV producer friends have been telling me for years that sailing was too complex to compete for viewers’ attention – but they have also been calling me to say how they would love to be involved in this story because
RICK TOMLINSON
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 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112 |
Page 113 |
Page 114 |
Page 115 |
Page 116 |
Page 117 |
Page 118 |
Page 119 |
Page 120
