Editorial Andrew Hurst Governance (and trade descriptions)
Terrific World Sailing have put together a new two-handed offshore event next year in Malta. Using a classic like the Middle Sea Race as the framework is smart, while the assumption that the choice of boats was driven by whoever was up for supplying 20 free boats does nothing to detract from the picture.
We are big fans of Andrej Justin’s little L30 design that will be
used for the event, although if we are being honest it is not in the top three if it came to a free choice for the best boat for a rough shorthanded race; but through someone’s generosity 20 boats have been made available. Good enough. In fact, the confirmation that the fleet for this event may not sail
the full Middle Sea Race course tells the story, that with a relatively low-stability design the race managers will be forgiven – encouraged – if they temper the course down to a coastal sprint. However, the name given to this one-off race? To put it politely
the name is unfortunate. ‘The Offshore World Championship!’ What the hell is that when it’s at home? In no way is this the offshore world championship. It is an
interesting and very welcome test event for the proposed mixed- gender two-handed Olympic discipline at Paris 2024. Nothing more. It is not even an offshore world championship. Taken in the round, it is a valuable initiative that is now causing chuckles among well- known offshore sailors because of a silly title. Where was the need to disrespect those who race existing world
class offshore events, singlehanded, two-handed, fully crewed? The Admiral’s Cup was once recognised as the unofficial offshore
world championship – but that was known to be unofficial. The ORC have successfully run an ‘official’ World Championship for many years. Then there is the recent joint ORC-IRC offshore world championship (ironically recognised as such by World Sailing). Likewise, big shorthanded events are carefully labelled as such
and do not compete for headlines through pretending to be something they are not by conflating crewed and solo racing –unlike this latest stroke of marketing genius. A great many offshore racers still hope that events within their
lifetimes conspire to allow a modern version of the Admiral’s Cup to take place; a testing mix of inshore and hard offshore competition. But not a world championship. And World Sailing’s latest event does not even come close. Calling itself the ‘Offshore World Championship’ is pretending
to be something it blatantly is not. And undermining established existing events is a strange way to ‘raise public interest in sailing’. Don’t get me wrong, the MSR course will be a tough ask for a
two-handed crew racing quite a tender boat, especially if the breeze kicks up. The trophy will be hard won; the winners especially do not
deserve to be met with questions like ‘so how are you the world champion when we hear about other events that are apparently pretty tough too, the Volvo, the Rhum, the TJV, Vendée Globe, even the Clipper Race?’ Ask Jo Public to get his head round that one. So a great idea, a lot of work, then at the end spoil a good story
with a silly name that misrepresents the whole sport. There is talk of a looming cash ‘deficit’, trips to the IOC with a
begging bowl, possibly a ‘fireside chat’ with the landlord at World Sailing Towers; here is another example of locking out informed voices who want to help. Who the executive choose to ignore. There are many very experienced sailors spread across World
Sailing but a bad process now seems too firmly established. They do the research, make choices, put together detailed proposals and then put them to the executive. Who shove them in a drawer and do whatever they last thought of over a long, expensive lunch (that you pay for, by the way). Sometimes you have to say it exactly as you see it.
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Sometimes sh*t just happens. As for what happened next, sadly our long-dead photographer was slotting in another glass plate
IRONMAN I still hold the France to Mauritius record though there have been attempts to improve on it, in particular Lionel
Lemonchois – Francis Joyon
But he capsized – Joyon
ONCE BITTEN We’ve been ahead 2-0 in the America’s Cup before, and we didn’t like the way that
ended up – Dennis Conner, Fremantle 1987
Engineer: The cars we are racing for the win are Tony, Juan and Sato. Do you know which cars they are or do I need to tell you which numbers? Fernando Alonso:We will pass all of them Engineer: That makes it a lot easier on us
WHAT SELF-BELIEF SOUNDS LIKE
COME ON Europe fears impact of
Laser class drama! – online sailing ‘news flash’ Honestly, I think right now Europe has bigger
FAIR Mr Vandemoer is not, I suggest, ‘a good guy caught in the wrong place’ (Update, last
month). He was, sadly, found in this instance to be a ‘bad guy’ – as he himself acknowledged
a: Are you excited
Kimi Raikkonen: No, I don’t get excited
bout being P6?
‘HAPPY’ – The former Mrs Jeff Bezos comments on her $36billion divorce settlement
things to worry about – The editor engages online (at last – says everyone else)
know it’s me’ – the Wizard of Omaha, Warren Buffet, lists some of his acquisition criteria
Seahorse magazine and our associate raceboatsonly brokerage site are both at:
seahorsemagazine.com The editor is contactable by email at:
andrew@seahorse.co.uk
SEAHORSE 11
SUCCESSFUL STRATEGY • The larger your company the greater our interest. We would like to make an acquisition in the $5-20billion range • Demonstrate consis- tent earning power (future projections are of no interest to us) • Simple businesses (if there’s lots of technology, we won’t understand it) • We promise you a very fast answer, customarily within five minutes • A line from a country and western song expresses our feeling about new ventures, turnarounds & auction- like sales: ‘When the phone don’t ring, you’ll
by pleading guilty John Spencely, Edinburgh QICEMAN
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