The economic situation and the need to better manage our sport, including the America’s Cup, were at the heart of today’s debates at the World Yacht Racing Forum. The Cup debate was definitely one of the highlights of the day, with Tom Ehman and Brad Butterworth trying hard to convince the audience that their point of view is the right one.
Monaco, 10 December 2008

After months of preparation and weeks of anticipation, the first World Yacht Racing Forum is finally underway. It allowed today 300 privileged delegates and sixty media to listen to some great debates and network with each other between the events.

The world economic situation was at the heart of most debates, the key actors of the yacht racing scene agreeing on the need to reduce costs and manage our sport better. Talking about the Volvo Ocean Race, Knut Frostad, the event’s CEO insisted on the need to grow the sport collectively. “This Forum is great; it is the first time we are sitting together. We have so much to discuss and learn from each other! Sailing is only in the top 10 sports in three countries: Australia, New-Zealand and Sweden. We have a lot to achieve. Our goal with the Volvo Ocean Race is to reduce the costs drastically in the future; this will be our most immediate and effective action.”

Led by “the voice” of the America’s Cup Peter Montgomery, and featuring Brad Butterworth, Tom Ehman, Paul Cayard, Sir Keith Mills, Stéphane Kandler and Alessandra Pandarese, the America’s Cup debate didn’t bring any immediate solutions but some interesting proposals were made for the future of the event.

Whilst the America’s Cup debate was undoubtedly the highlight of the day, other topics of interest for the future of the yacht racing scene got discussed by the key actors of the industry. The event started with a keynote address by Sir Keith Mills, who said that “sailing has now become a major business. The recession makes our life difficult but there are also great opportunities in a recession. We just need to manage our teams and events in a more cost-effective way.”
 
How do we drive the global growth of our sport? What are the keys to its development? These were some of the key issues debated by ISAF President Göran Petersson, who was on many occasions challenged by some of the speakers and the public.

Race calendar management is probably one of the easiest targets to achieve between the different sailing Classes. Head of communication for the Vendée Globe, Christophe Baudry agrees that: Having the Vendée Globe and the Volvo Ocean Race taking place at the same time is nonsense.
 
The second part of the event will take place tomorrow Thursday, with four more debates.

Conrad Humphreys speaks to The Sunday Times about The Vendee Globe, Mike Golding’s chances of catching the leader and the sailing conditions that face the competitiors when they enter the Southern Ocean.

To read the full article, courtesy of the Sunday Times, please click here.