US Sailing Circuit

I spend way too much time online looking at these really cool sailing events overseas. The iShares Cup is a great example. Extreme 40's (cats) speed around buoy courses set essentially right up next to the spectators in luxorious European ports. The series seems to be very succesfull and is ongoing for its second season.

Would this type of event work in the United States? Perhaps hitting the cities with the best venue and interest for such a sailing race? Boston, Newport, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, etc. There simply is no such event in the U.S. that even compares to this. Do you think there is any way the U.S. could put on a succesfull series like this? Maybe someone should just start videotaping some college races, and then sell them a movie studio. It's already got drama, action, emotion, etc. After all, most of the big sailing races are just billionares racing their toys against their rivals (enter the AC). Does America need a cool event like this to kick sailing into mainstream?

http://www.isharescup.com/

Sponsorship 3 years ago

Maybe we just need a sponsor here in the US to believe in it. Puma?

james 3 years ago

come to SANDIEGO please that would be like awesome!

Chris Love 3 years ago

The VOR stopover will certainly be a great "benchmark" to see what the country is capable of as far as catering to a large sailing event. I really wish I could make the trip just to see what all goes on.

Is sailgroove going to be there to provide some coverage?

Sailgroove will be there to cover college semifinals. We'll see how much Volvo coverage I can work out with the organizers. I'll keep you updated.

Tom Charpentier 3 years ago

Agreed. I think we're slightly delusional if we think we can "mainstream" sailing. If the most popular sport in the world (soccer) is a bush league in the US, I don't think sailing has much of a shot. As one Kiwi said to me the other day, "we don't really see America as a big sailing country." Sad, but sort of true. We certainly don't have a "yachting" section in our sports pages like the NZ Herald does.

That said Americans love a winner, no matter what sport it is. If Lance Armstrong skippered a Cup boat would we be tuning in to watch the America's Cup instead of the Tour de France? When Dennis Conner won the Cup back in '87 he was on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Could we ever see something like that again (and this time roll with the momentum rather than turning the sport into a sideshow as in the '88 Cup)?

There have been numerous attempts at pro sailing in the US and most have failed (international match racing is probably the closest we've come). But maybe if done very carefully we could attract enough interest in inshore racing like the Volvo stop to the point where we could at least bring in a few sponsors to offset costs or maybe get a couple of people interested enough to start sailing themselves (or get their kids into a junior program). The Charles is a natural stadium to watch sailing. Why not advertise the Schell a little bit to the general public next year? It's older than Head of the Charles by decades and plenty of people turn out for that.

Kyle Assad 3 years ago

To embark on a sailing league is ambitious, and the term mainstream ambiguous. Severe logistical issues aside, there is sailing happening close to shore, which is where most college sailing happens. What is lacking is the marketing behind it. This is where the VOR stop excels - in making the stopover more than just a bunch of boats tied to the dock, there are events going on to attract people with little or no knowledge. Big sports don't have to struggle with that because people already know them, we, the sailors, have to dangle flashing lights and blinky things to get people to look over our way, and then we can get them hooked.

The sailing league would be a great push for sailing to go mainstream - but how mainstream are we talking? Women's Pro basketball is a hard sell, the MLS is growing but still not mainstream (and that's the most popular sport in the world). NFL, MLB, NBA, PGA, NASCAR, - being mainstream is fun - but I think what we all want more than the average NFL, MLB, or NBA fan isn't to sit at home and watch a sailing race on TV, we want to be out, on our boats, sailing a sailing race. I think we need to manage our expectations of what it means to be Mainstream - especially in the USA recreational sports market. Secondly, we need to question whether we really want to watch professionals sail, or if we want to sail ourselves...
This opens up a whole can of worms about whether we want to have fans or do we want participants or what... maybe for another Thursday Topic...

Carson Marston 3 years ago

The VOR stopover will certainly be a great "benchmark" to see what the country is capable of as far as catering to a large sailing event. I really wish I could make the trip just to see what all goes on.

Is sailgroove going to be there to provide some coverage?

Optimist 3 years ago

Tom brings up a valid point about the nature of the host cities. The Volvo Ocean Race, the excuse for such a grand spectacle for college semifinals, is a great example. Before it came to Boston, it used to come through Annapolis, arguably the most sailor-friendly city in the US. The VOR is a great event because you don't have to know anything about sailing to follow along: "It's a race around the world and they sail those huge boats you see over there in the harbor." "Oh, okay."

But now it's coming to Boston, a bigger city with more people, and with it a series of exhibitions to promote the sport. I hear there will be some moths on hand, the college event, and a huge race village with lots of space for banners and LCD screens for advertisers. This is definitely the way to go for now. Maybe when the country is ready, in a few years, then we'll see iShares.

Tom Charpentier 3 years ago

The thing is the iShares venues are not just run of the mill cities - they are sailing hotspots like Kiel, Cowes, the French Riviera, and Venice. Let's not kid ourselves, the average crowd member probably knew a thing or two about sailing going in. Do we have enough of those types of venues in the US to justify such an expensive venture? Perhaps we need to start smaller. Would a similarly styled series in Formula 18s be successful? It would certainly have a much lower cost and be easier to run.

On that note I'm excited about the semifinals in Boston this year (though I'll still be here in NZ). I hear bleachers and jumbotrons may be involved.

Colt 3 years ago

There's no reason not to have these big events in the US's biggest ports. Bring the show to the people.

If you build it they will come!

Chris Love 3 years ago

The extreme 40's have been around for a while now. It would be sweet to see them in the US, but I think it would be really hard to get anywhere close to the viewership in Europe. We definitely have the harbors to do it in, but I'm just sure people would be interested enough to hang out and watch. In overseas venues, these events have attracted up to 50,000 people! Do you think the US can match that?

PS - iShares, I would be happy to shoot your events if you do decide to come here.

US Sailing Circuit

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