WYRF transcript final v2 - The Daily Sail

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ules in preparation for the next event, which is going to start in 2011. But I think the most interesting thing thus far is the strategy project, where we managed to get on board a partner in the race, Boston Consulting Group, to stay with us for another four years to develop the race and try to learn more about the facts around what we are doing. And that has been a major project for us, because I just realise why we have never done that in the past - because you have no time when you are right in the middle of a race, to plan the next one. So you finish one and you start from zero and say ‘well, what shall we do again?’ But it is right now, in the middle of it, we have to learn. So we have this big strategy and I could speak for a long time about that, where we are, but we are not finished. It’s a project with the first phase finished by the New Year. And our mission is to shape our event so we are a sustainable, healthy, world class event in sailing. We have realised, to do that we have to grow the sport, we can’t just grow the Volvo Ocean Race - we have to grow the sport of sailing. It’s the only way we can be a sustainable event. Sailing is not big enough yet and we need to grow it. As this survey shows, sailing is not even on the list, so we have a long way to go. The upside is that sports marketing is growing and growing and growing – that’s great news for us. What’s not great news for us is that sailing is bloody expensive. And basically, I speak for everybody when I say we need to cut costs and we are going to cut costs significantly in the Volvo Ocean Race – and I mean significantly. The great position we have, which is a little bit different to the America’s Cup, is that we own the event, and we own the [Class] Rule and we can decide to do exactly as we want. And I think that’s the only way right now, that we can quickly change the playing field. And it’s not a matter of whether you like it or you don’t like it, we know very much today about how little money will be available in 2010, 2011, 2012. We think we know something about it and it’s scary to do sailing projects. So we have to make some very, very dramatic changes to the sport – VERY dramatic! I don’t know if some of you have heard it – in Formula 1 they are talking about standardising engines, standardising engines in a sport that is funded by engine manufacturers! If I ask my sailors if you can go standard on a keel they’d go “Standard on a keel? Are you crazy?! That’s the cool thing you know, developing keels!” And we are certainly not pampered by keel manufacturers - we are funding them, 100%. And we have to take a deep breath when it comes to these kind of measures. The guys next door, some of them are mentioning cutting their budgets from £200 million a year to £20 million a year. Mr Mosley said that last week. How can we do that in sailing? Maybe we have to. The other thing, I guess my big message is: we are spending some time trying to map the sailing world, because actually we are all pretty much in the same boat. Sometimes we are in the same boat, sometimes we are in different boats and then we are back in the same boats again. Sometimes we’re doing the Volvo Ocean Race, sometimes we’re back in the Olympic Games, then some of us try Open 60s and then multihulls and then we’re back in the Volvo Ocean Race. And I’m talking about people who actually make programs happen. And to grow the sport we need to work together – it’s absolutely so clear to me. And this event is great, this seminar, because it is the first time we get to sit in the same room as, I think, every person involved in sailing and we just need to work together on so many different issues - whether it’s TV production, whether it’s development of media crew, whether it’s tracking systems where we can save money instead of developing all our different systems for ourselves. Whether it’s saving risks, whether it’s all these difference issues we can save so much cost and we can learn from each other and, as has been mentioned before, even have a schedule where we don’t clash our events all the time. We need to do that. One event cannot grow the sport, we can only do it together. I thought I’d show - apparently elephants are the smartest animals on the planet, so I thought this was a good final slide to end my speech, but I guess with these words: we need to cut costs significantly, consolidate and work together. I think that’s my big message today and I really hope over the next days that we build some relations and we can start meeting more frequently, and sit down and look at what we’re doing and see what we can do together: How can we share things? How can we share knowledge? And how can we develop this sport together, because I think that’s the only way we can grow the sport. I’ll just end with a little video clip from the first leg of the Volvo Ocean Race. Shows video Applause Peter Montgomery – Knut, we’ll ask you to go across and sit over with the panel please if you would. Boy! Like a breath of fresh air: Stimulating, invigorating, compelling. Sailing’s lucky to have you, Knut. Wonderful! Thank you so much indeed. 25
WHAT ARE THE CRITICAL FACTORS TO ENSURE SUCCESSFUL COMMERCIAL EVENT MANAGEMENT Panellists: Christophe Baudry, Communications Director, Vendee Globe Mark Turner, CEO, OC Group Stuart Quarrie, CEO, Cowes Week Knut Frostad, CEO, Volvo Ocean Race Peter Montgomery: So following along with the future of yacht racing events with Knut we are a going to have the ‘Critical Factors to ensure a successful commercial event management’. So now to join the panel for our discussion its my pleasure to invite Stuart Quarry, Christophe Baudry, Mark Turner and we have already got Knut up there as well. So Mark Turner is CEO of the OC Group, the Offshore Challenges Group, which he runs together with Ellen MacArthur, started at the same time, the group created to manage Ellen’s benchmark sailing campaign Kingfisher. And Mark and Ellen are running several campaigns that we will talk about and Mark has competed in Grand Prix events including the Whitbread and so I can’t helping thinking Mark - whatever happened to your Degree BSC in Physics and Maths from Exeter University all those years ago? But it must be helping you somewhere, this after being in the Royal Navy. Also Stuart Quarrie – well, we are going to hear from Stuart in a moment. Stuart runs Cowes Week, which is the world’s most famous and longest serving and largest sailing regatta: 8500 competitors, 1,000 yachts, up to 40 classes - and its goes on. It’s a huge undertaking and we will hear from Stuart in a moment about how that all happens. He is a respected author and has a background also in the forerunner to the Volvo, the Whitbread, as well. Christophe Baudry is a member from Vendee Globe and we are going to hear about that through Christophe and particularly some of the key information, we heard Keith talking about - the huge huge crowds before the fleet sets off around the world. So our panel of Stuart, Christophe, Mark and Knut – we’ll open it up. But first we will hear from Stuart about this huge undertaking of Cowes Week and all that’s involved. Stuart Quarrie: Thanks PJ. Good morning everybody - it’s a real pleasure to be here and an honour as well. Like the other speakers I never thought I would stand in front of so many great sailors. My personal background is that I was a professional sailor for a long time. My last job before Cowes Week was a navigator on one of the slower boats in the ‘98 Whitbread, Brunel Sunergy, where we had success in a couple of legs, but most of the time we were 1000 miles or so behind the leaders. But it was still one of the greatest things I have ever done. Cowes Week, when I joined, I thought I would go there and do a couple of years, get bored and move on to something else. That’s just over ten years ago now and I am still loving every moment of it, pushing the event forward. When 26
Page 1: OFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT IN ASSOCIATION
Page 4 and 5: Pat Lilley - Chairman World Yacht R
Page 6 and 7: flush out all the challenges we fac
Page 8 and 9: Bidding for a major sporting event
Page 10 and 11: everyone wants to get to the same p
Page 12 and 13: Gold. He was named ISAF Sailor of t
Page 14 and 15: When I was about 17, a guy named To
Page 16 and 17: Tim Coventry - Connect to Sailing:
Page 18 and 19: point, because of the X Games and a
Page 20 and 21: THE FUTURE OF YACHT RACING EVENTS K
Page 22 and 23: out of. One thing that was very cle
Page 24 and 25: Well, the biggest change we did to
Page 28 and 29: I took over the event it was slight
Page 30 and 31: coming to the Isle of Wight in Nove
Page 32 and 33: Christophe Baudry: First of all tha
Page 34 and 35: however many committees, isn’t th
Page 36 and 37: HOW CAN WE IMPROVE THE EXPOSURE AND
Page 38 and 39: And if I may use one more sentence:
Page 40 and 41: The Volvo Ocean Race now obviously
Page 42 and 43: we are measured and we are almost t
Page 44 and 45: Bernard Schopfer: I guess if people
Page 46 and 47: so it is not too bad a life I suppo
Page 48 and 49: THE GROWTH OF CLASSIC YACHT RACING
Page 50 and 51: himself! But he would have been had
Page 52 and 53: Don’t let a yachting federation c
Page 54 and 55: advent of 2000, 2003 and 2007 and t
Page 56 and 57: ut it is a question of posture prob
Page 58 and 59: Nick Masson: It certainly seems the
Page 60 and 61: Probably a smarter model too is tha
Page 62 and 63: Paul - what do you think about that
Page 64 and 65: Alessandra Pandarese:. I would say
Page 66 and 67: KEYNOTE SPEECH Peter Gilmour What a
Page 68 and 69: and coming up with a total brand va
Page 70 and 71: hear that. But once you realise tha
Page 72 and 73: importantly we know the process of
Page 74 and 75: ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF SAILING EVE
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acing centres and we chose these. Y
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And the other thing - it has served
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very lucky to get, through the hard
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David Stubley: Well good morning ev
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in Paris is a 1.8 million Euros dir
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conferences, through education, to
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positive opportunity for our sport,
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- To maximise the sponsorship value
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higher than with live. Blue is the
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somewhere on a lake in Switzerland
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cities rather than companies themse
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e taking the trophy down there to b
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The second element is how much cove
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prepare for whatever sponsor they a
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people that this is more affordable
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developed enormously in a decade, b
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THE RISE OF YACHT RACING EVENTS IN
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Oman Sail is fully funded for the f
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those boats are going to be out aga
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Scott Macleod: Well, the greatest t
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fantastic unimaginable sites. A lot
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WHAT IS THE COMMERCIAL VALUE AND FU
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Juan Kouyoumdjian: I was going to t
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y any amount of rule making, becaus
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The guys racing the Vendee Globe ar
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virtual world. If we see how many b
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CONCLUSION Pat Lilley Chairman, WYR
Page 130 and 131:
Harald Thierer, Director, Match Rac
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WYRF transcript final v2 - The Daily Sail

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