Looking ahead to 2012

We speak to Rob Andrews in his new position as London 2012 Organising Committee’s Sport Competition Manager for Sailing

Back in May of this year the news was circulated that Rob Andrews would be standing down in his position of Sailing Competition Manager at the RYA – with the role going to David Campbell-James – to take up the position of London 2012 Organising Committee’s Sport Competition Manager for Sailing in the run up to the 2012 Olympics.

His new position at the London Organising Committee of the London Games (LOCOG) is actually still rather new to Andrews, having only officially begun the job at the start of October. However, his appointment to the position happened well before this and he spent the whole of the Olympic Games this year in China as an observer, thinking through what sort of event could be delivered in Weymouth and Portland in 2012.

Obviously, with so many different organisations and federations having a say in what goes on at the Olympic Games the role of LOCOG could seem to be a tricky one from the outside. Andrews describes his role in a very simple form. “Essentially the job of the LOCOG is to deliver the Olympics to ISAF and the IOC and my role is to be the voice for sailing within LOCOG,” he explains. Given their role of simply delivering this one Olympic Games, LOGOG has to have a very reactive set-up. When ISAF or the IOC make a decision that could affect some stage of the Olympic planning process, LOCOG must react to this and ensure it does not prevent their overall delivery, though Andrews is keen to point out that they have very strong links with both organisations.



One of the areas, where large, wholesale change may be on the way in the coming months, for example, will be the ISAF Annual Conference in November. “We are waiting for the ISAF meeting to finish where they will decide a whole load of things like the classes due to be sailed and there is also going to be a review of the Medal Race format,” Andrews comments. Obviously which classes are finally selected for the Games will have a significant impact on many aspects of how the event is run. A simple point here is how many courses might be run inside Portland harbour and how many outside? Speaking to Chief Executive of the RYA, Rod Carr recently, he commented that, “It is possible to run two courses in the harbour when the legs are short, but not in heavy weather or for faster boats that cover great distances. The match racing will almost definitely be run inside though.” Andrews confirms this is the case and but even this can not be certain until the ISAF meeting has come to a close and ISAF have definitely confirmed women’s match racing and a class of boat this new event will be sailed in.

Though Andrews is keen to point out the most important thing about course areas is, of course, to deliver the best racing to those at the Olympics, he is also keen to find areas where the sailing can be seen easily from onshore. Although many of us think of Portland as the primary Olympic area, with only one or perhaps two courses being sailed inside the harbour wall, it is not perhaps the best viewing area for spectators. Currently the Nothe Fort which sits just north of the Portland Harbour wall and south of Weymouth Bay has been mooted as the best place for observation. With the Fort’s position near Weymouth train station it is felt by many this would be the perfect area for spectators to get the best ‘Olympic experience’ if travelling to watch the sailing. Rod Carr says he would like to see this as the main spectator sport and visualises spectators getting a deal with train companies so they can arrive in Weymouth by train, straight into the Olympic atmosphere and a good spectator spot.

Andrews agrees the Nothe Fort seems like the most obvious choice, however, there are some issues with this. “We are currently talking to the Royal Navy about possible course areas near the Nothe Fort,” he explains. “As many people know there is no anchoring available in Weymouth Bay, due to some cabling laid by the Royal Navy. As such there has not really been any racing held there other than a couple of skiff events.” Obviously if a race course cannot be laid near the Nothe Fort it becomes a much less suitable option as a spectator platform. Andrews, though, seems fairly sure this could be the main spectator point and would like a course just off the Fort primarily for the Medal Races – assuming the Medal Race concept is not dropped by the ISAF at this year’s conference.

Of course one of the concerns with selecting a spectator venue for the Olympics is trying to put a figure on exactly how many people are likely to come and watch the Olympics in person. “We do not currently know how many spectators will want to come and see the sailing and this is quite hard to work out. Who can say how many people might like to bring their boats round from Poole or elsewhere on a sunny Saturday. Even then, presumably more will want to watch if say a British 49er is likely to win a Gold, how many will come to that Medal Race?” This is something currently being looked into, in as much as it can. Obviously here a close relationship with the RYA is vital and they have already offered to help with research at events such as the Dinghy Sailing Show and these opportunities are obviously vital. “In China they had something like 10,000 to 15,000 people visiting the sailing in a day so the opportunity to present the sport to a wide audience is huge,” Andrews continues.

In addition to this, since the last Olympics, sailing is much more in the public eye with the British team having their best Olympic Games for 100 years this summer. Carr says the RYA’s press cuttings after the Olympics this year – they keep track of everything written about Skandia Team GBR – were not far away from double the number written following Athens, so this ground swell of public interest is also something that needs to be understood and related to how many people might attend the regatta.

Once a rough estimate of this has been worked out the question of how to deliver the sailing to them needs to be answered. In his role as Competitions Manager at the RYA, Andrews organised the Youth World Championships in Weymouth in 2006. That event was praised for its connection with the public through a variety of new media tools. This is something Andrews hopes he can carry over to the Games in 2012. “Because there is a major cultural difference between here and China, with many more regular sailors living here, I hope we will be able to deliver high quality content to engage with those sailors,” he says.

In essence Andrews believes putting on an Olympics in Weymouth will be very different to China. In China there is very little history of sailing so many of the spectators would need an introduction to the sport. Although there will still obviously be many people unfamiliar with the sport here that need the same experience there are also a great many people who regularly participate in the sport around the country. Due to this there needs to be a delivery of knowledgeable analysis in addition to the more simple introductory things. Much of what Andrews visualises comes down to new media with tracking obviously an important technology, allowing onshore analysis and commentary; big screens are another way to deliver the sailing to a shore-based public. Andrews also seems distinctly excited by the use of mobile phone technology, though he admits it is hard to plan for what sort of technology might be on the horizon for 2012.



Outside of these high-tech areas Andrews also believes improvement can be made to the simple on-the-water, low-tech aspects. “Visually I think we can do a lot more,” he says. “Simple things are very important. How we brand the boats could be a lot clearer and I would like to work with ISAF to get more consistency in the courses. By working with them it would be nice to see all races as two laps for example with course lengths adjusted for the wind instead of the laps. Then for the layman it is easy to know all races are two laps.”

Venue -wise, there is an interesting question of exactly what the venue will look like for the Olympics? With the WPNSA being built before London had been awarded the Olympic Games, there was always a plan to upgrade the venue if the Games were to be held in Britain. Recently many of the alterations have been underway, such as a new 100m extension of the ramp, which will allow significantly more boats to launch at one time and a small adjoining marina. These alterations are due to be completed later this year and there will be a handing over ceremony by the ODA (Olympic Delivery Authority) in December.

However, even when this is done, the venue will not look as it will during the Olympics themselves. “We are very keen to leave a legacy, not a white elephant,” continues Andrews. “So it is important to think about the Olympic Overlay of the area. Many of the structures used during the Olympics will not be permanent as once the Games themselves have finished these would be too big for reasonable usage.” One such example is athlete accommodation. Typically athletes at the Olympics stay in a dedicated Athletes Village or in a nearby four star hotel. However, the number of suitable hotels in and around Weymouth is limited and using up all the spaces at these would leave little accommodation for the media and visitors. Building a new hotel or athlete’s village to house everyone is not an option as it would be an unsustainable legacy. With this in mind, the current plan is to moor a cruise ship inside Portland Harbour which will house all of the sailors for the duration of the Games and then be unplugged and sailed off when the event comes to a close. “The cruise ship was in the bid plan, so it is not a new thing. LOCOG and ISAF are reviewing it and ISAF seem very comfortable with the idea. It is not completely official yet, but at some stage they will put a marker down and say it is the best option or not,” Andrews concludes.

With events such as Skandia Sail for Gold and a number of World Championships – such as the RS:X in 2009 – taking place from Weymouth there are a number of chances to see Olympic sailing in action at WPNSA over the coming years. The venue is effectively finished and LOCOG, the RYA and ISAF all now have plenty of time to ensure this is the best Olympic sailing to date. However, in spite of the venue being effectively completed, it is still going to be a long time before we see WPNSA ready for the Games themselves.