Perth 2011 to feature on BBC World today

John Longley to feature on Peschardt’s People

The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships is currently playing a starring role on the prestigious international television channel BBC World News.

The popular programme Peschardt’s People recently made the trip to Western Australia to feature Perth 2011 Event Director John Longley and talk about December’s Sailing World Championships, the development of WA and its capital city.

Peschardt talks with John about the impact of the resources boom and how the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships will again confirm Fremantle and Perth as a world class sailing destination.

The 30 minute documentary also discusses John’s involvement in the 1983 America’s Cup, what the victory in 1983 and the defence in Fremantle in 1987 meant for Perth and Fremantle and how it changed both regions of Western Australia.

The pair took to the water with Perth 2011 Emerging Nations Programme athletes and got up close and personal with the thrills and spills of the 2011 City of Perth ENP Regatta.

The visuals of Perth and Fremantle are stunning and a fitting reflection of the two as international maritime destinations of choice.

The series is a centrepiece of the BBC World News schedule aimed specifically at engaging frequent international travellers as well as government and private sector decision makers who watch the channel.

Guests on other Peschardt’s People programmes include Robert de Niro, Sir Edmund Hillary, the Royal Family of Bahrain the Governor General of Australia Her Excellency Quentin Bryce and now John Longley.

The programme featuring John and Perth 2011 first aired on the morning of Friday 17 June 2011 and will air internationally on BBC World News twice a day until Friday 24 June 2011. For Australian audiences, BBC World News is channel 649 on pay television provider Foxtel.

The Perth 2011 Emerging Nations Programme is an unprecedented initiative for international sailing, to encourage and assist developing sailing nations participate in the Olympic Sailing Competition. It is designed to increase the number of participating ISAF Member National Authorities (MNAs) and, subsequently, the number of competitors at the Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships. It is hoped that emerging talent identified during the ENP will qualify to represent their countries in the London 2012 Olympic Sailing Competition.

The Perth 2011 ISAF Sailing World Championships will see the world’s best Olympic class sailors from more than 80 countries competing in the fresh breezes off Fremantle from Saturday 3 December to Sunday 18 December 2011. The ‘Sailing Worlds’ is the primary qualifying event for sailors in the ten Olympic sailing disciplines contested at the London 2012 Olympic Games.