From the Feedback - 27th October 2000

An open letter to the organisers of The Race from a concerned yachtsman

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Concern is growing around the world that by the planned start date of The Race only two or three boats will be ready - and that's using a pretty liberal definition of ready. Respected French journalist Christian Fevrier recently wrote of his concerns about the situation, and one of our madforsailing readers has also given the matter some thought.

Alun Davies, Cayman Islands

My guess is that everybody reading this loves sailing and does not want sailing to be made a mockery of by the non-sailing world. More often that not, journalists seize upon opportunities to undermine sailing, after all bad news sells newspapers. It appears that sailing is at long last beginning to be accepted as a sport that anybody can do, not just the wealthy, and also as a sport that can be exhilarating at any level.

I have been involved in sailing for twenty years and in my mind it has taken this many years of hard work by many sailors around the world for sailing to reach its current level of acceptance. I believe that if the Race proceeds on time, it could be the worst PR exercise for sailing that has ever happened. If it is delayed and succeeds at being the great Race that is intended, it could be the best PR exercise by far.

It appears more than likely that maybe only two or three of these unbelievable boats will be ready for a December 31 start. If those that are not completely ready, do actually start, they will either not push themselves to their full potential, or if they do, who knows what could happen. The reality is that the December 31 date was probably decided over a few beers, or more probably a nice bottle of red wine!

Simply delaying the start two or three months could make the Race what it should be - possibly the greatest sailing race that has ever been. I’m no meteorologist, but I am sure there will be other times during a year when the weather patterns are good enough for an 80 day race. If it is a success, who knows what other events could follow and, possibly more importantly, what other sponsorship could be thrown at sailing.

The down side of starting the race on its current planned start date could be any or all of the following:

1 Not all of the multi-million dollar boats may make the start line - taking away the reward from so many sponsors for the funds they paid out.

2 If all the boats start, only one or two of them may be ready to be pushed hard, so nobody will really know what could have been.

3 If only two or three of the boats race around the world, it will simply be a repeat of the Jules Verne race Enza won about eight years ago, albeit in slightly bigger boats. Bottom line - it’s been done.

4 Lives could be lost due to lack of sufficient preparation and lack of knowledge of the boat’s weaknesses.

5 The various national rescue organizations around the world may protest future similar, and even more fascinating race attempts, if their massive resources are called out in circumstances, which, in their minds, could have been avoided simply by delaying the Race by three months.

There will be many pluses for keeping to the current planned start date, and there will be huge complications on the administrative and financial side if the Race is delayed, but I believe the reasons for delaying far outweigh the reasons for keeping to the current start date. If the Race is delayed and becomes the Race it is intended to be, the benefits to our sport will be phenomenal. A simple two or three month delay should enable all current issues to be resolved safely and let the Race be an amazing event.

The Race should be a race to be remembered and should do wonders for our sport and sponsorship - it should not be a race to be forgotten.