Ian Walker comments

Increased professionalism in sailing is leading to rising costs - a bubble that may be about to burst

Has there been a more exciting time to follow sailing? The America’s Cup is coming to Europe, distance records are routinely being smashed, offshore singlehanded sailing has never been more mainstream and competitive, owner driver classes are thriving, new high performance classes are revolutionising dinghy sailing and we can’t ignore that it’s Olympic year and sailing will once more be centre stage with racing just off the Olympic city.

In all the areas of sailing that I have been involved with recently, namely the Olympic classes, America’s Cup and Farr 40s the standard of the fleet has improved markedly in recent times. The level of commitment required to put a competitive entry together in any of these top events has risen hugely. My impression is that this is true right across the sport as the effect filters down to all levels. It is backed up by observations of youth and junior sailing where some programs are now being run more professionally than a pre-1992 Olympic campaign.

In the Farr 40 class it is no longer sufficient just to get a good team together, practice some boat handling and then expect to race competitively at an event. The top boats now employ the best professionals (you are only allowed four by the rules), expert amateurs (some of whom seem to do more sailing than me!) and they do far more training than ever before. This often means up to a week before each event, some teams own two boats thereby increasing their new sail allocation and some even run two boat training camps on top. Boats who were successful a few years ago but that have not kept pace with the new standards have been consigned to the backmarkers.

The same is true in Olympic sailing. In the space of just 12 years Olympic sailing has gone from being an amateur sport with team members often holding down part or full time jobs to a full time professional sport. There are more regattas now, taking place all year round, people have more boats, more sails, more technical development, coaching, tuning partners, sport science and far higher personal standards all round. Olympic sailing is a bigger personal and financial commitment than ever before and it is making it more and more exclusive. No longer would there be any point in a good Fireball team thinking about getting a 470 and ‘having a go’ in the year or two before the Olympics. The message is clear - If you are not prepared to commit 100% to Olympic sailing don’t bother starting.

Similarly the Volvo Ocean Race has been transformed from a largely amateur race 20 years ago to a full on professional one now. In 1989 I remember a young Matt Humphries joining an amateur boat at the last minute and sailing the whole way round the world with them. Tracy Edwards started in the same fashion in 1985. In those days a few boats were sponsored but generally boats were low budget with some being charters that were charging crew to take part.

The change in the America’s Cup is slightly less extreme because people approached it fairly professionally back in the 1980s but nobody would argue however that in Auckland last time around, things were taken to a new level: Teams were bigger, they had more boats, more masts, more sails and were better prepared in every aspect than ever before. Teams under-prepared in any way rarely took any races off the top teams.

The one common trait between successful campaigns in all branches of the sport is that the most professional and well run campaign that has the most time on the water will generally win. This was true of illbruck Challenge when they won the last Volvo Ocean Race, it was true of Alinghi in the America’s Cup, it was true when Adrian Stead’s Barlo Plastics crew blitzed the Tour Voile, it is seen in the Olympic classes, skiffs, dinghies and in the World Record attempts too (how many miles had Cheyenne done before coming of age?).

The reason behind this is simple. Sailing more than most other sports rewards preparation both on and off the water. Preparation gives you better boat handling, better boat speed and fewer breakages. Even in strict one-designs many races have effectively been won before the starting gun goes. Dennis Connor started the trend with tune-up boats and two boat programs in 12 metres and every top event now sees things being taken to the next level. As the margins between success and failure narrow so people will chase after smaller and smaller potential gains.

The problem with all this is of course the cost.

I would estimate that over the last 16 years since I first started Olympic sailing the cost in the more technical Olympic Classes costs have escalated as much as tenfold. Successful teams that may have once spent £10,000 in a year would now be spending nearer £100,000.

To compete successfully in the Volvo Ocean Race you are likely to need in the region of $18 million (US) and in the America’s Cup budgets have escalated even more.

In the 2000 America’s Cup teams were able to make the Challenger semi-finals with a single boat program on a relatively low budget of US$15-20 million. Every team in Auckland that made the semi-finals in 2003 spent a minimum of US$70 million and some spent a lot more. One can assume that competing in Europe in 2007 will be no cheaper and it would be hard to envisage a team being competitive for less than US$70 million in Valencia. Spending vast sums does not guarantee success but not spending enough probably guarantees failure.

Why would you fail? The simple reason is that you would be a few percent below the very best. As in most things it is the last few percent that not only makes the winning difference but also takes the most effort and costs the most money.

The Volvo Ocean Race, like the Olympic classes, like the America’s Cup and like much of the rest of sailing has been professionalised and costs have exploded along with the standards required to compete and win.

I believe that the rising cost of sailing associated with its professionalisation at all levels could threaten its own future success. We are already seeing the warning signs. The Europrix collapsed due to a lack of entries. The Volvo Ocean Race looks set to have just six to eight entries - few for such a great event with a fantastic history, good sponsorship and professional management. The Admiral’s Cup has had to be abandoned once and few outside of the RORC would claim the event to have been any kind of success for many years.

I believe that wherever possible rule makers need to act to contain escalating costs that could threaten their own class or events. It is interesting to note how the independent regulator of Formula One Motor Racing (FIA) is having to make sweeping rule changes because of the threat to their sports’ existence. Escalating costs are driving the smaller teams out of business and in the words of the FIA "much of the money spent on Formula 1 is wasted in the sense that it adds nothing to the enjoyment of the public". Is the same not true of the America’s Cup and some other branches of sailing? And if the FIA are prepared to act by restricting engine size and engine numbers or banning expensive electronics such as car to pit telemetry then shouldn’t sailing be following suit?

This article continues in part 2....tomorrow on thedailysail.com

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