Upping his game

Rob Greenhalgh discusses his new three year program and the setting-up of his new professional racing company

Currently holding a World Championship title in the International 14 and the equivalent in the 18ft skiff class following RMW Marine's recent win in the JJ Giltinan Trophy, Rob Greenhalgh is now wanting to take his sailing to another level.

In November he set up Robert Greenhalgh Racing and his ambition is for this to be the commercial platform for what will be, by conventional standards, a diverse three year racing program. "The three year campaign is based around first of all what I’m good at - the 14s and the 18s," says Greenhalgh. "This year we'll also concentrate on winning the Tour de France, which is an event we’ve done before. And then a couple of new areas over the next couple of years - match racing and the Figaro."

His main aim for 2004 is winning the Tour Voile and he has the benefit of lessons learned from the participation of his Panther team in 2002. "We entered it thinking if we came in the top five we would have been happy," he says of that event. "The reality was we could have done a bit better. One of our issues was that we weren’t that fast and I think also we had slightly too many people on board."

He doesn't feel they were lacking experience or talent among the crew, but downwind in some conditions they could have done with more pace. "We know what to do and we were not slow by any means, but there were a couple of areas where we weren’t that fast last time. It could have been a lot about technique. Two sail reaching we didn’t seem particularly good at."

Prior to this year's Tour Voile, Greenhalgh is looking at competing in a number of other Mumm 30 events, such as the French Nationals and SPI Ouest and there are also the Mumm 30 Europeans taking place in Hamble. Around 30-40 boats may attend this if for example the Italians can be coaxed up from the Mediterranean.

At present he is putting together his crew. His skiff team comprising Dan Johnson or Johnson and his brother Pete will remain the same, although Johnson will soon have increased work commitments now that he has joined the police force. Pete will also be involved in the Mumm 30.

However the problem remains money. "The Tour de France is one of the best events around and everyone is keen to do it. The hardest part is finding the money and getting the right partners on board and that is one of the reasons we are doing what we are doing - setting up Robert Greenhalgh Racing, a professional race brand to attract partners."

The plan is for Robert Greenhalgh Racing to have a group of sponsors whose branding will appear on all the boats Greenhalgh plans to race. His program takes in some of the most exciting classes and events in the calendar and Greenhalgh says that the added advantage of this is that it also makes them good from a media point of view and ideal for partner involvement.

Typically there will be different levels of backing from title sponsors down to sponsors-in-kind such as those in the marine trade. Greenhalgh says that his program for two years will cost in the region of £500,000. GBR Challenge's Leslie Ryan is acting as a consultant and there is also another agency involved in his search for funds working in the background.

A potential problem is that there have been only a few sponsorships at this medium level Greenhalgh is focussing upon. Greenhalgh cites a few expections such as Sam Davies who currently has backing from Skandia for her Figaro campaign and Barlo Plastics who have in the past sponsored Mumm 30 and 36 campaigns.

Another is that in attempting to do all the top events in several different classes will lead to a dates clash. In fact Greenhalgh says the program has been planned so this won't happen. "It sounds like a lot but if you look at the calendar for the year it’s not. The 18 is this time of year when there's nothing else going on. The Figaro is in August and the Tour in July - so that is the busy time. So it all fits in nicely and that way sponsors can get coverage throughout the whole year rather than just blips here and there."

The 18ft skiff program this year will see them visit Sardinia for the Europeans. This Greenhalgh thinks will be a popular event not only attracting boats from Italy, Switzerland and France, but also the UK. "To be honest in some ways more people from the UK will be going because they have got bored of Carnac. So we’ll wait and see." Howie Hamlin from America and the Aussies are also expected and the fleet could swell to as many as 30 boats for this event.

He thinks they will sail in the International 14 Europeans in Brunnen in Switzerland. Aside from this the nationals this year for both the International 14s and 18s are in Scotland.

A more interesting departure is Greenhalgh's plan to make attempts on some passage records aboard his 18ft skiff. These may include for example Cowes-St Malo and round the Isle of Wight. For these RMW Marine will be 'turboed' by for example adding bigger wings. He doesn't think he will be able to match PlayStation's speed, but averaging 20 knots should enable them to be competitive against the monohull records for these courses. These record attempts will take place from April to May.

In the shorter term there is the Hamble Warming Pan which will be their first race in the new Morrison 12 International 14. Following their success at the Prince of Wales and in the Worlds last year, RMW Marine are having a rush of business with 15 of the new Morrisons sold. Hence the absence of Richard Woof at this year's JJ Giltinan Trophy in Sydney.

The new 14 will have slightly less beam and will be much finer in the bow, says Greenhalgh. They will probably stick with the same T-foil as they used for the Worlds in Japan, but will look at developing this further over the course of the year.

Aside from this he is looking to compete in other events such as the Mumm 30 Worlds in Canada and the Melges 24 Worlds in Sweden, although this latter event clashes with Skandia Cowes Week.

At present one gets the feeling that Greenhalgh doesn't know what he is letting himself in for with the Figaro circuit. While Sam Davies for example is concentrating solely on her Figaro campaign, Greenhalgh instead plans to do some training and may only compete in the main event, the Solitaire du Figaro. However he says that depending upon how he gets on with it or whether sponsor commitments push him in that direction he could well skew his program towards more Figaro sailing in the future. "I think it would be a good experience. There is a lot to be learned there and I’d like to have a go at it".

The match racing side of his program is leading to a longer term goal. His ultimate ambition is to be involved with an America's Cup team within the next 10 years.

Clearly Greenhalgh is the UK's most talented skiff sailors at present. It will be interesting to see how effectively he can apply this skill to larger keelboats.