There's currently a lot of discussion, in yacht club bars as well as the yachting press, about the future of the Volvo Round the World Race. Let's face it, the last one was a bit of a fiasco. There weren't enough entries. And the new Volvo 70s with their canting keels proved spectacularly unreliable, as well as fantastically fast.
The organisers can consider themselves fortunate, in fact, that only one boat was lost, and that was in waters where rescue was no great problem, and only one life was lost. That was tragedy enough. Surely many of those skippers and crew, heading off into the Southern Ocean in boats already patched up after serious failures in earlier, gentler legs, must have wondered if they were going to survive the most hostile waters in the world.
So is it entirely surprising that there is now talk of a new route for the race, which will avoid the Three Capes, and spend more time in the Far East, with emphasis on TV-friendly inshore racing rather than the lonely ocean crossings of old?
Traditionalists deplore what they see as “dumbing down” of the great classic race. But hadn't that tendency already begun, with the inclusion of ever more stop-overs, and round the cans legs, to make the event more media friendly? Sponsors like Volvo don't throw millions of pounds at an event just for fun. They expect a positive return. And not the negative publicity that would be generated if a boat was lost with all hands.
The Far East is the fastest growing sector of the world economy, and naturally Volvo wants to raise its profile there. If it is sponsoring a global event, it's entitled to decree which parts of the globe should be visited. Sailing would be very much the poorer without Volvo's commitment, and maybe a TV-friendly spectacular, showing off the awesome speed and excitement of the Volvo 70s is just what is needed to inspire more people to get out on the water.
Better that their sponsorship stays in sailing rather than switching to golf, for example, which it just might if the “You can't do that to our race!” attitude prevails. At the same time, there could be a case for starting a new race, following the “old” route, and attempting to revive the Corinthian spirit of the original Whitbread races. There is no reason why such an event should not alternate with a new-look, high-tech “round the cans” Volvo race.
Many talented sailors have long lamented that the Whitbread/Volvo had become too professional, too expensive and too exclusive. Ocean racing is much better supported, by entrants, sponsors and the general public, in France than in Britain, perhaps because it is so much more inclusive there.
There are relatively affordable classes like the Mini and Figaro, with programmes designed to discover and nurture new talent. And even Blue Riband events like the Vendee encourage participation by keen amateurs, as well as hugely sponsored stars. Just like the London Marathon, they encourage the spirit that to complete the course is a victory, and every finisher is a hero.
Of course it would take big sponsorship to make a new round-the-world-via-the-Southern-Ocean-race a reality. But the enormous support shown for events like the ARC and the Challenge and Clipper races, which have grown into big businesses, suggests that there would probably be no shortage of interest.
www.volvooceanrace.org
