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Gladwell's Line- Louis Vuitton's fabulous gift to Sailing

by Richard Gladwell on 9 Sep 2009
Louis Vuitton established their own identity in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series style regattas, which will be easily rolled onto the Louis Vuitton World Series. Richard Gladwell www.photosport.co.nz

The announcement, overnight, of the Louis Vuitton World Series, should see a huge hole filled in Sailing's shop window.

While some might quibble as to whether whether the right processes have been followed in obtaining the sanction of the International Sailing Federation, the world sailing body should not waste too much time on this at its upcoming Executive Committee Meeting.

It's a no brainer.

The only question on the ISAF table, should be 'How can we help?'

Sailors, and the sport which ISAF represents, have been delivered a gift of which most sports can only dream.

Here we have a major new sporting event for sailing, with the major teams grouped together to run on an annual and ongoing basis, together with a sponsor, long associated with the sport and eminently capable in event organisation.

The formula for the event has already been prototyped and came through as a stunning success, but also showing that there was plenty of untapped potential. Most importantly that event, the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series got the right mix of chemistry - the Louis Vuitton glamour; the hard competitive edge of professional sport; the growing realisation by spectators and media that no two days were ever the same (the bane of most yachting regattas); and the development of that curious mix of the post race bonhomie and needle that are the staple diet of the media conferences - which set the scene for the coverage of the event.

Innovations that had long been talked of in sailing came together with the revolutionary graphics system from Animation Research Ltd, carried on into the Audi MedCup Series, and now poised to jump the chasm between real time broadcast of the sport and the downloadable world of the internet.


How many years of meetings would it take any world sports body to pull together a package like this, and within a year have it tested and ready for delivery?

The fact is that ISAF have been handed a fabulous opportunity and event.

All that is required is for the world body to cut a quick deal regarding the use of the name, ISAF Racing Rules and Officials, congratulate Louis Vuitton and the World Teams Sailing Association on a job well done, and leave them to get on it - and with the unconditional blessing of ISAF.

And speaking of ISAF Officials, what a fabulous opportunity for them to be part of an ongoing high profile circuit on which to develop their skills.

The only point the ISAF need to be firm on, is having the ISAF flag flying high at all Louis Vuitton World Series regattas.

While some draw issue with the use of the word 'World' in Louis Vuitton World Series, a quick read of the relevant ISAF regulations shows that the intent is to clearly govern World Championships and their proliferation. The LVWS is not a World Championship, but a World Series - meaning that it is an event sailed at various venues around the world for which there may be an overall trophy.

But it is not a World Match Racing Championship - that title quite properly belongs with the World Match Racing Tour, which did have its issues with ISAF in bygone days, now resolved for the greater benefit of both.

The make up of the World Sailing Teams Association is such, that many of the world's leading sailing nations are represented, and their national authorities, who in turn form the Intrenational Sailing Federation would be well aware of the media pulling power that those teams represent for them, and the sponsor profile those teams create for the sport as a whole in those countries.

Any talk of removing ISAF sailor eligibility from those who compete in an unsanctioned event, which the LVWS is at present, is just silly talk. What National Authority is going to ring up their superstar sailors and tell them they are out of the sport, because of their involvement with LWVS?

None.

It is a fight that ISAF doesn't need, and should try desperately to avoid.


Only professional racing teams will be able to enter the Louis Vuitton World Series, which will neatly span the gap between the America's Cup and the World Match Racing Tour, pus other professional sailing events.

The issues with the America's Cup have been well vented in this column, but from a logistical viewpoint the key difficulty is that the event has to virtually restart in a new form each Cup cycle, and particularly so if there is a new holder and competitors are dealing with a raft of agendas, which are not always aimed at developing an ongoing event.

After experiencing difficult teenage years, the World Match Racing Tour has evolved into an excellent event, with good continuity and one to which young sailors can aspire to build full-blown professional racing careers, as well as building a media profile along the way. The WMRT can point to a number of stars that it has developed, and as we saw in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series one of the great draws of the regattas is to see how the young blood matches up against the established players. Of course, having developed these young match racers, it is a very easy matter for them, later in life, to slip back into the World Match Racing Tour and bring a new spice to the events.

Like ISAF, the World Match Racing Tour should be welcoming the Louis Vuitton World Series to the family of sailing.

The Louis Vuitton series will provide more professional opportunities for the WMRT sailors and will introduce more sponsors to sailing - maybe drawing them across from other sports. The improved media profile of the Louis Vuitton World Series sailors won't do the WMRT sailors any harm, either.

As for the America's Cup, that is a stand alone event, and for some World Sailing Team Association members may not even be an option. It maybe that some professional teams elect to run in the WMRT, the Volvo Ocean Race and the Louis Vuitton World Series. While there is still substantial cost, only one of those events involves yacht design, development and ownership - so the opportunities are there for the fledgling teams, or those who wish to sit out an America's Cup, or want to add a TP 52 or iShares Cup campaign into the mix.

The America's Cup 'circuit' gets to the heart of what is wrong with the professional sailing event mix at present. The gap between the ongoing events such as the WMRT and the America's Cup is just too great to be sustainable. How many America's Cup teams last more than a couple of cycles? The rate of churn is high, maybe too high - and a look at the overall competitor numbers in the AC game shows that even in a well organised multi-challenger event, the numbers haven't really increased significantly since 1987.


The Acts staged in the buildup to the 2007 America's Cup were an excellent innovation, but the Louis Vuitton World Series picks up that concept and takes it several stages further. If, at some yet to be determined time, the America's Cup does get back to be a multi-challenger event, then it will mesh nicely with the Louis Vuitton World Series, and will sit in its rightful place as the World Cups do in Rugby, Football and other sports on a three or four year cycle.

Yes, around the family table of sailing, there will have to be some small shuffling of the chairs to make way for the Louis Vuitton World Series, but the sport will be much better for it.

Much, much better.

Can't wait.

For a commentary on the Louis Vuitton World Series announcement http://valenciasailing.blogspot.com/2009/09/official-presentation-of-louis-vuitton.html!Click_here

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