More tweets from Yacht Racing Forum

Aarhus, Denmark (November 28, 2017) – The 10th edition of the Yacht Racing Forum concluded today, which markets itself as the only business to business conference that brings together the key players from across the whole yacht racing industry.

Yesterday’s program discussed promotion, sustainability, design, and technology while the focus today was on risk management, safety, and events at top of the sport. Here are some of the nuggets from the @YRF2017 twitter stream:

• “Getting into the Olympics is much harder than getting out.” @worldsailing president Kim Andersen says we need to work hard to make sure sailing stays in the Olympic Games.

• Simon Tonks, deputy head of Marine Hiscox, in the Risk Management and Safety discussion: “Insurance is not black and white, if there’s a collision between a race boat and a spectator boat, it’s not going to be easy to apportion blame.”

• Hakan Svensson, Aston Harald: “It’s not clear where the Racing Rules end and the Collision Regulations start. World Sailing needs to take this on as part of the curriculum of learning, so that sailors know their responsibilities.”

• Remi Finiel, Forward WIP, talks about safety in high-speed sailing: “Choosing the right helmet for sailboat racing is not straightforward. Buying a helmet designed for another sport is not likely to be the right answer. You need one designed specifically for sailing.”

• Andrew Hurst, editor of @SeahorseMag: “There are enough old boats lying around in sailing clubs, and they’re not worth much. To grow the grassroots, we need an ‘old sh#tters’ series to encourage people to get all those old boats out again.”

• Thierry Bouvard, sponsorship manager for @VoileBanquePop, on media and commercial return for Armel Le Cle’ach winning the @VendeeGlobe: “25% of our value came before the race, 50% during the race, and 25% after, so you can be realising value even before the event begins.”

• Gary Jobson: “I believe the America’s Cup will attract the highest media ratings if there was a 100% nationality rule. It worked in the past and it would work again.”

• Alistair Watkins, Influence Sports, on why monohulls for America’s Cup. “It’s more in line with what most people do in sailing, so it’s aspirational, but the performance has to be close to what we saw in the last Cup. Solar power and electrical power all being looked at.”