is it because they are French?

gardenshed

gardenshed

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Two trimarans cross the atlantic breaking the old record.
Average speed for 3 1/2 days: +31 knots
longest daily run: 907 miles, average speed +37knots
top speed +44 knots

What a phenomenal achievement yet almost no press coverage.

Well done to Franck Cammas and Pascal Bidégorry.

Bring on the Jules Verne this winter

mad as a box of frogs .... no mad as a boat full of frogs.
 
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Oh there will be coverage in France, I saw BP during the final stages of fit out in Lorient, a truely awsome sight a man up the mast was like a fly on a telegraph ploe.
 
Sad but the majority of people in this country aren't interested in this sort of thing. The BBC's article on it was shocking to be honest, clearly gleaned from a 30 second look at one of the boats websites and nothing more.

Needless to say they'll be climbing on the ceilings over this in France, and quite rightly too, it was an astonishing performance by both boats involved.

The Jules Verne this year is going to be a real nail biter. Banque Populaire is going to blitz around the southern ocean, but Groupama appears to be significantly faster in lighter airs. Both boats have a very real chance of taking the record.
 
gardenshed said:
Two trimarans cross the atlantic breaking the old record.
Average speed for 3 1/2 days: +31 knots
longest daily run: 907 miles, average speed +37knots
top speed +44 knots

What a phenomenal achievement yet almost no press coverage.

Well done to Franck Cammas and Pascal Bidégorry.

Bring on the Jules Verne this winter

mad as a box of frogs .... no mad as a boat full of frogs.
Click to expand...
I receive 'breaking news' alerts from France 24, sometimes several a day, and so far they have been remarkably quiet about this. Perhaps the French are not quite so excited about it as you may think.
 
gardenshed said:
Two trimarans cross the atlantic breaking the old record.
Average speed for 3 1/2 days: +31 knots
longest daily run: 907 miles, average speed +37knots
top speed +44 knots

What a phenomenal achievement yet almost no press coverage.

Well done to Franck Cammas and Pascal Bidégorry.

Bring on the Jules Verne this winter

mad as a box of frogs .... no mad as a boat full of frogs.
Click to expand...
I receive 'breaking news' alerts from France 24, sometimes several a day, and so far they have been remarkably quiet about this. Perhaps the French are not quite so excited about this as you may think.
 
Yes it is because they are French or, to be accurate, not British. Remember the interest we suddenly developed in ice dancing, and then in curling and then in rowing and the latest in diving? What do they have in common that they suddenly arrive on the scene and just as suddenly die off?
 
I agree with Jason, but the main reason there is no coverage is because it's not football!

The only sports the papers/national press seem interested in is football, or seasonal sport like cricket or wimbledon.

Dee and Elen got coverage, but compare that with coverage a footballer (or their wife/girlfriend) gets and the effort/coverage is disproportionate. Dee/Elen had to sail around the world single handed to get a front page, all Beckam has to do is sleep with someone else!

Lets see how much coverage Mike Perham gets....
 
They're French, it's sailing (rich man's sport); it won't sell anymore papers - so that's enough to ensure it won't feature in the sports pages. Football sells so that will always feature.
 
jason -and the arguenauts said:
Yes it is because they are French or, to be accurate, not British. Remember the interest we suddenly developed in ice dancing, and then in curling and then in rowing and the latest in diving? What do they have in common that they suddenly arrive on the scene and just as suddenly die off?
Click to expand...

And it's not just sports either - current affairs gets the same treatment.
If it's not happened in an English speaking country it's not happened at all.

Ever noticed how **** all happens in Europe or South America (apart from maybe the odd fire of which they happen to have nice pictures), yet a donkey farts in Pakistan and it's all over the news :mad:
Hundreds of thousands are still massacred in the Congo every year - not a peep. Bin men in Cape Town go on strike - it's makes the headlines. Etc...
 
Parochial press with a vested interest in selling to the great unwashed.....

I just thought that as a sailing forum, there would be more interest and comment. Even the YBW news section had very little coverage and it was pushed off the headline page by stuff like: Cowes Week Day 3 (yawn) Johnny Malbon (a non performer, self publicist) and some eejits in a narrow boat that got stuck in a lock.

I've lived in many different parts of the world and most/all areas are similar, i.e. interested in their own folks or in "stardom". c'est la vie.

doesn't take anything away from the magnificent achievement of Banque Popuaire.

now after trying to stir up some positive press for them, would someone from Groupama or Banque Populaire please call me with the expenses paid trip to France for a test sail on one of these brilliant machines!!!
 
Guapa said:
And it's not just sports either - current affairs gets the same treatment.
If it's not happened in an English speaking country it's not happened at all.

Ever noticed how **** all happens in Europe or South America (apart from maybe the odd fire of which they happen to have nice pictures), yet a donkey farts in Pakistan and it's all over the news :mad:
Click to expand...

Is Pakistan an English speaking country - Oldham doesnt seem to be.:D
 
It's also worth pointing out how little interest this record sparked on the forums here. If the majority of folk here don't give a toss, given that they are actually interested in sailing, what sort of message does that give about the rest of the country.
 
I blame Howards Way, the BBC ruined the image of yachting in the UK for a generation with their class-obsessed fiction.
 
Was that Michael Howard?
I always liked him - he had the Look of the Night about him. According to Ann Widdecombe. And he has a tasty wife. Didn't know he sailed though...
 
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