Last TRANSAT for Plymouth?

[stormchild]

Interesting article on BBC news this evening reporting apparent dissatisfaction regarding publicity (or lack of it) of this years race. Apparently Plymouth is in danger of losing the hosting of the event. The main contender being La Rochelle. Just interested to here other peoples opinions>

<hr width=100% size=1>Life is a journey, travel it well.....

 

[poter]

Yup I saw that as well on South West tele.

The british disease, no cash to be spent on purist type sports!!!

I live work and sail in the south west & I used to berth at Mountbatten for the winter, I also have loads of online type Accounts with local chandlers... Not one email or mail shot.

No wonder the French are looking good for the next one.

poter.

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[kimhollamby]

For what it's worth (and I know the issue is really national news) we have spent a fair bit of time on it already and have a couple of people down there all weekend (Yachting World's Elaine Bunting and Sue Pelling to be precise) which means I will also have to be not too far away from a computer all weekend to make sure everything is working.

You might have seen it already but here is the site:

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.yachtingworld.com/yw/transat2004/>http://www.yachtingworld.com/yw/transat2004/</A>

It's getting listed on Google and Google news so we are trying to help to spread the word a little bit further afield...

Let's hope bank holiday is a nothin happening news day thenthere might be a chance of good TV and papers following day.

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[uforea]

Who is dissatisfied then, who "owns " the event and who decides where it will or will not be held.
Ted.

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[poter]

Kim,

Yup the coverage in Yachting World is excellent, some really good stories on the web site, but nothing in Yachting Monthly though????


Why no national news coverage?
We do have some great sporting events and sponsers in the UK, why can't we get them for Yacht Racing??? It really is a spectacle & the coverage with helicopters at the start would be far more exciting that watching the normal dull saturday sports.

As I said, you can guarantee that the French (La Rochelle) will go after the event big time & like all big sports, the driving force will be the sponsers, & if they get better coverage elsewhere.......

poter.

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[poter]

I think you will find that the sponsers have made a few comments.
It has also been sugested that "Plymouth" could have made better use of the event.


poter.

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[Captain_Chaos]

It sounds as if no one has given any thought to how the event could / should be promoted.

I would like to know what the organisers have done in terms of making it easy for the media to run stories on the event. Have they used a PR agency or are they working on the basis that the Plymouth council should be grateful for the city being chosen as host and therefore incur the costs and responsibility of promoting the event. Why should any local authority spend ratepayers money promoting a yacht race if the organisers themselves dont have a clue how to do it?

I know from my experience of promoting less prestigious sporting events than this one that the media are usually grateful for stories to fill column inches and air time.

The mistake many organisers make is assuming that the the media will run round and write the stories themselves. The safest way of getting publicity is to recognise that anything that makes a journalists life easier will be gratefully received, so the the solution is to prepare the articles and provide interesting story lines, looking for unusual angles to make the whole thing interesting to appeal to a wider audience than just yotties which must be such a small market to be of little interest to media.

The reason why sponsors don't get involved with yacht racing is because they do not see that they would get value for money.











<hr width=100% size=1>My drinking team has a sailing problem

 

[stormchild]

Must agree that ybm's feature (website) has been v interesting and has surpassed the usual boring facts and figures type approach. IMHO the maritime media has done quite well, although to a certain extent it enjoys a captive audience. If one was to move outside the realms of maritime press / media the loss of Mrs Miggins tortoise would have attracted more coverage!!!!!

You only have to recall the reaction of the french to Gossy's heroic actions and the thousands of passionate people that greeted him to realise that the loss of this event after some forty plus years is a definite possibility.....

As far as I can recall the last F1 powerboat race attracted far more non maritime publicity and after having been forced to watch every one that has been staged in Plymouth I would still rather sharpen my fingers with a blunt imitation Victorinox!!!

Come on Plymouth for once pull your finger out and grab the bull by the horns!!


<hr width=100% size=1>Life is a journey, travel it well.....

 

[doug748]

I went along for a look last night.
Managed to creep onto the pontoons although a notice informed me that they closed at 4pm. Had an enjoyable half hour looking at the boats and noticed one British entry. Tried to buy a programme but the youth guarding a vast pile of them told me he was not allowed to sell any.
Its tricky to believe but the marina chosen for the event has no bar and no restaurant. A beautiful summers evening but no catering on site, not even a hot dog.
No problem, the nearby sailing centre has a bar with a superb balcony overlooking the river. We might even eat there if it is not too packed, remember its the last Saturday before the race and a bank holiday.
The bar contained four people, the lounge was in darkness and the "pie and chips" menu finished at six. The patio furniture was stacked on the balcony and a girl was having a smoke and sweeping the floor. I looked at my watch 9.30.
The French should be given their race, if they want it. for there is little civic, local or national interest. The one ray of sunshine, perhaps the RWYC could retain an amateur event, personally I prefer the corinthian atmosphere anyway.

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[Peppermint]

Re: It\'s not the race it was.

The British way is to glorify eccentric old buffers who pack a bit more marmite into the family cruising boat, leave the wife to run the pub or the grocers and head out to sea in no particular hurry.

The French way is to through loads of sponsors money at high tec boats, crewed by steely eyed young athletes who live on muesli, and go hell for leather.

Now that the OSTAR is full of sponsored entrants it's desperate for grown up media attention. Yachting media coverage is irrelevant to a global widget maker.

The UK sporting press are quite happy with sports you can watch first hand, have a swift outcome and clear cut results. The country is full of sports like that so who needs yachting. The general media is personality driven and do cover yacht racers who are worthy of such human interest.

The way to get the press interested is simple. The yachts should each take a C list celeb along who will make a video diary of the terrible hardship they suffer, how it got them in touch with their inner thingy, made them re-evaluate their relationship, made them loose weight or made their boobs grow. The skippers will need to be abusive and tiranical with lots of seaweed a weevil recipes in their cook book, the boats should be primative. Can't fail

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[longjohnsilver]

Hells Galley

Wot a novel idea, it could sink without a trace /forums/images/icons/wink.gif

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[snowleopard]

is \'promotion\' the object?

for the professional circuit, publicity is the lifeblood, vital to bring in the sponsorship deals. on the other hand, this race bears little resemblance to the event started by blondie hasler and francis chichester.

is plymouth or the RWYC necessarily 'failing' by not producing massive publicity/income? as a former 'corinthian' entrant i'd be happy to see it going on as a quiet event organised largely for the competitors' benefit.

the idea of a separate amateur event is better than letting it disappear into the professional circuit but i personally enjoyed the atmosphere when we were all in it together, from 25 ft Jester to 236ft Club Med.

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[JerryHawkins]

Probably!

I wouldn't be surprised if it is. You had to look very hard to find any information at all on the event. My boat is in Plymouth Yacht Haven and was there just about all the time the Transat boats were in. The race "Village" was a joke - a few tents around a gravel car park. A Renault stand with a couple of cars, an RYA stand with a lonely bored looking chap, a pathetic attempt to promote a couple of local marine companies and the "Plymouth Maritime Scene"; oh, and a Lewmar stand.

There were no details of the boats, skippers, crew, sponsors to be seen anywhere. It would have been nice to have a tent with race details showing all the information that can be seen on "thetransat.com" web site. I normally have high speed internet access on my boat from SquareMile, but thanks to the BBC (and others) and the race organisers this was completely wiped out by their own WiFi system for the no-public-access Media Centre. This looked far more interesting than the other public exhibits but was guarded by "bouncers" who gave you a nasty look if you goot too close to the door!

I hate to say it, but I suspect the French would do a far better job and give it the money and attention it deserves.

Cheers, Jerry

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[lordsmeadow]

Re: Probably!

I wholeheartedly agree with Jerry Hawkins.I travelled to Plymouth to see the boats but what a disappointment,the boats were fine but total lack of anything else,total apathy on the part of Plymouth,no wonder we lose out .Thought tele coverage would have been better but alas sadly lacking once again.Surely this is a major sporting event!! I think we may well lose out , thought the sponsers would want to see more publicity.
Cheers
jane

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[Captain_Chaos]

Re: Probably!

Apathy on the part of Plymouth?
From what has been said about the tented village etc, the organisers could not arrange an orgy in a brothel!
If the event organisers do not have any inclination to promote the event properly and accommodate visitors looking at the boats/buying programmes/staying for a drink, why should "Plymouth"?
Does anyone know who organises this event because it seems they could do with some professional help

<hr width=100% size=1>My drinking team has a sailing problem

 

[Captain_Chaos]

Re: Probably!

Apathy on the part of Plymouth?
From what has been said about the tented village etc, the organisers could not arrange an orgy in a brothel!
If the event organisers do not have any inclination to promote the event properly and accommodate visitors looking at the boats/buying programmes/staying for a drink, why should "Plymouth"?
Does anyone know who organises this event because it seems they could do with some professional help

<hr width=100% size=1>My drinking team has a sailing problem

 

[whisper]

Re: Probably!

If you go onto their website mentioned earlier I think you'l find an interview with the organisers - Ellen's cronies. They know the operation has been poor due they say to the lack of time & money to do it properly. Reckon it'll be much better when they do the next one !!

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