Media coverage of our sport.......

Becky

Becky

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I have raised this subject in the past, to admittedly luke-warm support.

BUT... for those Forumites who live and/or sail on the South Coast, and especially in the Solent area there is a serious lack of knowledge in the media when the news involves any form of water sport. All yachts, be they sail or power are described as 'luxury', even if they are 30 year old what-evers, Centaurs for example. Boat shows are merely showcases for the ultimate luxury. Very little coverage of 'normal' sized yachts.

We now have an Olympic sailing venue being constructed in Portland harbour, and they are already hosting international events, yet we see and hear nothing on the local news. It seems that if a sport involves anything bigger than a football, it is a 'minority' sport and therefore merits minimal coverage.

And yet the S Coast marinas are full to bursting. This means that there are thousands of sailors who receive no coverage of their sport. But minority sports like snooker have enormous TV coverage. Darts, which most peeps would have considered a bar-room entertainment (at least I would) also has coverage beyond the normal. But yachting is still only regarded as a niche activity by the networks.

Now I don't believe this is really a true reflection of viewers interests; take France, our nearest and dearest neighbour. They give their sailors tremendous support; and to my mind this is partly due to the news coverage of the events, and the interest shown by the media of the lives and interests of the sailors themselves.

If the same coverage was done in the UK, maybe people like Dee Caffery and Mike Golding would be a household names to rival those of the Becks and other footballers, (can't give any names as it is something I know nothing about) /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

The purpose of this thread is to sound out the Forum as to the possibility of complaining to the relevant TV channels to get then to employ somebody who knows about sailing, power boating, and more especially the very interesting people who partake of our sport.

So what do you folk think?

Is there any future in lobbying the local (to S Coast) TV channels for some proper coverage?
 
Absolutely agree....

I regularly use the BBC feedback function on their website to complain about this.... the more that do the same the better!

But why just the south coast?.... Ellen Macarthur is from Derby!... there are huge sailing communities elsewhere within the UK, and the UK's two top inland sailing venues are both in the Midlands (Rutland and Grafham).... its a national sport
 
I agree it should be nationwide for us all to view, just because we live further inland than others doesn't mean we like the sport less /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Surprised there hasnt been a new SKY channel yet, there's a channel for everything else! /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif

Chris
 
I will admit to a bit of a personal slant to this one but here goes.... I used to work for ITV in the SW and during that time tried my best to boost the amount of sailing on TV. (Let's face it....if you had the chance of covering a court case or making programmes about sailing which would you choose?)

Over the years I made sailing documentaries about everything from Pete Goss's adventures to tall ships and news reports on watersports of all kinds. I did as many news reports on boaty type things as I could get away with.

In the meantime I tried to persuade my colleagues that there was no such thing as Gale Force 5, etc.

Sadly it became clear that the powers that be believe there is no appetite for sailing on tv. I argued that non footie types never have pix of football matches on their walls while people who have never been to sea still like to look at maritime images. My arguments got me absolutely nowhere.

In 2005 I gave up and went sailing!
 
Just a thought Becky but the greater the publicity a sport gets the more people want to do it. The more they do it the more expensive it gets. The more expensive it gets the more I struggle to afford it.
I therefore think it worth considering ..... should we keep our collective heads below the line of fire????
 
I think you should make a programme that tells people how horribly expensive it is to own a boat and how awful it is to sit around in the winter months dreaming of the time when once again you can get out on the water dodging ferries and tankers just to get wet cold and miserable. That way all the hooray Henrys that buy big shiny boats to sit in marinas 10 months out of twelve paying mooring fees that oiks like me can't afford would buy aeroplanes and supercars instead and we could get back to how it used to be in the 60's when only sailors owned boats.....
Humph! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif
 
Hi Becky
Like most of us I think there is nothing better than messing about in boats - but. Yesterday ( Sunday ) We walked down to the Activity Centre at Calshot, tripping over anglers alll the way. There were more kids on bikes in the velodrome ( indoor bike track ) than there were boats out on the Solent. This despite the fact that while cold it was a lovely sailing day. Ours is a minority sport, seen by many as only for for rich gits - despite the fact that they spend more on fags than lots of us do on our boats. This is not helped by the TV boat show coverage which always seems to involve someone on the bridge of a SunSeeker 99. Let them concentrate on footy and leave us to enjoy the best thing there is - boats.
 
What you needed was loads of peeps contacting your employers complaining of the lack of coverage. Then you may well have had enough backing to get your boaty-type news items.

To extrapolate on that idea, what would be wrong in getting Mike G or Dee C on to a cooking prog to describe how they provision for a long voyage to get meals that provide enough calories without making them too fat.

Or doing a make-over of a retiring Volvo 60, after her racing days are over?

Now that would get interest /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Then there are all those young Olympic sailors, both boys and girls, who train, who still study or work, who have extra-ordinary skills relating to wind and sail setting, to mention but two. Surely there would be something to grab the average Brit couch potato's interest?

Or maybe not /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

Sadly we are getting to be a nation of watchers, and not a nation of do-ers. Rather like the boats in our marinas.

But this COULD be changed if those enthusiastic sailors were given the chance to watch experts in their sport performing. After all, Bertorelli ( who I hope is the rich man behind the Alinghi team) has marketed the America's Cup competition to an International Circus, nad getting tremendous media coverage, and with that sponsorship money. So it CAN be done.

Yachting World, in the last edition covered the growth in corporate sailing with companies like Sunsail. Seemingly 40,000 people sail on chartered yachts through the year.

So don't tell me that there wouldn't be enough interest.

I mentioned starting with the S Coast because there are SO many boats around. Get it started down here, establish an interest, then move further afield.
 
Couldn't agree more, sailing magazines give enough information and if not they should be developed towards more local direction.
 
But....if lots of peeps were wanting to get on the water, then the costs would come DOWN

Bigger market, bigger turn-over. Obvious, isn't it? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

You don't really have to worry about more people getting on the water. They won't. It is a male Brit thing. But you might have lots more watching you. Especially if you sail something ludicrously quick. Or drive a VERY fast mobo.

Then you would find getting a sponsor easier.

You would then be in the position of the nautical equivalent of go-faster stripes for your boat. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Look what happened to Minis when they were used as racing and rally cars. So those of us with cruising yachts with racing versions as well could have Musto and North stickers displayed on the hulls /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Just a thought!! /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Becky
'the growth in corporate sailing with companies like Sunsail.' Don't get me started about Scumsail. We were there when the police were called to control them in East Cowes marina at 2 am. If you want a negative image use them.
 
It surely would be nice, then I would not have to wait for holidays abroad before I could watch it on tv, and if you look at it there are a goodly number of UK folk out there on all the different circuits.

I do agree though that it is a matter of perception, when I first wanted to get afloat over 40 years ago there seemed more blazers and yacht clubs than old boats, and it was not until I got started that I found most of the folk with boats did it on a shoestring and got such enjoyment, sure the more you want the more cash you need, it's a bit like going to a boat fayre, then realising what value the local broker has.

I am afraid you need a hard sell, and you don't get that unless someone can smell money and organise it to their own ends, so you don't need preach to the converted, you need find some Harry Enfield to sell it hard!
 
Its a vicious circle - if people aren't exposed to sailing, they don't become interested in it, and if people arent interested in it, the TV stations can't justify screening programes which bring in such low ratings. Of course, the best way to expose people to sailing is to get it on TV... hmmm...
Isn't there a station partly dedicated to sailing called Solent TV available in, er, the Solent? Its a start I suppose!
And we definately don't want to keep sailing our little secret, if it had more exposure as a national sport, Sponsors wouldnt be so far and few between and maybe the Challenge Business would still be around... /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
The media management would then look at possible audience figures, and at number of participants. Why would sailing then be expected to feature more highly than say angling, or climbing and rambling
 
I must admit to feeling much the same about charter yachts. But HWMBO started in charter yachts, and to be honest, I am only now getting him out of the rental mind-set /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

But the people out in the Solent racing Scumsail boats are at least DOING something.

They are being hooligans on the water instead of hooligans on the land.


I don't really mean that. They are no ruder than the regular racing fleets. Not that that says much about them.

But at least they are out, on the water having a good time. And by and large they then go back to Port Solent and leave the boat, and go home. So they aren't the biggest prob with charter boats. But that is another subject.

I still think that if TV got something going, we would have more money, more support, and a more educated viewing public to support our sport. Can you imagine how many people would go and watch a snooker match if there wasn't any TV coverage? And to my mind that is as boring as golf on TV.

So there.
 
IMO most sailing or messing around with boats is just boring as a spectator. and racing even more so! - including the power boats. Sticking it on TV won't improve it.

Maybe stick Ray Mears on a boat or something then fair enough, but otherwise.......it's another floating Crossroads.

Of course "Sell up and flog it into the Sun" (or whatever??) might make a 1/2 hour programme for a Wednesday afternoon.......
 
Becky
I must admit I have morphed into the sort of person I started sailing with. They seemed most happy when they got away from most people and a boat was a very good way of doing it - a bit like water rat really. I don't want more people sailing in the Solent - just me and a few selected soul mates. No publicity is good publicity in this case.
 
Not entirely clear what it is you are trying to achieve.

For me the less publicity our hobby gets the better

It is too easy a target as things are for the taxman to get his grubby digits into - showing lots of people enjoying expensive toys is asking for trouble.

Even if all you wish to do is attract more people to sailing all you will achieve is to increase demand and this increase prices. I would have thought mooring charges in the Solent area were expensive enough.

I think it would be difficult to make a programme interesting to non sailors - I mean - watching Tristan and Gertrude sitting in the cockpit of their Benjanbav on a 12 hour channel crossing is not likely to make the dross miss Crossroads is it. And would we really want them to?
 
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