Media's attitude to sailing

[Becky]

Media\'s attitude to sailing

On Radio 4 this morning, there was a discussion on women in sport, and Ellen MacMacArthur's name was mentioned. The interviewer was then told by the 'expert' he was interviewing that the press in particular was not interested in sailing per se, and Ellen would only make the women's page of such tabloids as the Mirror or Mail. This lead me to wonder why sailing has so little coverage on TV and the media in general, when there are so many yacht-owners (even if most only own a boat, but don't actually sail it). Personally I love watching those intrepid yachties tearing through the Southern Ocean, for me there is never enough of it. In France, the single-handers who complete races like the Route du Rum are national heros; in England they get only a brief mention somewhere inside the covers of the national press. And we consider ourselves a sea-faring nation! Anyone any ideas on what sort of sailing exploit would catch the attention of British couch potatos, and generate some sort of national coverage and appropriate acclaim?

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[mcgarry1]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

what has been said before, here, is that Joe Public prefers a single name in media covered sporting events (David Beckham = football - Johnny Wilkinson = rugby etc) and that if you have a load of different people being covered all the time then it just doesn't make good watching. why? we do not know, that is why people like Pete Goss and Ellen Mcarthur get a mention when things like this are on T.V, if you ask Joe P who he/she would connect with sailing, it would either be Mcarthur or Goss. I agree, there are quite a few people who are at their level and almost definitley beyond. i love to watch things like the Louis Vuiton Cup on British eurosport! i want more of it

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[tr7v8]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Thing that really pees me off, Steve Curtis Mega successful racer in Class 1, World Champ X times over and yet you hear less of him that Ellen MaCArthur etc......

<hr width=100% size=1>Jim

Draco 2500

 

[Birdseye]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

sailing doesnt really make good tv in my view. its a great hobby, and interesting to do (for the first hour or so after which its "on autohelm") but its really a bit tedious to watch.

OK you might be fascinated by the idea of sailing through the southern ocean, but ask a non sailing friend if they find it interesting. I doubt they will.

the french interest in sailing is a similar phenonemon to the current English interest in rugby. remember the British interest in ice skating post Torville and Dean, the interest in curling of all things post the winter Olympics, and indeed the interest in sailing when Ellen did well. The interest comes about because its "one of us". And no one is more xenophobic than the French.

the French have many successful sailors. If their sailors were as successful as our cricket team , I suspect they wouldnt be half so interested.

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[Peppermint]

Re: It\'s dull to watch

It's complicated to understand and it's expensive to cover. It's the ultimate niche market for sponsors or advertising and TV better serves global brands of mass appeal products. You can use it as a marketing tool but you don't need it on TV to do that. Any coverage you get, such as news and sport reports and the odd documentry, is a bonus.

The average (wo)man in the street can't imagine themself doing that sort of thing.

The aussie system of covering the Americas Cup nearly made it interesting to sailors but still left the public baffled.

Skiff racing ditto, but it's not going to displace soccer or even darts from the sports TV.

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[Robin]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Buy any French local daily newspaper and you will see daily articles on sailing with results from any local racing however minor. This is not a new phenomenon nor is it just the superheros in the big multis/monos. We live in Poole with 'n' thousand boats from dinghies up, a huge concentration surely of people interested in sailing yet the local paper has one article per week with results from the local clubs, no reports of national or international sailing events. Sunseeker gets more space on the business pages.

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[mickshep]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

How about a remake of the classic Swallows and Amazons film? Follow it up with other films from the series of books, get the youngsters of today fired up about sailing and it'll be "Dad, can I have a boat for Xmas" Why not use some of the millions raised by the lottery to buy small fleets of dinghies, stationed around the country they could be made available to schools/youth clubs/scout groups etc, etc. (Better than the current trend of restoring old theatres which which have closed due to lack of interest,). For the adults of tommorow to get interested in our sport they need to be exposed to it and learn for themselves, Anyone out there with a million going spare? Might even be tax deductable. ;-) Cheers, Mike.

<hr width=100% size=1>"Just because I'm paranoid doesn't mean they're not out to get me."

 

[poggy]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Hi,

With regard to sponsors etc, the BBC aren't funded by advertising so they should cover non main stream sports as part of their service. The only real program that covered sailing and was popular was the soap opera called "Howards Way", the publicity of the MG Spring 25 made it sell in huge numbers intially as it was a cheaper way into sailing for new comers. This series ended due to the economy taking a noise dive and the producers thought that a program showing the "privileged" sport of sailing would not appeal to people who were finding it hard to pay their mortgages.

The media has always portrayed sailing as a rich mans sport, but if you look at the cost of a football ticket now you could easily run a dinghy for less. I think that much of the media are not interested in sailing as they believe the consumer will switch off as it something which is unattainable to them.

Sadly for those on the South Coast, Meridian TV will be closing it's TV studios shortely and dowsizing it's operation to a unit at Whiteley business park. This probably means there will be even less coverage on local TV.

It seems a shame as it could make excellent viewing if you covered all aspects of the sport. There are plenty of programs about buying cars, caravans etc. I think people would be interested in a program covering boat buying and testing, even if they have no intention of buying a boat. You could also cover the technology used as well. I think a documentary about the biggest yacht ever built, which was recently launched from Vospers would have been excellent viewing.

Poggy

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[sailorman]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Mirabella
a great feat of British engineering & boat building didnt even get a mention within the media nationally.
why cant the media support our skills & craftsmanship.it might be that those who built this fantastic ship only have n.v.q.s. & didnt / couldnt go to Uni.

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[clio]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

with all due respect to previous post's,would you watch it?Sail is a sport for(if it can be discribed as such)strange people who want to do some thing, other wise we would all have moter boats.

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[graham]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

If you get board after an hour on the helm it doesnt say much for your boat. When the boat is sailing well (be it light airs ghosting or surfing in heavy weather) I dont want to give up the helm for any longer than a quick heads visit or for a brew.

Sailing is like a drug, Once your hooked you will give up lots to get another fix.

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[PeterGibbs]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

For a sport to get coverage, and ours deserves much more, there has to be a cadre of journalists who write engagingly with the ability to bring the excitement and achievement home to the spectator. When we entice some spirited and imaginative hacks in, who can survive a little hardship, and a few hours distance from a bar (free of course) we shall begin to make progress. Alas, as we see in the case of Ellen and Ben etc , having real talent in our midst is of itself not enough.

Our magazines could take this issue up - they are in a great position to campaign. But sadly our mags have shown virtually no interest or zest for campaigning on any topic; and the RYA appears to regard campaigning as the equivalent of supping with Mephistopheles.....

PWG



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[ianwright]

Shhhhhhhhh!

I'd rather like to reduce the amount of attention sailing gets. There are enough boats out there, even on the east coast, we dont need any more.
Don't forget demand leads price. More publicity = more boats = higher berth prices.

IanW

<hr width=100% size=1>Vertue 203, Patience

 

[Peppermint]

Re: Really!

I get bored, except in either very light or v. heavy conditions, within very few minutes. Thats on a very wide variety of boats.

If you've got a specific task like short tacking through the moorings or getting around a headland without a tack, it can be more engaging.

I do tweek a lot though, then there's reading or the radio.

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[richardandtracy]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Yes, it is a problem.

I don't know how to solve it, but I do think there are a number of explanations for it.

Firstly, Sailing is seen as exclusive. Not surprising really, when a new 36 ft yacht costs more than my house.
Secondly, there is no one reason why people want to sail. Some people love racing - personally I hate the idea. I got into sailing because I want to travel, and can't afford to pay an airline to take me. There are a multitude of other reasons, as many as there are people I suspect.
Thirdly, you need to apply youself mentally and physically to sailing. The media assumes everyone has the attention span of a goldfish, so can't cope. This same level of application is also seen as elitism, which is a definite no-no in this age of mediocrity.

How to change it?
I have no idea. I think there needs to be a revulsion and a lower level of cosseting of the incompetent and idle. This is so unlikely to occur, we might as well make the best of a bad job. A novel idea for the media would be to treat the viewers as intelligent adults, but I suspect that would be too much for either the broadcasters or viewers to accept.

Regards

Richard.


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[charles_reed]

\"Howard\'s Way\"

The boat hero was the Barracuda - the Spring wasn't even in production when the series were filmed.

However both were designed by Tony Castro, so the lapse is understandable.

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[poggy]

Re: \"Howard\'s Way\"

Hi,

Both featured in the series, the MG Spring 25 was the one used by the daughter in her solo sail I believe. The Barracuda the larger 46' light displacement boat made by Sadler of which 19 were made before they went into receivership in August 1988 (probably spent too much time watching their boat on TV).

If you look at the BBC website you can see an archived clip of the MG Spring on the series. http://www.bbc.co.uk/cult/ilove/tv/titles/howardsway.shtml. The series finished in 1989 I think and the MG Spring had been in production for at least 2 years.

Poggy


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[charles_reed]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Amazing how everyone thinks of TV when you mention the media - the original posting referred specifically to the press.

Having spent a fair bit of time reading the media in other countries, I think the most likely reason is the appallingly low quality of journalism in the UK. It's not just the tabloids - so-called "quality" papers are nearly as bad.
Facts are unchecked - especially with regard to statistics, opinion not fact rules - highly biassed and subjective accounts are published as though they are facts, attitudes are struck which are obsessively unbalanced and there in a prurient fascination with others' sex lives especially if busts and bums can be pictured.

Part of the reason might be due to the highly competitive nature of the market (there are more national newspapers per 1000K head of population here than any other country), resulting in greater pressure on editors to sell papers than print the truth.
The recieved wisdom amongst the chattering classes is that sailing is a minority sport and therefore unlikely to sell papers - and that ample coverage is offered by the marine press. You will not be thanked for supplying facts when their minds are made up.

Even the Beeb in the sorry aftermath of Birt, has gone the same way.

Facts - the Times published a story on anorexia, calling it a national disgrace and giving figures to suggest that 1400 teenage girls die from it each year. A call to the National Statistics Office would have let the incompetent and mendacious journalist know that the figure was 12. Despite at least 1 letter pointing out their error no acknowledgement or correction has been published.

The Guardian (good for them) publishes, every day, a list of corrections on past stories - but why not get it right first time.

Polemic over!!



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[Birdseye]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

There's some truth in what you say. The debate with SWMBO as to whether we bought a floating caravan or a racing dinghy finished a bit too near her requirements rather than mine - noble and self sacrificing I thought! Mind you, I am easily bored.

Its time for a change. Fancy a Farrier tri - that should be more interesting.

I wonder how sailors with old bangers like Nich 35 or Twisters go on? They must be grp re-inforced tedium itself to sail.

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[neutronstar]

Re: Media\'s attitude to sailing

Poggy, Mickshep and Richard&Tracy put some great concepts forward. If only we could harness some of the great ideas they and others mentioned.

We were never a seafaring nation in the "lets get a boat and go to sea" sense as we press ganged our crews. Also as a nation we have virtually forgotten the numbers of merchant sailors who died in comparison to the members of the armed forces in WWII.

We differ from France and Holland in our attitude to sailing, as we don't really see it as a national priority, and many people involved in sailing and boating in the UK want it to remain exclusive or they would probably get out of the sport altogether.

The Swallows and Amazons seed which could be sewn will still fall on stony ground unless the availability of low priced moorings and well maintained slipways, in relatively easy reach of all prospective users, is improved.

I often try to get across to 'landies' the concept that there are over 30 different types of boat user, and somewhere amongst the range of activities many of us could feel comfortable. (fishing, cruising, rowing, diving, racing .... you get the idea).

In countries where boating values are placed high I find the 'public well-being' is a main motivation to the planners in the process, and the input of public money and infrastructure seems also to be a factor. We see little of that here as spectator sports and booze seem to rule supreme.

Even in these foreign cases the rich can still have the best moorings with the best services, but without the easily available starter experiences in a skiff or a dinghy at the entry end of the market, the value of boating can never be significant to the general public.

The final (and possibly main stumbling block) is the almost complete loss of any technical knowledge or will to get hands cut or dirty within the British mentality. Without a good bit of this boats can't be sailed well and will never last long.

We certainly would need a change in more than just the media to compete with other nations in the business of valuing sailing and it is probably a chicken and egg problem, where would we start ??


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