The Big Bash
by John Curnow, Sail-World.com AUS Editor 16 Jun 10:00 NZST
Only 10% of SailGP's fanbase are sailors - Day 2 of the Mubadala New York Sail Grand Prix © Andrew Baker/SailGP
Every summer the tournament rolls into town. Local and international players. A short format of the game, run over a relatively compact six-week season. It's exciting. Momentum can be sustained, not waned, and the winner takes all. What a good thing. Oh. It is way popular, family friendly, and multi-layered, like any self-respecting event just has to be these days.
Now it is true that many a reader would not give two hoots about the T20 form of the game of cricket, and would be happy to leave it flapping in the breeze like some giant Genoa unfurled from the forestay by a raging cyclone. Yet there I was on the phone with ABC Sydney Radio Producer, Lee Stamps, answering her questions ahead of appearing the next day on Saturday Breakfast presented by Dom Knight.
You see, the Bonds Flying Roos had just been announced, and the star power of one Hugh Jackman, and a certain Ryan Reynolds was enough to get nearly everyone it seems talking about SailGP. Alas, this is the key point. Getting non-yachties to show an interest in sailing.
During the briefing with Lee, I likened the foiling wonders to the Big Bash League, but noted that it was probably more akin to T10 (10 overs a side cricket), which is not quite as famous in Oz as it is in other parts of the world. Zero time for mistakes, fast paced in a way that makes an F-35 Lightning II look slow, pretty much always guaranteed a result, and first past the post is easy for everyone to work out. In our world, One Design means no pesty maths to work out time correction factors, or handicappers getting harassed in the bar by inquisitive Skippers.
Afterwards, I pondered things some more. In The call of the mighty, which was about the Admiral's Cup, we looked at theme music. Seemed to me like the Bonds Flying Roos would have to be 'Long way to the shop', now wouldn't they. And yes, it is a long, long time since Melbourne's Swanston Street looked like that!!! Certainly would worth the cost of the rights, too. Just look at Iron Man...
Best of all, it has that famous Aussie posture, for it is said they never requested permission, nor sought forgiveness afterwards. In the end, what's more Aussie than changing the words to a bit of AccaDacca?
Still, we digress. F50s are on the menu. I remember back in the day asking Sir Russell Coutts what he would give themselves on the scorecard. He replied 6.5. I thought it was a tad harsh. Yes. The early coverage was found to be wanting, but you know, all the componentry was there. Seven seemed on par, and 7.5 if you were being decidedly generous.
As we sat there in Sydney, still the only locale to feature in every season to date BTW, including the stalled Covid one, I chuckled at the notion that I thought they'd be keen to sell the real estate on the back of the coasters.
We revisited the question a season or two later, for there had been movement at the station, but clearly good enough was never going to be just that. SailGP was the land of better and best. Hence all the foil and wing development. Anyway, I turned the coaster over, and wouldn't you know it. There was the paid branding. LOL.
Over the journey, Team AUS's performance was exemplary, and wee three-peat, followed by a runner up position on the dais in the four completed seasons underscores that marvellously. This was almost as glaringly obvious as the Aussies lack of sponsorship. It is a good thing that the machine kept funding the Flying Roo, for rubbing them out for not meeting the stipulated dollar goals would have been unfair, and decidedly hampered SailGP's central cause in the process.
Hats off to Jackman, Reynolds and Bonds for making that pesky little issue go away now, and well done to Slingsby et al. for maintaining the fight on the water where it really counts. In the case of Reynolds, there is previous form (football/soccer), and this is no off the cuff move. It is perhaps a real sign that SailGP is entertainment, as we have always said, and it just so happens to use boats.
If gravitas has to be translated into the modern world, then a zillion followers, and your mug on billboards and flashing up as you surf through your preferred on demand service has to be that delivered by the iron ore train load. Three locos at the front, and three at the back, and a couple of kilometres in between...
Now the island nation punches well above its weight when it comes to sailing. So many ply their craft for country and others as paid mercenaries all over the globe. To have a green and gold team, now with backing of Australian Royalty in Jackman and a smiling Canuck, is a great thing. It may help us have the next KA-6 kind of moment, which you could say is long overdue.
We are a long way from 2017 in Bermuda, and certainly from the first SailGP season with six boats and five races. 12 boats and 12 events, and here we are in the midst of Season Five. A short and exciting journey to be sure, just like the racing itself. Naturally, it is now even more of commercial proposition than ever. Two horses in a race is just not the Melbourne Cup.
In all honesty, we are really seeing the original intent come out now. This was always an operation. One vision. One mission. One rule of law, not a box. SailGP was not going to get muddled by documentation and interpretation. It was creation, and now that it is out there we'll just keep refining and honing.
SailGP is designed to have people right in close. When you go to these events and you see the people standing around watching it, some of them don't have any association with the water, other than they love the whole feeling. It's a bit like F1 Grand Prix. There are not many people there that have ever driven a car in anger, and yet there are the masses and throngs of people in red, blue, green, black and all the other colours. SailGP is just like that.
Why do we care? Simple. Anything that gives sailing more time in the sun is a good thing, all the way from participation to sponsorship... As for the current scorecard, we'll I would hate to put words in RC's mouth. Am I a fan of things like the Minister for Hype? No, but then I am not really the target market, now am I? If it wasn't for the lawyers they probably would sell tickets on board your chosen F50, just like you can pay to go into space. Now won't I chuckle if that comes in for Season Six... What's better than actually being there? NOTHING.
Am I surprised that two of Hollywood's most favourite Princes are involved in SailGP? Not at all. Go the Bonds Flying Roos. Long live the green and gold! We the country need it, and we the sport require it to keep moving forward.
So before we finish, if have not already seen it, now is a good time to also reference Mark Jardine's video on Wing v Sail.
Please enjoy your yachting, stay safe, and thanks for tuning into Sail-World.com
John Curnow
Sail-World.com AUS Editor