Al Stewart Year Of The Cat

Yachting: Uncertain future for world match racing

Sailing now sometimes feels like the Year of the Cat , as the old Al Stewart song had it. With the America's Cup class being switched to catamarans, the World Match Racing Tour faces an uncertain future.

Will the old monohull concept continue to attract interest, sponsorship and the next generation of talent? Will the traditional form of match racing remain relevant?

The current incarnation of the WMRT started in 2005 but stretches back to the late 1980s. Kiwis Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and Adam Minoprio are among those who made their first strides towards greatness in the class.

WMRT CEO Jim O'Toole remains bullish, saying a robust business model along with new venues, increased prize money and a deep talent pool ensures their future.

"Almost by accident this [the America's Cup shift to multihulls] puts us at the top of one pyramid," says O'Toole. "Before that, we were very clear in our position below the America's Cup. There are 1850 world-ranked match racers and we have a responsibility to promote monohulls. Our relationship with ISAF is about bringing through the next generation of match racing talent."

When the future direction of the Cup was announced late last year, O'Toole says there was "serious discussion" about using catamarans at a couple of the WMRT venues.

"But our eventual consensus was that this level of match racing is best done in monohulls. Catamarans are a completely different proposition with completely different racing techniques."

O'Toole also points out that the heritage of the sport is heavily tied to monohulls. "We don't believe that the guy who does the Friday night club match race is suddenly going to ditch the monohulls and say to their club, 'We all need to start racing in catamarans'."

Many clubs and marinas are not set up to house large volumes of catamarans. But at a professional level the defections appear to have started. Minoprio was reigning WMRT champion when he decided to leave the tour last year to pursue a Cup dream.

Ben Ainslie and Origin also left the WMRT at the end of 2010 when the route to the America's Cup was gone.

"The game has changed," Ainslie told the Herald on Sunday at the time. "I think that match racing will be a very small part of the next regatta. It will mostly be about trying to develop the fastest boat possible."

Current Australian hotshot Torvar Mirsky, the 23-year who has finished third and second in the last two years, has signed as helmsman of the Italian America's Cup challenge.

Al Stewart Year of the Cat On The - Infidel Bloggers Alliance

IBA Quote of the Week.
“I would have paid more attention to it if I had had any sense of it,” she said. “When women are harassed and subjected to this in society, they’re denied an equal place in that society. Public spaces don’t belong to them. Men control it. It reaffirms the oppressive role of men in the society.