Sailing Needs To Embrace The Main

Why Sailing Should Embrace the Mainstream Media

“The mainstream media?!” You may be asking yourself. “The same media that ruined every sport more exciting than croquet by drowning it in Mountain Dew and plastering it with variations on the word ‘extreme’? The same media that make Presidential elections look like horse races and celebrity slip-ups look like cataclysmic events?”

Yes, I say. Those media.

Let me start my argument with an obvious, empirically provable foundation – sailing gets just a hair over zero exposure in the mainstream (especially American) media. The reason is simple: sailing is confusing to watch. An aerial view of a racecourse, to the uninitiated, looks like a fleet of pigeons chasing after a scattering of breadcrumbs. Explaining different tacks and wind shifts to the average channel-surfer is not going to happen quickly; it takes too long an attention span and involves too much new terminology.

So why do so many TV watchers fully understand the infield fly rule and the best defensive package for a 3rd-and-goal situation? Because those sports started gaining traction as spectacle and developed into more intricately understood processes.

And those sports have continued to dig in their heels with coverage not unlike a soap opera: so-and-so holds a grudge against his old team, this team is cursed, that team is monolithic conspiracy.

Even those who don’t particularly care about point spreads or season standings can find something to keep themselves entertained. While some might see this as the lowest common denominator in any sport’s fan base, I propose that using a similar model will help all sailing flourish.

Pitching the spectacle to TV land shouldn’t be all that hard, especially when Texas Hold ‘Em is currently holding public interest for lack of anything better to watch. Deputize a TV producer as crew for a day and I bet you dollars to doughnuts you’ll gain a supporter. Most people don’t know anything about sailing; you just have to let them in to your salty heart.

The television concept is simple, and parts of it certainly aren’t new. Start with boats that are exciting to watch, e.g. Extreme 40s, Tornados, Flying Moths. Match race them in high wind, close to shore for easy spectating. (It must be match racing because two boats, even the width of the course apart and on different tacks, are much easier to identify as winning or losing than members of a large fleet.)

Add maximum video coverage: helicopters, on-board cameras, microphones, etc (check out this year’s Volvo Ocean Race for examples). Include computer diagrams and celebrity sportscasters detailing the drama and the danger. Broadcast the whole hyped spectacle on stations that eat up “extreme” bowling and every other deplorable abuse of the word.

Et voilà, sailing heroes start appearing on lunchboxes.

“What the fuck?” You might be thinking now. “This sounds like a terrible way to represent the sport I love so much. Sailing isn’t like that. We’re decent people who rarely feel the need to whiten our teeth to look good on television.”

Exactly, I say. I’m getting there.

My guess is that on most college campuses, if you mention the sailing team, the general reaction will be “We have a sailing team?” And if you mention your sailing habit to non-sailing friends, they most likely picture the America’s Cup scenes from Wind or you dressed in yellow knickers like the Morton’s fisherman, piloting your boat from behind a big wooden steering wheel.

So one advantage of mainstream exposure would be an awareness of the sport and what it’s actually like. At the very least, this will save you some time explaining what you do on the weekends.

I know that some will say that they don’t want sailing to blow up; they like their private niche. But mainstream coverage will benefit them too. People will start to get interested, and with that interest will come average, everyday people who want to learn to sail like Randy Smyth.

“Har har,” you might guffaw. “They won’t be able to sail like Randy Smyth.”
And again, you would be right.

There is absolutely no danger that your neighbors are going to buy an Extreme 40 and start mocking you as you sail your battered Hobie 16 around the bay; there is no danger they will install a DVD player on their F-18 and finish the Tybee 500 just as the final credits role on the last episode of Lost. Sure, some rich kids (and parents) are going to get nice boats and expensive gear. But those same rich kids (and parents) already get nice boats and expensive gear. No amount of newcomers will make the sport any easier to learn.

When normal people get into sailing, they will learn the way you did: in a cheap, slow boat.

What general interest in sailing means for you will be cheaper and more extensive options when buying gear and equipment. It will mean that coaching will become a full-time job for a larger swath of sailors. It will mean more student interest and better funding in college programs. Higher consumer interest will also mean faster technological development and better manufacturing practices.

And when Average Joe finally becomes race-ready, the chances that he will step into those catamarans – so exhilarating to watch – will be slim. Because by then, Average Joe will know what you already know: sailing a J/24 is a blast, it’s just not a blast to watch.

The end result? Bigger fleets, better competition, and more support for sensible politic causes, because the individual personalities of sailing disciplines will come out from under the corporate umbrellas looming overhead and vie for their own interests, instead of for basic survival. They will have the means to do so, because fans = payola.

You see, I think that there may be a democratic result of extending sailing coverage into the mainstream that will help us all. Many sailors feel like every move they make is under the thumb of US Sailing or ISAF, especially when we see situations like the fact that you can’t host any kind of “Worlds” – not even a Cardboard and Duct Tape Worlds – without paying ISAF or being permanently ostracized from reputable sailing.

NASCAR fans don’t look up US Car Racing or the International Car Drivers Association to read the profiles of their favorite drivers, nor do softball fans look up US Stickball Games to get the results on the latest series. Each sport has its own governing bodies whose interests rarely conflict with similar disciplines. F1 racing is popular in Europe, and (for better or worse) NASCAR is popular in the States. However this came to be, I believe that sailing will sort itself out similarly, so long as the sport is given a push for mainstream exposure.

Will there be resistance? Damn right. The governing bodies of sailing are private corporations that have plenty of their own interests to consider.

Will more governing bodies for individual sailing disciplines solve all the sport’s problems? Hell no. In fact, there will probably be a whole lot more quibbling.

But at least each discipline will get a chance to see where it lands in the public favor. And the public favor will decide how money is spent, because spending to please your audience only means making more money. It might also mean a whole new face to sailing, but that doesn’t scare me. I think it’s time to shake up the status quo – it’s time to go big and see who goes home.