MUSCAT // The waters off the coast of the capital of Oman provided the setting for the first leg of the 2017 international yachting competition the Extreme Sailing Series this month.
Set against the stunning backdrop of the highest mountain range in the eastern Arabian peninsula, the Al Hajar Mountains in north-eastern Oman that also run into the eastern UAE, the eight teams of sailors wrestled their super-fast 12-metre catamarans over four days of intensive racing.
And the glorious location was one of the main commercial reasons that Extreme Sailing, with its local partner Oman Sail, chose to kick off in Oman.
"For us there's three main aspects to where we choose," Scott Over, the Extreme Sailing Series' commercial director, tells The National. "One of them is commercial viability. Is it a sustainable event, are all our needs going to be provided? Another is practical. "Is there going to be wind and is the racecourse big enough? And is it an iconic destination?" he adds.
“We try to incorporate all these aspects but not every destination will have all three,” says Mr Over.
Revenue comes from several sources, Mr Over says, without detailing figures. “We have a lot of different partnerships and because we’re so global – we have eight events in various locations all over the world – we have different models that we use to get the events up and running. We have partnerships on a local scale with government entities, with host venues – that can be tourism agencies, sports agencies, lottery funding – and we have local partnerships that may want to sponsor an individual act [leg].”
The pay-off for the host venues, and sponsors, is exposure. “Oman Sail, for instance, can showcase the great sailing conditions, amazing backdrop and they also draw global partners,” says Mr Over.
And while, for many, yacht racing conjures up images of the wealthy and privileged few, Extreme Sailing is built on a solid business foundation with wide commercial appeal, he says.
For the first leg, “Oman Air’s team have Boeing as a sponsor, they also have a bank and they have Oman ministry of sport funding”, Mr Over says. This, he adds, is not unique to Oman. “I think that sort of situation exists in a lot of our destinations. You can say the same for Cardiff [the sixth destination in the series]. We have partnerships with the city and the Welsh Assembly government. They have a body of water that they want to showcase and show not everything needs to be done in a stadium. They have other attributes within the city that they want to show off.”
As with any international sailing event, the Extreme Sailing Series requires a huge amount of organisation and the logistics multinational GAC Pindar provides logistical support for the series worldwide. “There’s a lot of infrastructure and there’s a lot of technical needs that are required,” says Mr Over. “We have the technical centre, to set up, we have around 30 [shipping] containers that we need to house, we need the cranes to lift the boats into the water, pontoons, and of course we need an area that can accommodate spectators. We need the TV networks to be able to showcase sponsors and we need transport, appropriate hotels and support for our sponsors, our sailors, our staff.”
Established in 2007, the series is in effect “stadium yacht racing” for spectators, with all the action close to shore. “The boats don’t just line up at the start and then disappear off over the horizon – all the action is right in front of you,” says Mr Over.
Attracting some of the world’s top sailors racing the hydro-foiling GC32 catamarans on short courses, the global circuit spans the Middle East, Asia, Europe and the Americas.
“Our commercial viability relies on teams in the series, we need sailors and that’s our priority,” says Mr Over. “They get paid – we want to attract the best sailors because we haven’t got an easy boat to sail. There are not as many sailors as you might think that can sail these boats. It’s like taking a rally car driver and putting him in an F1 car.”
Organised by OC Sport, an event management company and rights holder, which has bases in Switzerland, France, Singapore and the United Kingdom, the series also offers a bespoke VIP experience, giving guests the opportunity to race on board the boats alongside the professionals. This is another important factor in the commercial viability of the programme and is far removed from a typical corporate box in a stadium, according to Mr Over.
“In my opinion, it is one of the greatest experiences in sport,” he says. “You are on the boat, not just before and after but during the racing. If you are a layman, it’s going to be one of the greatest roller coaster rides of your life. If you’re a weekend sailor, you’ll get an idea of quite how challenging these boats are and how tough these race sailors are, up close. And that’s the line that all the corporates can take.”
This, naturally, attracts sponsors who are willing to pay to be able to give their important clients a unique experience of what is, it must be said, an action-packed sport. Some, such as Land Rover, are the sole sponsor of one of the eight yachts involved, which on the last day of the opener in Oman were hitting speeds in excess of 35 knots, or about 65kph in very close competition racing. While Land Rover and Oman Air pay for their own boats, which start at €285,000 (Dh1.12 million) each, others are owned by syndicates of sponsors.
Of course, the series is not the only high-profile yacht race Oman has hosted and the country is benefiting from its push to become a hub for international sailing. Last year it became the first country in the Middle East to host the America’s Cup. The Oman Sail chief executive David Graham said at the time that the wide reach of the event would create new opportunities for the Sultanate and increase the country’s exposure around the globe. “The America’s Cup brand is incredibly powerful so this will be a monumental opportunity for us to showcase the Sultanate of Oman.
“Oman Sail has worked hard since 2008 to reconnect the people of Oman with their sailing roots and to create a generation of sailors. We … are actively generating socio-economic benefits for the country and contributing to the development of the Omani people through sailing. ”
Abu Dhabi, too, has developed a name as a centre of sailing, in part through its hosting of two Volvo Ocean Race legs, the second being in 2015. The event also provided a boost for the local economy. "We added 30,000 extra hotel rooms in the three weekends that the ocean race stopped over here [in Abu Dhabi]," Faisal Al Sheikh, the director at the events bureau for the Abu Dhabi Tourism and Culture Authority, told The National at the time.
“We have put Abu Dhabi in the forefront of people’s minds as a marine centre. The race is an international promotional campaign for Abu Dhabi. We want to be thought of as a waterfront destination,” he said.
“When people think of yachts and maritime leisure, they think of exotic locations, glamour and excitement – with our marine heritage that is Abu Dhabi.”
To the layman, the Extreme series is perhaps merely the little brother of the America’s Cup but Andy Tourell, the series event director, says that is not the case. “Both events really play a critical role in the sport – but they are completely different. In the America’s Cup there is a lot of private money and every time a new team wins they have to form a new company, they can write the event that they want. Extreme Sailing is totally different. Everything is done to maintain a level playing field in terms of performance. If a team comes in with more budget, they’re not going to get a better result in terms of the boat’s performance gains – on the water they are exactly the same.”
Still, both competition’s evoke the heady whiff of luxury and indeed the beautiful people were out in force in Oman. In some ways, that is what the series is designed to do. “There’s a connectivity that brings people together who would not normally meet, for an authentic reason, and you create a platform for commercial relationships in a non-business environment,” says Mr Over. “It’s not shirt-and-tie here. Partnering with us gives the chance to have this relaxed environment while still having some business conversations. A lot of our global partners – Land Rover, SAP, GAC Pindar, Sony – they’re not ‘hard sellers’, they want to showcase their brand in the best way possible.”
And there is another reason brands find the series appealing in this day and age of enhanced environmental awareness, he says. “What we do is pair sustainability – yachts are zero-emission – with luxury and extreme sport and adventure,” says Mr Over.
“I don’t know many other sports where you combine those elements.”
chnelson@thenational.ae
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