Frostad: 'We need to reduce costs'

Thursday 10, December 2009, 20:30 GMT

Social responsibility and cost cutting were two of the key topics on the second and final day of the World Yacht Racing Forum in Monaco. The event ended with a number of speakers agreeing to agree on the way forward for the America's Cup. A welcome outbreak of peace given the legal warfare of the past two years.

Today's keynote speaker Michel Desjoyeaux, the dual winner of the Vendee Globe, said that the sport of sailing was an ideal activity for the younger generation, particularly those who encounter problems in suburban areas.

Desjoyeaux also took the opportuniy to bury a myth. "It is wrong to consider our sport as an activity for the rich people," he said. "The access to our sport is easy and cheap. We have several projects that demonstrate this clearly in France." 

Desjoyeaux reminded the audience that sailing had "a responsibility" to improve its carbon footprint - a timely message given the recent Copenhagen climate conference attended by global leaders.

Volvo Ocean Race CEO Knut Frostad headlined a session entitled "Cutting racing costs - how can we meet the challenges of today's economy?"

Frostad made it clear that reducing costs was a matter of survival. "Our sport is small and we need to work collectively at growing it," he said. "We can achieve this by reducing costs in several areas, and particularly in the technical side of the sport: There is money wasted in this area.

"I am in favour of salary caps but on the other hand, I am not in favour of subsidising teams like some events do. It is the wrong approach."

Also involved in this panel of experts, Dominique Wavre, President of the IMOCA, explained that the Open 60 Class was facing - and trying to address - fundamental issues of reliability, safety and budget control. "We had 30 boats at the start of the last Vendee Globe but only 11 made it to the finish.

"We want to have 30 boats again in the next edition and we will achieve this if we manage to develop boats that are more reliable whilst protecting the existing platforms."

The day concluded with the America's Cup session.

CEO of BMW Oracle Racing, Russell Coutts was first on the podium. He admitted that "some of the lessons for the future lie in the past" for the event.

"Freemantle was one of the most exciting America's Cups ever," he said. "Auckland showed the benefits of a custom-built harbour, and the importance of a strong local support.

"Finally, Valencia illustrated the benefits of a global management for both the challengers series and the America's Cup. All those events were very successful in their way. I have one question", he concluded: "why change such a successful format?"

Brad Butterworth, president of Alinghi, reminded the audience about the ground rules of the event in commenting on the current state of affairs. "The founding document of the America's Cup is the Deed of Gift. We can amend the rules if we agree to do it by mutual consent. However, in this case, there was no mutual consent."

Butterworth also suggested that a multi-challenge on multihulls should be considered in the future. In confirming that his team would be ready to race on February 8, he expressed a wish: "Whoever loses the dual should be graceful and abandon any lawsuit," he said.

Led by Whitbread/Volvo and America's Cup veteran Paul Cayard, the speakers unanimously endorsed the idea to create an official group of challengers and to start working together on a protocol for the next America's Cup.