Race leader’s media value figures released as teams sign-up for the GOR 2013-14

As the four, double-handed Class40s in the Global Ocean Race 2011-12 (GOR) prepare for the final leg of the circumnavigation from Charleston to Les Sables d’Olonne, France, entries for the 2013-14 GOR are already confirmed in the event’s three divisions: single-handed; double-handed and fully-crewed. Furthermore, with just over one month remaining until the eight skippers complete the 30,000-mile, nine-month circumnavigation, an independent and objective study of the media value for the current race leader, Cessna Citation, supplies a powerful incentive for the eight teams already registered as entries for the GOR 2013-14 and for projects in discussions with sponsors. While 18 projects have requested entry forms and the Notice of Race for the GOR 2013-14, eight international teams are currently confirmed from the USA, Europe and Australia. In the solo division, leading a strong, fresh trend in American short-handed sailing, Joe Harris and Dave Rearick will be on the start line in 2013.

Both skippers are currently based two miles from the GOR fleet’s US Head Quarters at the Charleston Harbor Resort & Marina as they prepare for the forthcoming Atlantic Cup with Harris and his Akilaria RC2, Gryphon Solo 2, and Rearick with his new BT Boats Kiwi 40FC Bodacious Dream. Returning for a second attempt at a single-handed circumnavigation, serial GOR competitor, Nico Budel from Holland, also plans to enter the solo division of the GOR 2013-14 with his Class40 Sec. Hayai.

In the double-handed division, the Austrian duo of Gottfried Pössel and Christian Kargl announced their Celox Sailing GOR 2013-14 campaign shortly before the fleet left Palma last September and the team are already posting excellent results bagging a second place in the recent Roma per Due Race with their Akilaria RC2, GustBuster, beaten across the finish by a 62-foot mini-maxi.

A second, high-profile, Austrian double-handed team has also signed-up for the next race with Olympic International Star sailor and former Volvo Ocean Race skipper, Andreas Hanakamp, joining Class40 sailor, Christof Petter. The Austrian duo are currently campaigning their existing Class40 Vaquita, setting the course record in their division during the most recent ARC and just missing victory in the RORC Caribbean 600 following a start line error and penalty. Petter and Hanakamp have teamed-up with Lymington-based Humphreys Yacht Design to develop a new boat specifically for the GOR 2013-14.

The design for the Austrian duo’s new Class40 will include ideas garnered from competing on their existing Class40 and analysis of the newest Class40s afloat. Sail development and testing is already underway with Elvstrom Sails, Denmark, and the final design for Petter and Hanakamp’s Class40 will be based on weather studies from the team‘s meteorologist, Jure Jerman.

Meanwhile, an Australian double-handed entry is already developing at pace in France with the husband-and-wife team of Pat Conway and Michelle Zwagernan. Conway and Zwagernan have bought a first generation Akilaria RC1 Class40 and are currently refitting in La Rochelle before a summer spent training in the North Atlantic and Mediterranean. So far from the UK, two entries, one double-handed and one fully crewed, both with recent generation Class40s, have registered for the GOR 2013-14, but prefer to remain anonymous at this stage.

The fully-crewed (4 crew) division for the GOR 2013-14, announced in mid-April by the Race Organisers has grasped the attention of numerous international sailing organisations, clubs and yachtsman as a viable way of affording a round-the-world race with a maximum of 15 crew permitted for the GOR’s five legs. Serious entry enquiries have been fielded by teams from South Africa, South America and New Zealand.

As the GOR 2013-14 teams begin to mobilise with 17 months to the start in October 2013, the first Return On Investment (ROI) media figures have been revealed through an independent study commissioned by Mark Blomfield who has supported Conrad Colman’s Cessna Citation campaign throughout the GOR. Based on a period of four months (December 2011 - March 2012/GOR Legs 2 & 3), Blomfield’s report compiled by the UK’s leading media monitoring and evaluation agency states that the media value from print and TV coverage is in the region of US$5million. With the addition of web exposure; social media and online video downloads, a conservative estimate is an additional US$1million of media value for the same period. Extrapolated to a month after the GOR finish, a total media value of US$7-8million is confidently anticipated.

For the GOR’s Race Director, Josh Hall, the entry interest and media figures are a powerful indicator: “The GOR 2013-14 entry list is shaping up extremely well and we have been very encouraged by the level of enquiries for each of the three divisions,” commented Hall from the Race Office in Charleston. “Certainly, the fully-crewed option has stimulated great interest and has proven to be the right way forward to help create a larger fleet and involve more sailors in the event,” he adds. “At least two of our current competitors have well-developed plans for entering the next race and the media value statistics released by the Cessna Citation project serve as further proof of value that the race represents for sailors and sponsors.”

For Hall, the future of the GOR looks extremely bright: “We are closing in on the finish of a second successful Global Ocean Race and our objective has always been organic growth of the event and the media surrounding it,” he confirms. “Therefore, at this stage in the development of the event, we are extremely pleased with our trajectory, especially given the financial and human resource constraints that the global recession has imposed on us,” says the Race Director.