International 14 Mailing List
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From: Grant Bourke (swizzle@xtra.co.nz)
Date: Mon 04 Dec 2000 - 16:59:28 GMT
Ex-Australian Pres. Steven Edmunds asked me to post this to the list...
The West Coast of the USA seems evenly spilt on the pros & cons of
advertising and sponsorship.
Skiff racing in Australia has seen advertising on 18's. 16's & 12's...
since
the early 1960's.
I suggest that these boats would not have survived without it or would
look
a lot different than they do today. 95% of these billboards survive on
very
little money and they are using vast sums of their own cash... the
sponsors
money allows just enough extra to let a few enthusiast still sail these
great but expensive boats. The 5% remaining make some sort of meagre
living
from it, and they are not rich people.
I agree with Pres, the right honourable Pete and strongly support
letting
anyone raise any money and publicise whom ever they want if it gets just
one
more boat on the water. We must increase participation. I firmly believe
that current class direction will reduce numbers rather than increase
them.
Technology leaps and changes in boat design have only increased the cost
of
participation. In Oz dollars it costs around $80 to race your boat,
that's
around 12% of average weekly earnings and that's way too high. The cost
of
a
new boat is around AUD$25,000 - $30,000 - way out of the average mans
reach.
In Beer I sailed "Living Fabrics" with Rick Dejong the owner. Rick got
some
help from the Living Fabrics company and we put advertising on the boat.
Without that help Rick could not have been in Beer... that's one less
boat...
Over the years 14's in Oz have allowed advertising to any extent but not
one
person has come in with any sort of significant cash help despite being
the
most unregulated market around. All sailors could come up with was the
sail,
a few fittings and very occasionally a bit of the folding stuff. For the
advertiser there are much bigger fish to fry.
In Australia, participation has been the primary factor that governs
decision making and allowing any sort of financial assistance was
positive
to participation. No one could point out that any harm has come off it.
Across the world sailing is in decline ... the 14's are in decline
because
we really are not growing.. lets focus on how we can reverse this
trend..
I think the guys no the high moral ground that who don't like the
billboards
should relax and enjoy the competition with another boat that might not
have
otherwise been there.
If he got heaps of cash in his sponsorship deal he should shout you all
a
rum after the race.
Good Sailing
Stephen Edmunds
AUS353
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