Friday, June 6, 2008

Revision of plans

With the August launch, I am now thinking I will do a short bit of sailing in La Rochelle to essentially sea trial the boat and then send it straight away to L'Escala. If the weather conditions allow, I still could do the 1000 mile qualifier in the Atlantic. If not, I can do the DH race to Barcelona and then do the 1000 mile qualifier on the Med course and then the Mini-Barcelona.
Ah, the fun of revising plans, at this point they are just plans though.
Next, I will be getting on with sponsorship matters. Ideally I am looking for a company which wants to increase their presence in both US and EU markets. From the media impression data, the public especially in Europe, follows Mini racing with great enthusiasm. Also, sailors are savvy enough that they understand the motivation of companies which support sailing and want to support these companies by buying their products. I think Mount Gay Rum is probably the best example of this. In recent years, Acura, Rolex, Sperry TopSider and Captain Morgan all have tested the water by supporting events or teams.
One potential challenge is that there are a few restrictions on what sort of companies can sponsor individual boats/teams. The most notable one is that sponsorships from tobacco and alcohol companies are not allowed

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