The Times, sport section today (11/04)

Originally posted by Chris 249 Sorry, I missed out a the vital bit in that post (but put it in the later post); I wonder whether they were asked what they would like the sport to do apart from changing the major aspects (as they have done). The things I was thinking about are whether the racing could be changed in minor ways to make it more attractive visually, whereas it seems that they have just tried to make the storyline different by introducing a cliffhanger last race. I was wondering about things like large rounding marks (or boats instead of buoys) with camera crews aboard so they can get close-in pics; mandatory bright and colourful sails (art directors love them to bits). As an example, I was at a friend's today and they had a 1995 coffee table picture book on San Francisco.. The opening spread was windsurfers, but judging from the sails the pic was probably 1986. Many other people have noted that many of the windsurfing pics you see in general advertising are of the colourful '80s sails. The modern monofilm stuff just doesn't turn the art directors on. If the art directors I've always worked with are typical, they want crisp pics (which generally means allowing photographers to get close to the races) of colourful boats and sails. From their perspective, whether it's a cliffhanger finale or whether the boat is fast or slow is of absolutely zero importance compared to the aesthetics of the pic. You'd think ISAF has probably already done this, but we are dealing with a mob who "updated" the Olympic windsurfer to something that will probably be a lot slower (in 2008 conditions) and is much less colourful than the Mistral was.

This is a good point ... if you have a fleet with afrew sponsored sailors it's always the boats with big logos on their sails who end up on the magazine pages ... they just look more interesting.

They should make the whole main the national flag.

Rick

Sorry, I missed out a the vital bit in that post (but put it in the later post); I wonder whether they were asked what they would like the sport to do apart from changing the major aspects (as they have done).

The things I was thinking about are whether the racing could be changed in minor ways to make it more attractive visually, whereas it seems that they have just tried to make the storyline different by introducing a cliffhanger last race.

I was wondering about things like large rounding marks (or boats instead of buoys) with camera crews aboard so they can get close-in pics; mandatory bright and colourful sails (art directors love them to bits).

As an example, I was at a friend's today and they had a 1995 coffee table picture book on San Francisco.. The opening spread was windsurfers, but judging from the sails the pic was probably 1986. Many other people have noted that many of the windsurfing pics you see in general advertising are of the colourful '80s sails. The modern monofilm stuff just doesn't turn the art directors on.

If the art directors I've always worked with are typical, they want crisp pics (which generally means allowing photographers to get close to the races) of colourful boats and sails. From their perspective, whether it's a cliffhanger finale or whether the boat is fast or slow is of absolutely zero importance compared to the aesthetics of the pic.

You'd think ISAF has probably already done this, but we are dealing with a mob who "updated" the Olympic windsurfer to something that will probably be a lot slower (in 2008 conditions) and is much less colourful than the Mistral was.

Originally posted by Blobby   ...tie that in to gps on each boat to tie in to computer simulations of who is leading at any time and you are onto a winner.

they do that on the round texel cat race

you can watch live on the internet it works really well!

VERY good point! I should have thought of that.

Maybe the question should be "we're not going to change the substance of what we do, but how can we help you make it look good".

Originally posted by Chris 249 Actually I'd have thought the A would not be on the wire and would be slower downwind, and perhaps around the course, than the 49er in 5 knots ( but of course I'm not sure, just thinking). I think even downwind in the light even the 16 Foot Skiffs blow us away (on the T 4.9) faster than the guys on the As (ie Gashby etc) do, and the 16' spinnaker Mossies (despite their '70s design and tiny rig) blow the As away. All of the art directors I used to work with wanted pretty colours (ie kites) more than anything else, and that was in the specialist sailing media. It's like the way that most of the windsurfer pics used in the background of ads are from the '80s, when sails were colourful and not monofilm. Of course, an A Class with kite or an F16 would be a different matter! It's a real pity that (as far as I can find out) no independent sources seem to have asked the TV stations what they would like the sport to do, if we are to get vision.

 

Now an A with a Kite, that would be a good idea.