All,

Does anyone remember when they used to have sailing on the TV.  Gone are the days of showing ultra30 sailing on afternoon grandstand.

I feel annoyed that the only sailing programes that I can find are Watersports World and Seamaster Sailing.  I think that is shocking that sports as rubbish as tiddly winks have more television coverage that sailing.

I am toying with the idea of writting a strongly worded letter to the bbc and sky to as them to have a word with themselves and pull there finger out.

Any Views?????

i no i really want proper people on tv presenting sailing programs but first i want sailing programs!!! the only thing i can watch related to sailing is the olympics!!! dam!

I think that the problem is that sailing is not the most exciting of spectator sports, especially offshore racing, its great fun to do (don't get me wrong) but trying to make it into something that will entertain people who have no idea of the sports mechanics is next to impossible.  I would say, however that match racing and team racing are definately good for TV, team racing especially, races are about 5 min long, you could easilly pick the highlights out of a days racing to fill a half hour slot or so on a saturday afternoon. 

The other problem we have is that the vast majority of sailing is amature, and how many other amature sports get on TV?  The Ultra 30's were on because it was a pro circuit.  It would be good to hear from olympic class regattas like Hyeres and SPA, and even the youth worlds. 

I reckon it would be great to have a monthly slot on grandstand where they did a round up of all the major regattas, at least olympic, european, and world championships where UK teams did well, that alone would be enough of a start to get more people interested in the sport. 

not that the coverage of the olympics was any good.  We won the first gold medal for great britain in the olympic with Shirley Robertson and they have a 1 min news report on it.  Whats the point in that. I think that the great britain sailing team are very good and win lots of medals for the country and they show 1min news reports, thats shocking.

There used to be 18 foot skiff sailing on a sky sports and also on a channel called extreme also on sky, it was on every week for about 9 months and then just dissappeared.

With regard to sailing not being the most thrilling thing to watch on tv if you are not a sailor then what about programmes like Matt Hayes fishing adventures, how is watching someone sit on the side of a river and catch nothng for hours and talk about bait and maggots thrilling. 

I think that is is shocking. 

i no i mean what is interesting about maggots??!!!!!!!  i wish we could get some tv coverage of stuff like the worlds and europeans - specially in the skiffs and 29ers, 49ers or big regattas. or even team racing like turtle said thats so fun to watch and the tactics they use are incredible!!! if anyoe works for BBC...

Thats a good shout actually. 

If there is anyone out there on this forum or reads stuff from the forum that works for the bbc or any kind of tv network that let me or anyone know as we need to put more sailing on tv.

I think I may be forced to write a strongly worded letter/e-mail to the bbc telling them that they are missing out on a massive audience.

Serisouly we are going to have thius conversation many times over and nothting is going to happen. Sailing is a serisouly complex sport to those who dont know the first thing about it (general public) and unless sailing gets its own channel or slot on sprts channel the TV companies will have to keep aiming their sailing programs at the general public which makes them usless for all of 'us' sailing folk.

Now you could try another angle and try making your own TV program and sending it to the TV companies so that they have it incase they have a slow news day and goodness we seem to be having those quite often.

Exactly - sailing is too difficult for the great unwashed to understand.  The Aiinslie/Sheidt saildown in the last race of the 2000 Olympics was great TV - but only if you were a sailor who understood the rules!  The general public would think it was crazy - the leader trying to do badly just as long as his rival did badly too!  The Aussie 18 footer coverage was wonderful - but that is a class where there is a long tradition of making things easy for spectators.

And TV costs money.  I've had involvement with motor sport for years - and most of the motorsport that gets on TV is there because the competitors are paying for it to be there.  Even the highest level in the country - British Rally Championship - if a competitor doesn't pay for the "media pack" (which costs thousands) he won't get on the telly, even if he is running at the front of the field. 

So we really can only expect the really high level stuff (Volvo Ocean race, Americas Cup) to get on terrestrial telly.  Maybe we should just go sailing instead....

What we need to do is start an online petition and get everyone on the forum to sign it, and then send it off to the bbc showing that there is support for sailing to be shown on terrestrial tv

Well said turnturtle! I watched the whole of the olympic sailing bit (and the boxing cos that Amir Kahn's quite cute) but the only other vaguely interesting thing I saw was a round the island race with these two irritating women who had no clue (I think that's the same one as bns saw!!) it was actually kind of amusing, but only cos I had nothing better to do that day!!

Im just off to email the bbc... they know me quite well - I like to complain about things cos I know they'll reply!

Haha, SeaFalcon, you sound very lonely. I'll be your friend!

As for sailing on tv, let's face it. The coverage is mainly just gonna be boats blasting in a straight line. Even I find that boring after a while! The start sequence would be good viewing, as would maybe some windward/leeward mark action. But then, even saying that, you can only watch so many tacks, gybes, bear aways, kite hoists, kitre drops, etc. before that will become tedious aswell. The really interesting stuff is seeing the bigger picture, how competitors get on all the way through the championship, each competitiors tactics etc. andI think the best media for that is probably just good old fashioned reading!

Sorry to be controversial, just playing devils advocate.

But as far as I know (I'm no football expert, more of a rugby fan) the football players dont run in the same direction for like 15mins at a time!

On the other hand, they show the marathon on tv!

What day is that?

And I'm at the essex dinghy champs all w/end, doh!

But essex girls, YEY!

yeah talking bout exposure of sailing on tv we have a copy of a tv show on my friends comp of some local news talking about the cadet nationals and the firefly nationals. and we also had the local radio station come down to the club to interview the cadets. Not a huge amount but its something.

Should have taken her Mum as well then chap

Don't worry, if it is the America's Cup it will be very boring.

Theer is no getting away from the fact that sailing is boring to watch.

Can we get back on the subject of Essex girls?

 Fully agree with you there, BWD! 

errrr, on Sailing on TV, not Essex girls... I'd rather choose Essex boys, myself

Oi, now i'm originally from Croydon and I ain't no wide boy ( well apart from my midrift).

I think that chavs are only a certain age group so therefore you are probably too old, so I do not include you as a chav.

I accept your challenge.

Sailor Girl is obviously nice. However I think that she could get nasty, if I classed her as a stereotypical Essex girl. So I won't.

Got some cheap watches available, genuine Gucci and Rolex £35-00 each. I can also get you a good deal on a bit of bling if you are interested. I know a bloke in the pub who has a mate in the trade. Top quality sheepskin coats for the winter, get 'em quick before the cold weather gets here. everyone in surrey street market will be wearing them this winter.

Yes , BnS overstepped the mark again

Oooooooh, your gonna wish you hadn't posted that. Some thoughts are best kept to yourself, especially when a French woman is involved

Originally posted by Pierre who'd better watch out!!!  Yes , BnS overstepped the mark again

OI, PIERRE!!!!!   That's not fair!!

I seem to remember that the topic was Banter Magazine? and it got closed after some witty boys went a bit too far... I certainly wasn't part of that!
You should know me by now.. I'm more of a double entendre girl, as you say in English. And I don't overstep the mark: just put minds in the right direction and let them draw their own conclusions....................................    

i just got a good idea from the above thread! 

why dont we combine the distruction darby 5000 sailing with essex girls.

have 5000 crewed and helmed by essex girls its bound to be a hit!! oh and can u imagine the after race partys!

GAME ON !!!

Show me the way....

[puts on pulling pants, grabs coat and dashes towards the party]

Originally posted by Black no sugar Originally posted by Pierre who'd better watch out!!!  Yes , BnS overstepped the mark again OI, PIERRE!!!!!   That's not fair!! I seem to remember that the topic was Banter Magazine? and it got closed after some witty boys went a bit too far... I certainly wasn't part of that! You should know me by now.. I'm more of a double entendre girl, as you say in English. And I don't overstep the mark: just put minds in the right direction and let them draw their own conclusions....................................

Well if you say so BnS, but I think the lady doth protest too much.

I can't win, can I?

Oh I think you have more than your fair share  .....

Yum Yum

Oi no queue jumping.

 Silly boys

and succeed!

Mind you, I've never met you, Isis....... but I know BWD