Sir Keith Mills, 62, has spent his entire working life in the advertising and marketing business. He quit school at the age of 15, with no qualifications, and worked his way up from the bottom, founding his own advertising company in 1985. In 1988 he set up Air Miles, an incentive scheme that filled spare capacity on planes, and eventually sold it to British Airways, making a small fortune.

In 2001 he created Nectar, a brand loyalty program that became the biggest one in the UK with over 19 million customers, nearly half of the adult population. According to London’s Guardian newspaper, the other half “can buy T-shirts that pithily answer the eternal question with the response: ‘No I haven’t got a fucking Nectar card.’” He then sold Nectar and netted £160 million.

In September 2003 he became Chairman of London 2012 and embarked on two major marketing campaigns. The first one was to pitch the London candidacy to the International Olympic Committee, something he was successful in as the UK capital was selected as host city in July 2005. The second major marketing campaign involved the actual London Olympics and Sir Keith’s team was able to bring in more than £1 billion of sponsorship money.

If such a successful, self-made businessman that has been selling and marketing products for nearly half a century states in a press conference that he has found an “extraordinary business opportunity” for him and that he will invest “several” million euros of his own money, there must be little doubt he knows what he’s talking about. If he then closes the same press conference by saying that he spent his entire career marketing products and that this one is “one of the best” he has seen then you wish you could have invested some of your savings there as well.

What does all this have to do with sailing? A lot, especially with single-handed and double-handed offshore sailing, and all these enthusiastic statements were made during the international press conference Sir Keith Mills held in Lausanne, Switzerland last Saturday.

From left, Georgio Pauen (OSM Executive Vice Chairman), Luc Talbourdet (IMOCA president) and Sir Keith Mills. Lausanne, 27 April 2013. Photo copyright Olivier Blanchet / DPPI / OSM

VSail.info was one of the invited media at the two-day event Sir keith and his newly-founded company Open Sports Management (OSM) hosted in the posh Beau Rivage hotel on the shores of Lake Léman. On Friday afternoon, François Gabart, recent winner of the Vendée Globe, was presented with the IMOCA World Champion trophy while on Saturday morning, Keith Mills, together with Georgio Pauen (OSM Executive Vice Chairman) and Luc Talbourdet (IMOCA president) held a press conference and talked about their vision for the IMOCA and their four-year plan to “take IMOCA global”.

Keith Mills bought the global commercial rights of the IMOCA class and in October 2012 he set up a new company, Open Sport Management (OSM) to manage them, becoming in a way the Bernie Ecclestone of offshore racing. Our report here will focus on the Saturday press conference which we will have to warn, was long on ambitions and enthusiasm but, unfortunately, short on details. This isn’t a criticism but rather an observation after two days of talks with most of the people involved.

Enthusiasm and huge potential
Again, to state that Keith Mills is enthusiastic about the IMOCA class and its prospects would be the understatement of the year. He strongly feels it is a “truly unique” sport. He has been involved with many sports and feels he has never seen “anything like that.” To him, the IMOCA class is very similar to the French wine. According to Mills, “France kept the best wine for itself for too long. It also kept the best sailing races for itself for too long.” He was quick to stress that this doesn’t imply it will lose its French accent. It will simply expand internationally. It’s important for him and his company to maintain the incredible support offshore sailing has in France. This view was seconded by Luc Talbourdet, IMOCA President, who stated that “the IMOCA Class was undervalued outside France and Keith saw that.”

All three panelists conveyed the same message. Single-handed offshore sailing is the only sport in the world where an athlete competes 24 hours per day over a period of three months. It is unique in its ability to demonstrate the personal endeavor of sailors and produce tremendous stories. This is what in their view the media want and this is what they will strive to provide. For Mills it is important to “capture the stories and bring them to life.” He took the example of a broach or a serious incident onboard a yacht. The skipper’s first and foremost priority is to secure his boat and then report, maybe two-three days later.

Four Key objectives
For Sir Keith there are four clear key objectives:

First of all it is important to bring more international teams, that means more non-French teams. This will make the races much more appealing to international sponsors. According to Mills, for most skippers it is much tougher to make it to the start line than compete in a race. It is extremely difficult to find sponsorship outside of France because precisely these races lack the public appeal they have in France. In that stage, Sir Keith passed the microphone to Ronnie Simpson who is a US sailor, aspiring to race in the 2016 Vendée Globe. Simpson pointed out that even if personal stories and human quality are one of the essential characteristics of these races, it is extremely hard to sell them in the US since people aren’t even aware of them.

Secondly, it is necessary to have more races that go to more places, that visit more venues. That will mean the participation of IMOCA 60 boats to other races, the creation of transoceanic races as well as Grand-Prix style races where the boats race to a certain venue and then stay there for a week.

Third key objective is to build a bigger, more international audience which in turn will eventually bring more international sponsors, the fourth key objective.

My obvious question was what OSM would be doing to achieve these goals. Sir Keith’s answer was that there was an “outline plan” that would be discussed with all the stakeholders this week and would be made public in their near future.

Sir Keith answering one of VSail’s questions. Lausanne, 27 April 2013. Photo copyright Olivier Blanchet / DPPI / OSM

Two 18-month cycles
Sir Keith’s ambitious plans will not be realized overnight and OSM has a four-year plan to to hopefully “unlock the huge potential” of the IMOCA class. This plan will evolve in two 18-month cycles.

The first 18-month cycle will mainly focus on double-handed sailing and its culmination will be the 2014 Barcelona World Race whose start is scheduled on the 31st of December.

After the end of the Barcelona World Race, OSM has scheduled a brief break that could allow sponsors to organize their own racing, although no further details were given. Georgio Pauen (OSM Executive Vice Chairman) called that a sort of “breathing space.”

The second 18-month cycle will focus on single-handed sailing and its culmination will obviously be the 2016 Vendée Globe.

Following the end of the press conference, OSM sent out an official press release with the racing program for 2013 and 2014 as follows:

2013 Program
August: Fastnet Race
November: Transat Jacques Vabre, from Le Havre (France) to Itajai (Brazil)

2014 Race Program
Spring: Double-handed Transat
Summer: a 1,000 miles long race
November: Route du Rhum
31 December: Barcelona World Race

Finances and sponsorship
There is no doubt Mills is putting his money where his mouth is. Although he didn’t provide any precise figure he said that his total investment would be “several million euros”, even he hasn’t spent “a lot” to date. He sees that investment as a business opportunity and OSM will actively seek all kind of sponsors, including for the naming rights. They will use the same “techniques” they had used for the 2012 London Olympics which had very strict rules and where branding wasn’t even allowed.

One thing that isn’t clear though is the exact relationship OSM will have with the Vendée Globe and the Barcelona World Race, the cornerstones of single- and double-handed offshore sailing. These are well-established races, at least within the sailing world and we couldn’t see how they would work with OSM. What commercial rights will OSM have over them? Both Mills and Talbourdet were quick to point out that both races welcomed the arrival of OSM and despite their relative success they will strongly benefit from OSM’s knowhow. They both “look forward” to OSM’s involvement and will “closely” collaborate with Mills and his team.

Conclusion
Although there were very few details unveiled, it is very encouraging to see one of the UK’s most successful businessmen investing his own money, trying to make the sport of sailing more popular. At least it’s the case of a brilliant marketer that loves sailing and tries to market it, rather than a brilliant sailor that thinks he’s smarter than everyone else in marketing and fails, as it often happens in our sport…

The duo, childhood friends from their native Santander in the north of Spain, only paired up a little over a year ago, when Rivero asked Piris to join him for this 25,200 miles lap of the planet as a duo.

After MAPFRE the pair are only the second of the top three to complete the circumnavigation non-stop. After finishing fourth with Javier ‘Bubi’ Sanso in 2008 Rivero is the only skipper other than double winner Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA) to have now completed both editions of the race.

Rivero and Piris fought back after a lacklustre departure from the Mediterranean, sailing fast in the North Atlantictrades and making a good passage of the South Atlantic. They took on third place after passing Barcelona rivalsEstrella Damm and the French boat Groupe Bel when they both pit-stopped simultaneously in Wellington.

On board Renault Z.E. the duo had to contend with damage to the mast track, rudders and deck, with unconfirmed reports of additional repairs to the mainsail after crossing the Azores High pressure zone. Thanks to the combination of Toño’s experience as a boat builder, and Pachi’s in-depth knowledge of the boat and the experience of having already completed the course, they were able to make all necessary repairs whilst sailing and maintain racing non-stop.

Rounding Cape Horn in third on March 7th together, with dolphins playing around their IMOCA Open 60, formerlyLoick Peyron’s Gitana 80, was one of the high points of the race for them, while their assured final meteo strategy to cross the Azores high pressure ridge and reach better breeze clinched their third place ahead of Estrella Dammwho were around 150 miles behind.

Renault Z.E.crossed the line after 97 days, 18 hours, 47 minutes and 36 seconds of racing, two days, 21 hours, 30 minutes and 36 seconds behind second-placed MAPFRE and three days, 20 hours, 27 minutes and 36 seconds after race winners Virbac-Paprec 3. The duo had completed the theoretical 25,200-mile at an average speed of 10.79 knots, actually covering 28,554 nautical miles at an average pace of 12.17 knots.

[Source: Barcelona World Race] Breaking the finish line this Monday morning at 10hrs 20mins 36 seconds (UTC) this morning Jean-Pierre Dick (45) and Loïck Peyron (51) won the second edition of the Barcelona World Race on Virbac-Paprec 3, completing the 25,200 miles round the world race in 93 days, 22 hours, 20 mins and 36 seconds at an average speed of 11.18 knots.

For Jean-Pierre Dick the victory repeats his 2007-08 triumph in the inaugural edition of the round the world race for crews of two, when he won with Irish co-skipper Damian Foxall. Today’s win also adds an elusive round the world victory to Peyron’s two previous podium finishes, each ten years apart – second in 1989-90 in the inaugural Vendée Globe solo round the world race, and second in The Race in 2000, for fully crewed giant multihulls.

The French duo highlighted their drive and pace when they set a new 24-hour speed record for IMOCA Open 60-footers of 506.33 miles on January 22^nd (average speed 21.1kts)

Without doubt the success of their proven partnership amounts to more than the sum of its parts, even given Peyron’s 30 years of ocean racing successes and Dick’s incredible durability, his appetite for short handed and solo racing, his meticulous, scientific approach and delivery, and his remarkable trajectory towards the top of this exacting and demanding sailing discipline.

Their partnership has never been beaten on the oceans, winning the Transat Jacques Vabre together in 2005 when Dick defended the title he won with Nicolas Abiven. Dick, previously a full time business director who only really turned ‘professional’ in 2002, has joined the elite ranks of Michel Desjoyeaux and Bernard Stamm as the only skippers to have won two solo or two-handed round the world races.

Their winning course displays all the polished hallmarks of a near perfect execution. Their meteo and navigation strategy in each sea and each ocean, around the classic course, which takes in the three great Capes – Cape of Good Hope, Cape Leeuwin and Cape Horn but which, uniquely for the genre, climbs from the south Pacific through the Cook Strait before descending just as quickly back to the hostile ocean – has been almost faultless.

The raw speed of Dick’s newest generation VPLP/designed IMOCA Open 60, launched in May last year in Aucklandand with which he plans to challenge for the 2012 Vendée Globe, is now proven. As is the duo’s skill to sail it at the limit for long periods when pressed, but so too is their ability to sail defensively, maintaining high averages to preserve themselves and the boat in more extreme conditions.

Such attributes are underpinned by both skippers sharing the same bitter experience of retiring from the 2008-09 Vendée Globe with damage, both leading at different stages. Peyron spent more time in the lead than anyone before his mast broke, and Dick led in the Indian Ocean before sustaining rudder damage.

Though they made two technical stops for repairs, amounting to a time-out total of 63 hours in Brazil andWellington, New Zealand, the Virbac-Paprec 3 pair stayed the course to fulfil their ranking as one of the pre-race favourites. Of the 14 IMOCA Open 60s which started off Barcelona on 31^st December, four of which were otherwise considered potential winners or podium contenders, Président, Foncia, Groupe Bel and Mirabuad all retired with mast or keel failures.

Dick and Peyron led the race out through the Straits of Gibraltar on January 3^rd and after re-taking the lead on January 23^rd were never passed. The thrilling duel with Michel Desjoyeaux and Francois Gabart, which forced the red line higher and higher, came to an end when Foncia broke their topmast early on the morning of 25^th January.

But Spain’s double Olympic 49er medallists Iker Martinez and Xabi Fernandez in their first ever IMOCA Open 60 race as a duo had been second since Foncia withdrew. From Virbac-Paprec 3’s largest lead of 781 miles overMAPFRE on February 7, the Spanish pair pressed the leaders relentlessly, getting to within 8.3 miles of Dick and Peyron in the Pacific on 25^th February. But, with a beautifully precise 30-mile hitch to the east to set up early in the South Atlantic high pressure system, the winners avoided the very worst of the light winds and made the better passage of the dominant anticyclone.

Though their difficult return through the Doldrums was as long, slow and challenging as either Dick or Peyron could recall over their careers, Virbac-Paprec 3 emerged with an advantage to build on over a final 16-day marathon upwind slog to lead back into Gibraltar.

Speaking on the boat immediately after the finish, Jean-Pierre Dick commented: “This round the world race has been a mixture of lots of little things. We already knew each other a little and it was the joint experience of both of us skippers as individuals which was key to winning.

“There are a number of different images that will stay with me from the race. Cape Horn in particular, I have never been that close to it and we could really experience it directly being so close to land. Patagonia is magical – that is my most special moment.

“We are in good shape after the whole three months, and adapted to Loick’s pace. With Damian it was a lot stricter – in Anglo Saxon style!”

Co-skipper Loïck Peyron added: “It has been exceptional. My third round the world race. The first time was solo, the second with a team and this third time double-handed. And we have won – we led the race in spite of some tough competition. It was a fantastic experience and it is a fabulous feeling to finish and finish so well.

“Success comes from true cohesion – and we are both complementary. The savoir – faire of the solo sailing world means you really trust the other person. Success is also about having a good machine at your feet. We made a mistake last night – it was probably us relaxing a little before the arrival, but we did a good job.

“My most important memories are of the albatross – they are quite unique in the world and that part of the planet and we were lucky enough to see them.

“It has been a real example of team work by the ‘family’. It is a beautiful example of unity and I am delighted to have had the chance to experience it.”

[Source: Barcelona World Race] The sanctuary of the Mediterranean will be some relief for Jean Pierre-Dick and Loick Peyron this morning after an active passage through the Straits of Gibraltar last night, while Jaume Mumbru and Cali Sanmarti cast off from their mooring at Ushuaia in the small hours of the morning and were preparing to rejoin the race on We Are Water.

Virbac-Paprec 3 are into the Mediterranean and making a NE’ly course to the south east of Gibraltar this morning in 25kts of E’ly wind. After passing the longitude 5deg 37 W at 0135hrs GMT this morning, 90 days 13 hours, 35 mins after leaving Barcelona, it will be a relieved Jean-Pierre Dick and Loick Peyron who are now north of the busiest section of the shipping lane and out of the worst of the wind acceleration zone.The duo are tracked to have tacked only a few hundred metres off the beach at the Isla Tarifa early this morning, making two tacks to get through the while Strait, likely seeing winds in excess of 30kts.

MAPFRE have 250 miles to sail to Gibraltar this morning (at 0400hrs GMT) and have moderate SE’ly breezes, reaching 90 miles west of the track taken by Virbac-Paprec 3.

Renault Z.E Sailing Team have 1045 miles to make to Gibraltar this morning and are sailing downwind having made a couple of gybes during the night, making a profitable 13.6 kts to be 228 miles ahead of Estrella Damm in terms of DTF.

Pepe Ribes and Alex Pella have 1270 miles to make to Gibraltar and have NW’ly 12-15kts breeze.

Neutrogena are south of the high pressure ridge and tacked a few hours ago to the NE looking at the breeze progressively lifting them but still look like they will route south of Madeira.

GAES Centros Auditivos are 2000 miles to Gibraltar upwind sailing in 20kts of NE’ly trades, slamming and banging at the awkward angle which Dee Caffari notes this morning, they are used to and will have to stay used to as it will likely continue like this for another few days.

“ ……a week of upwind sailing and believe me it is not that funny. We are bouncing off waves and living at an angle and it is a wet and uncomfortable ride. Progress feels very slow however we are finally passing the latitude of the Cape Verde Islands so that has made us feel better.” Caffari writes this morning.

Hugo Boss are in the easterly trades still, enjoying the consistent ride making 11-12 kts in 15kts breeze, 660 miles to the Equator, while FMC are still struggling, in a bubble of light pressure and now are 570 miles to Hugo Boss.

We Are Water left Ushuaia at 0150hrs UTC and were motoring out to the spot at the entrance to the Beagle Channel where they will resume racing this morning, with some 45 miles to make to that spot at 0500hrs UTC this morning.

Central Lechera Asturiana continue to make good progress, averaging 12.2kts overnight, sailing 281 miles over 24 hrs to be 90 miles to the west of the Chatham Islands this morning.

[Source: Huog Boss] The Falklands Islands and the people of Port Stanley have been amazing to us, but yesterday afternoon we were very happy to leave and get back to the race course. The guys from Doyle Sails worked around the clock to get the sail repairs finished, and technical manager Ross Daniels did a great job on the mast track and generator, all supported by the invaluable people of the Falkland Island Company who couldn’t do enough for us. Nothing was ever a problem, rather a phone call and a 15 minutes drive away. A big thank you from Andy and myself to all, as now we are on our bikes again and heading north.

It is amazing to be able to have the HUGO BOSS sail to its full potential again with full main and big front sails.

Fortunately we got an easy start with sunny downwind sailing, and moderate winds through the night. Goals: no more stops, and getting to Barcelona before the start of the Easter holiday. Sailing the boat to its full potential, making good sail calls, and follow a solid consistent strategy. Most of all, enjoy the sailing!

Leaving Stanley in bright sunshine and having the boat surf down the waves was a fantastic star and makes us realize how lucky we are to have this amazing racing machine under us. Everybody watch out, the HUGO BOSS is back on track!

[Source: Mirabaud] The yacht Mirabaud, helmed by Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret in the Barcelona World Race, the non-stop double-handed round-the-world-race, arrived in Mar del Plata at 5pm (CET) on Saturday. The pair coaxed their damage yacht into port under jury rig following their dismasting on the 12th of March.

In good health (despite the recent anaemia suffered by Michèle Paret which requires further medical examination) the co-skippers were warmly welcomed by a small delegation of friends, journalists, members of their shore team and Mirabaud’s local South American contacts.

“Clearly we are very disappointed to return to terra firma under jury rig, instead of making it home to Barcelona under sail,” commented Dominique Wavre. “But we’re glad to have made it in safely and we are really touched by the support we have received from the Argentinian authorities, the army and the Mar del Plata Yacht Club. We have also received numerous messages of support over the last few days and we’d like to sincerely thank all our friends and supporters for their help. Finally, I’d like to thank Mirabaud, who gave us incredible support during both Michèle’s health problems and the dismasting.

Mirabaud arrives safely back in port under jury rig. Mar del Plata, 19 March 2011. Photo copyright Jean-Guy Python / Mirabaud

At the time of losing their mast, Mirabaud was positioned 650 nautical miles east of the Argentinian coast and 450 nautical miles north of the Falkland’s Islands. The pair were in a close sixth place and battling for a podium position. Michele’s health problems had rapidly improved after they rounded Cape Horn and the boat was in good shape and ready for the final push to the finish.

“Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret handled this crisis with incredible reactivity,” commented Antonio Palma, Associate and CEO of Mirabaud. “It’s often at the most difficult moments that real strength of character and clear-thinking truly come to the fore and Dominique and Michèle are proof of this.”

Dominique Wavre and Michèle Paret will now take a well-earned rest while Mirabaud will return to Europe via cargo ship.

[Source: Huog Boss] HUGO BOSS today announced that they have made the very difficult decision that they will need to make a formal stop to fix the ongoing technical issues that they have had onboard.

Skippers Andy Meiklejohn and Wouter Verbraak have been working hard for the last 48 hours on repairing the damaged sails and maintrack whilst at anchor in the Falklands Islands. The pair have worked together to try and use materials onboard and so avoid the 48 hour penalty for a technical stop with outside assistance.

Today they concluded however that in order to resume the race, it will be necessary to have additional materials and resource to make the repairs effectively. The shore team are now preparing the boat to enter Port Stanley in The Falklands, and members of the shore crew are now in transit.

Stewart Hosford, Team Director commented on the stop, “Right now it is difficult to say how long this will take given the logistical set up and infrastructure in the islands, but the boys are very focused and know what needs to be done. We have been preparing for this eventuality so are ready to get down there and get them back in the race”

The boat is currently 50 miles away from Port Stanley and will enter the port to co-incide with the arrival of their shore team.

[Source: Dominique Wavre] The Race Committee for the Barcelona World Race was informed of Mirabaud’s dismasting at 5.46pm this evening. The yacht skippered by Dominque Wavre (SUI) and Michèle Paret (FRA) had been sailing in difficult conditions since this morning, with strong headwinds and rough seas. During his daily radio transmission at 2pm, Dominique Wavre stated that the wind was strong (but not storm force) and the seas were making life very difficult.

At 5.40pm he informed his shore team of the breakage during a very brief radio transmission made under extremely difficult conditions. “We are not injured,” he reassured the head of his shore team, Magali Paret, before returning on deck to secure the different sections of the broken spar; at the time of writing this operation is still underway.

Mirabaud’s current position is 650 nautical miles east of Argentina and 450 miles north of the Falkland Isles. The weather is bad with two new deep low pressure systems expected over the coming hours.

Principal Race Officer, Denis Horeau, has informed the MRCC (Maritime Rescue and Coordination Center) of the incident and the rescue services are closely following Mirabaud’s situation.

Further information will be distributed as soon as possible.