Valencia Eventos Náuticos

One might or might not approve the way Russell Coutts is managing the America’s Cup but there is one area, in my opinion, where we must unanimously agree.

The RC44 one-design yacht, conceived and created by Coutts, is weathering the crisis very well with a fleet that fluctuates between 14 and 16 boats, a very respectable number. We caught up with Bertrand Favre, the RC44 Class Manager, and talked about the present and future of the class.

VSail.info: We have 14 boats on the starting line here in Puerto Calero, a very respectable number if one takes into consideration the current crisis affecting the world economy in general and the sport of sailing in particular. What, in your opinion, makes the RC44 Class and its championship resilient?
Bertrand Favre: I think that one of aspects that is very important for the boat owners and their teams is the one-design as well as the fact costs are reasonable and controlled.

VSail.info: Why are costs reasonable and how are they controlled?
Bertrand Favre: We have very strict limits on the number of sails we validate each year and a rule that limits the number of professionals onboard. Since it’s a one-design class there are no costs associated to boat development. One season costs approximately 500,000 euros and it’s very difficult to spend more than that unless, of course, you want to fly to the venues in first class and stay in five-star hotels.

VSail.info: How much does an RC44 yacht cost?
Bertrand Favre: A new boat, without any sails, costs 425,000 euros while a boat ready to race with a complete set of sails costs about 520,000 euros. It’s very interesting to point out that a second-hand boat, four years old, sells for approximately 300,000 euros. As you see, thanks to the one-design aspect of the class, the old boats don’t lose their value in such a dramatic way. Obviously, everything devalues but unlike other classes second-hand boats are not worthless. On the contrary, we still have old boats that are very competitive. For example, AFX Capital Racing, the new Italian team, bought the former Mascalzone Latino boat, our seventh boat to be built, and has a very respectable performance in the middle of the fleet and already makes some of the more established teams worry.

VSail.info: Has any owner sold his old boat and built a new one?
Bertrand Favre: The only one to have done it is Chris Bake, owner of Team Aqua. He has a new boat now and the old one has been bought by RUS 7. In fact whether you own the RC44 yacht number 2 or number 20, you will have identical boats, with the obvious differences that the older one has been used more or might have suffered more accidents or breakages.

VSail.info: Has the RC44 yacht changed since her creation?
Bertrand Favre: We have evolved the boat by introducing various modifications but always throughout the entire fleet at the same time. This year we introduced a bigger mainsail, 2.50m2 bigger than the previous one, we added a jib cunningham and a system to adjust the checkstays. Our philosophy is to slowly evolve the boat in a one-design manner.

VSail.info: Are there any potential owners knocking on your door?
Bertrand Favre: We have a number of people that are interested and this is a continuous process. We have potential owners with whom we are in discussion and another one that will charter the Polish boat MAG Racing in the Cascais regatta. As you see, this is a continuous process and in Cascais we will have 15 boats.

We are a class that has been conceived with the owners and their teams in mind. The owners pay an annual fee of 15,000 euros, much smaller compared to other classes, and they are provided with a wide range of services. We offer them a service, we have a technical team ready to solve any problem the boats might have during an event, we take care of the shipping and transport. They must pay for the shipping and transport but we take care of it and when you negotiate prices for 35-40 containers you, obviously, get much better prices than you would get for just one or two containers.

We have owners that come and others that go but that’s normal and it happens in all yacht classes and circuits. At the end of each season you have changes.

VSail.info: So, are you a class primarily geared towards wealthy owners? Do any owners try to find sponsors and will sponsors get any return on their investment?
Bertrand Favre: I think that our strongest point is our hospitality program and the onboard guest position. Sponsored boats have the possibility to offer their partners a very good platform. Right now we have five sponsored boats and quite often there exists a privileged relation between the owner and the sponsor but the hospitality side of our circuit is clearly very attractive for all sponsors.

VSail.info: You have also made changes to the race format and match racing forms now a small part of the schedule. What was the logic behind that decision?
Bertrand Favre: Yes, we have taken off one day from the match race part and we don’t do an overall result for each event. The owners like driving their boats and if you had asked me two years ago whether in 2012 we would still be doing match racing I would have said no because the class is evolving towards fleet racing. However, we now have an increasing number of owners that want to steer in match racing because they love it. They want to do it because they like it but also because they see it as a great tool to train and progress. Even young sailors that train for the Olympics do some match racing because it develops their reflexes and skills.

One factor we have to always take into consideration is the time owners can take off their daily business obligations. I think that being outside of their companies five times a year four-five days each time is probably the limit. As a result, we will continue with the current format at least this year. We might make some changes if we have more boats. If you have 18-20 boats you simply can’t have half of the fleet racing while the rest is just sitting there and waiting. We will have to be creative in order to find other solutions. That’s why we have already shortened the prestart down to two minutes. I think we still have a small margin but if the fleet gets much bigger we will definitely have to find other solutions. We might have two separate race areas or we might even have some teams that simply don’t want to match race but desire to have a practice fleet race in another race area. We will see.

VSail.info: While the number of boats is increasing, I see that you are struggling to find new venues and this year you will only have five. Do you encounter difficulties in finding more venues?
Bertrand Favre: No, on the contrary. It’s a decision taken by the owners not to have more than five events per season, for the reason I told you. Six events are just too many for them. I could even claim that now that our circuit is well established and consolidated, I have cities that directly contact me, interested in our project.

VSail.info: I also notice that all venues this year are in Europe. You don’t visit the US or the Middle East. Is that as well a wish by the owners that want to concentrate their obligations in a smaller area?
Bertrand Favre: I think there will be surprises in the 2013 calendar. I am now in conversations with various cities and most probably we will go out of Europe once again. I would say that this year it was more of a coincidence the fact we are only in Europe. We appreciate the cities and local organizers, such as Puerto Calero, with whom we have a good relationship. It is also a simple question of timing. The further away you go, the more time you need to move from one venue to another. You have to take those factors into consideration. If it takes you two months to move to the next venue, logistics become very complicated.

VSail.info: Is it expensive for a city to host an RC44 event?
Bertrand Favre: It depends on the infrastructure already in place. We have a host-city fee, a small one in my view, but we are very demanding in what regards the quality of services offered by the city. Let’s take the example of Valencia. It didn’t cost a lot because they already had the media center, the VIP area, the technical area and didn’t need to build anything. On the contrary, in Marstrand they had to build everything so it cost much more.

On average the total cost for a city is around 200,000 – 300,000 euros, including the host-city fee. It’s a reasonable price that reflects the philosophy of our class. It also allows cities to have a good return. Just the amount of money spent by the 16 teams in the local economy is more than that. It’s also the reason very often the cities want to repeat. I discuss with the various potential venues and before I make any binding agreements, I talk with the owners who ponder each venue and tell me what they think.

Nevertheless, our first and foremost consideration in choosing a venue are the wind and sailing conditions. Whether they are small or big cities they have to be sailing venues where the probability of losing racing days is very small. Another major priority is to go to places where the marina is located within walking distance from the hotels, the restaurants and the urban area.

VSail.info: With the exception of Ironbound, all your owners are also European. If I remember well, Frank Pong from Hong Kong took part one year in the circuit. Do you think it’s impossible to have non-European owners that stay longer.
Bertrand Favre: We also had Isao Mita from Japan that participated in two seasons. Even if we want to expand the class outside Europe, the problem for him was that he was spending too much time travelling to the venues. He was spending too much time on the airplane. For that reason, we will return to countries where we think we have a chance to develop the class in the future. We are still in negotiations with potential venues in those areas.

VSail.info: Is Asia a target for the RC44 class?
Bertrand Favre: No, not yet.

VSail.info: Going back to the amateur rule, is there any discussion in allowing more professional sailors in the crew?
Bertrand Favre: No, because it’s one of the key elements of the class. It gives owners the possibility to have friends in the crew. Igor Lah sails together with his son and in a number of teams you have young sailors. It’s also a very good opportunity for young sailors to enter the market and we had a number of them that raced two years as amateurs and then jumped into professional sailing, either here or in other classes. It’s a very good springboard for them.

AEZ is one of the five sponsored teams of the RC44 fleet. Puerto Calero, 10 February 2012. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / VSail.info

VSail.info: The RC44 class used to have BMW and DHL as sponsors and partners and I now see Beluga as the only partner in 2012.
Bertrand Favre: Yes, Beluga is our partner and they provide us with delicious vodka and some cash. It’s true the class is actively seeking a naming sponsor or at least a major sponsor but, as you very well imagine, the current difficult economic situation makes that more difficult. The entire sport of sailing encounters the same problems but we are lucky to have partner cities and owners that are united in making this a viable and sustainable project without any problems. Obviously, the moment we find that sponsor we will be able to increase the level of what we are doing.

VSail.info: Are you happy AUDI stopped supporting the Medcup circuit?
Bertrand Favre: No, not at all because it’s not a positive development for the sport of sailing. We never considered them as our competitors. In fact, we had good relations with them and we always tried to avoid any overlaps in our calendars, as much as possible. The TP52′s might have less boats but it is always an important class. Another aspect is that the AUDI Medcup was a very different product from ours. It had much bigger budgets, teams that were 100% professional and a very commercial approach. Again, nobody can be happy when a flagship circuit disappears.

Comunicado: rc44.com