sailing without having a real yachting culture has undermined the spirit and mass appeal of the tour. Critics say the level of racing has declined in recent years, and that it is now little more than a training ground for higher profile events such as the LV Trophy and America’s Cup. Lim has defended his goal of pushing the business side of sailing, saying that more money brings better sailors. He also says that in order for yacht racing to grow its fan base it has to expand beyond its traditional waters in the United States, Europe and Britain. The tour has also made forays into other Asian countries, none of which are strong sailing centres. South Korea hosted its third WMRT event this summer, and Vietnam was scheduled to host a race but its participation has now been delayed until 2011. It is hoped that the Qingdao event will attract thousands of spectators and once again promote the seaside city as the heart of Chinese sailing. The marina infrastructure built for the 2008 Olympics has already been used for stopovers of the Volvo Ocean Race and the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. Beneteau will provide ten First 40 yachts, a popular production boat with weekend club racers, as the race boat in Qingdao. Beneteau was also the supplier of yachts for the China Cup International Regatta, selling about 30 Beneteau First 40.7s to the organisers. Most of the boats sold for the China Cup International spend the majority of their time
YACHTING
China Match Play With the World Match Racing Tour heading to Qingdao in October, Cameron Dueck examines its likely impact on sailing’s popularity in the Middle Kingdom
C Brendon O'Hagan/Subzero Images
hina is once again spending big to bring sailing to its shores. This time it is the World Match Racing Tour (WMRT), set to arrive in Qingdao later this year. While the event will put China on the sailing map, it doesn’t change the fact that yachting in China remains an event, a business and a promotional exercise – but not a thriving domestic sport. The WMRT is a professional racing series that travels to 10 ports around the globe, using different boats in every port. The series is based on the same match racing format used in America’s Cup, with two identical boats facing off against each other. Races are held close to the shore in order to attract spectators. International television and sponsorship deals as well as port fees of €60,000 paid by the hosts provide handsome prizes for the winning crews. China is the latest venue to be added to the tour, with the Qingdao Match Cup set to take place from 19th-25th October. The local Qingdao government has signed a five-year deal with WMRT to host an annual stage of the tour. The Cup offers US$500,000 in prize money, the highest on the tour. WMRT says the size of the prize will become the new benchmark for other host ports to aim for. The WMRT already has strong Asian ties. In September, 2009 Regal Faith, a Hong Kong-based company led by Malaysian businessman Patrick Lim, bought the 30
HK GOLFER・AUG/SEP 2010
rights to the tour. Lim, a real estate developer and now chairman of the WMRT, got involved with sailing in 2005, when he founded the Monsoon Cup as a WMRT regatta in Malaysia’s Terengganu state. He’s not a sailor himself, but Lim saw the world of professional yacht racing as a way to turn a Malaysian backwater from a sleepy fishing village into an international resort and marina centre. He appears to have succeeded. The Monsoon Cup was named the best tour event last year, and this December it will host the final leg of the tour as well as the crowning of the new World Champion of match racing. There’s no doubt that the WMRT offers an exciting spectacle. The tour attracts some of the top names in the sport, including the likes of Ben Ainslie, Ed Baird, Dean Barker, James Spithill and Chris Dickson. But there is growing criticism that hosting racing events in countries eager to get involved in the business end of HKGOLFER.COM
bobbing in the marina, as there are few sailors to take them out on the water except for on the race weekend itself. That’s the story for many yachts sold into China. The glitz of the yachting lifestyle appeals to far more people than yachting itself. The WMRT may help put Qingdao on the map of professional racing, but the port is not yet marked on the charts of the average sailors who form the backbone of the sport. If China really wants to create a yachting culture it needs to start from the bottom, not the top. Open the coastline to cruisers, and make it easier for them to visit all the colourful ports along China’s shores. Create a feasible legal structure for yacht licensing and ownership instead of treating them like commercial vessels. Once these steps have been taken t he sport of sailing will begin seeing real sustainable growth in China, creating a genuine market for the government’s lavish yachting events.
BOOKS
St Andrews: The Home of Golf
I
f you’re only going to buy one golf book this year, make sure it’s St Andrews: The Home of Golf. Published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Open Championship, this is a lovely, illustrated tribute to golf’s birthplace; and unlike many other books on the subject, it doesn’t focus exclusively on the Old Course. While the Old Lady is featured – and beautifully captured by the lens of specialist golf course photographer Kevin Murray – authors Henry Lord and Oliver Gregory take readers on a tour of all St Andrews’ courses, its clubs and societies, its university, its cathedral, its cobbled lanes and agreeable watering holes. What’s more, Seve Ballesteros, who won the 1984 Open at St Andrews, contributes a heartwarming foreward. Appropriately, proceeds from the book’s sales benefit brain cancer research. St Andrews: The Home of Golf by Henry Lord, Oliver Gregory and Kevin Murray is published by Corinthian Books, priced £30 with 80p from every sale donated to the Seve Ballesteros Foundation in partnership with Cancer Research UK. The book is on sale through amazon.co.uk.
HKGOLFER.COM
HK GOLFER・AUG/SEP 2010
31