I did some research on getting a Sponsor some years ago when I had the I 20. Everyone would love to have some deep pocket sponsor, like Red Bull or Budwieser buy you a new boat and sails, right? Sounds like fun! But I first talked with Alex about it, when he had Tommy Bahamma. Alex said, "It's like having a second job. You have to show up at events, do static displays, do the press reporting for your finishes, lots of time invested off the water and they own you."

So I went to the VP of Marketing at Delta Air Lines, up in "The ATL", and showed him a Sports Illustrated article about the Tommy Bahamma boat, some Sailing World articles, etc. and managed to talk them into allowing me to cover my boat with logos for what was their new, low cost subsidiary, "Song". I even sent my spinnaker out to North Sails in San Diego to get the Song logo hand painted on to it. The "Good News" was the Song CEO agreed to pay for all that crap on my boat, about $1,300 just in decals and spinnaker paint. My 'secret plan' was to hit them up for a new set of sails next year, and a new boat the year after that. But then the phone started ringing...

They wanted the boat set up on the beach in FLL for a weekend Song promotion. Not out sailing mind you, just set up on the beach, near the road, where the cars could see it...and I get to sit there all weekend answering stupid questions from passers by, while looking for more sunblock.

Then they were doing a similar promotion in down town NYC...set up the boat on a SIDEWALK in NYC!! Yeah, that'll happen...on my days off! Yeah, sign me up. "But you get to go to the party afterwards!" Yeah? You mean at midnight after I've taken the boat apart and found a safe place to store it??

Well as luck would have it, the Song CEO, an avid Monohull sailor, who was fully behind me and wanted to crew a regatta on my boat sometime, was caught sticking his pen in the company ink well (he had -relations- with a few Song Flight Attendants, but his Wife didn't think it too funny and went to his boss' wife, and he 'retired') just before my trip to NYC, the whole NYC Song promotion was put on hold so I didn't go up, but it was getting to be a real pain in the butt anyway, I was glad I had my time off back.

Getting free gloves, or a cammel back, or what have you, in exchange for some sticker on your boat is nice, no doubt, but if you want to go the Full Monty, Full Ride, new boat, new sails, like Alex said, it turns into a second job and they Own you, and all your time off from your day job.

And what do you get? A new set of sails? A new boat? Is that worth it? For a single guy maybe, hell if I were 25 again it might be fun, but not if you have a wife and 4 kids and a day job. I figured I could pick up one 4 day trip and make more than they paid for all the stickers. And stickers won't make you any faster.