Not directly related to the thread- but from a news media perspective sailing fraternities rarely communicate - if at all.

In 20 years as a radio news director up and down the Australian east coast I counted maybe 20 media releases or had phone/fax contact from local sailing clubs or groups. When it came to news/sports coverage I went first to local football/soccer/cricket codes because they consistently supplied info and good spokespeople. The only time sailing rated a mention was when I was contacted by (a) the Sydney to Hobart race PR team to report on local competitors in the event,(b) if the 18 foot skiffs passed through as part of a national televised race series or (c)if there was a combined well-organised sports carnival for the whole region. Sailing would be mentioned in passing but other mainstream sports would get the coverage and the overall focus.

If I was contacted by a local club I provided good pre- publicity, but it was then very rare to get coverage during or after the racing. I resorted to chasing clubs to get event info to provide an alternative to ad-nauseum football coverage but gave up in the end through lack of time. If we had a local winner in the state or national cat titles you might possibly see them once in the local paper and on a TV news bulletin. Sadly radio didn't rate a mention.

There is a huge amount of fax/email going to newspaper sports journalists daily, but they are usually only interested in servicing mainstream sporting networks because they consistently get stories out of them.

Any sailing media release has got to be riveting from the first word to avoid getting filed in the waste bin.


Qb2