OC Events

iShares Cup teams take on the Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge

In detail

Four Extreme 40s, including 2008 iShares Cup entries iShares and Oman Sail, will be taking part in the inaugural Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge, which begins today. The two-event series kicks off with racing in Dubai from 27-29 November, then moves to Muscat, Oman, from 2-4 December.

The Arabian Extreme 40 Challenge will be run by OC Events, and supported by Oman Sail, as an exhibition event designed to demonstrate the amazing catamarans racing in the Arabian Gulf for the first time, with a view to possibly creating a professional Arabian Series in future. Following the same short, sharp format as the hugely successful iShares Cup European Series, racing will take place in Dubai from the Mina Seyahi, before heading to Muscat for the second event (2-4 December) for the Oman Air trophy, in conjunction with the official launch of the Oman Sail project on 2 December.


Mark Lloyd / Oman Sail

Some of the world’s best yachtsmen and women will be taking part, including a host of seasoned Extreme 40 competitors from the iShares Cup. British double Olympic gold medallist Shirley Robertson – and winner of the first 2008 iShares Cup event in Lugano, Switzerland – takes the helm of Oman Air, while top French multihull sailor Karine Fauconnier will be onboard Team Aqua, owned by Dubai-based businessman Chris Bake. Olympic Bronze medallist Chris Draper will skipper Oman Sail – who this season finished fourth in the iShares Cup, in their first year of competing – and British Olympian Hugh Styles will be helming iShares.

The international crews will include Omani sailors on every boat, as well as a lucky ‘sixth man’ – a unique opportunity for a VIP or journalist to get onboard the Extreme 40s during racing and be part of the action. The four teams will not only be looking forward to racing old rivals, but it also provides a great opportunity to practice ahead of the 2009 iShares Cup, with plans firmly underway for next year’s series.


Steven Tee/LAT

OC Event Director, Gilles Chiorri, has just returned from a site visit to several potential European venues, revisiting the venues from the 2008 circuit as well as looking at new venues who are keen to host what has become the hottest property in sailing entertaiment. “We have been visiting a number of venues in the UK, France, Switzerland, Germany and Holland as we are looking to build on the successful foundations of the iShares Cup series over the last two years,” said Gilles Chiorri.

“The Extreme 40 boats are so spectacular, providing the public with real close-quarter action at a variety of venues – coastal, inland waters including inner city locations. There are a whole host of reasons as to what makes a good venue but, for sure, we are looking for premier locations that can offer the public a great spectacle as well as a fantastic VIP entertainment package.”

The final decisions on the 2009 venues will be made by the end of the year.


Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

To relive the excitement of the iShares Cup, two new videos of the 2008 Sailing Series have now been released, capturing the thrills and spills of a spectacular season:


To download these two new videos on your iPod and to subscribe for Podcasts on the iShares Cup go to iTunes, click on Advanced>Subscribe to Podcast, and add this linhttp://www.isharescup.com/podcast

And don’t miss the final programme in the iShares Cup TV series with a full review of the series, showing on Sky Sports (UK) from December 14 – see TV schedule times in your area.

2008 iShares Cup: Amsterdam final on TV as event exceeds expectations in independent global media coverage evaluation

In brief:
- Watch the iShares Cup Amsterdam final this weekend: Programme 5 is showing in the UK on Sky Sports over Friday 24-Saturday 25 October.
- From media evaluation by independent agency SMS, 5 MILLION+ Euros projected media value for the iShares Cup 2008.
- Over 10 HOURS of international news distribution coverage secured to date.
- Six-part iShares Cup TV Series available in 119 TERRITORIES.
- Event website www.iSharesCup.com sees an 86% INCREASE IN WEBSITE TRAFFIC on 2007.
- Nearly 200 JOURNALISTS attended five iShares Cup events.


Alinghi, iShares Cup, Day 1 Amsterdam
© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

In detail:

Amsterdam final on TV soon
The final round of the iShares Cup hosted in Amsterdam will be on TV screens around the world soon. Programme 5 shows all the drama of the final that saw the 10 teams battle to secure their overall placings. Programme 6 is a ‘Review’ of the season showing all the highlights and action from the iShares Cup 2008.

Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland:
Programme 5 – Amsterdam Final
Friday 24 October 1730 on Sky Sport 2
Saturday 25 October 0200 on Sky Sport Xtra
Saturday 25 October 0400 on Sky Sport 2
Saturday 25 October 0600 on Sky Sport 2

Programme 6 – Review Programme

Sunday 14 December 0600 on Sky Sports 2
Sunday 14 December 1230 on Sky Sports Xtra
Sunday 14 December 1700 on Sky Sports Xtra
Sunday 14 December 2230 on Sky Sports Xtra
Monday 15 December 0400 on Sky Sports 3

If you miss seeing it on TV, the full TV series can be viewed online at www.isharescup.com/video(programmes go online 2 weeks after first UK TV broadcast date).


Thousands of spectators watched the iShares Cup action at Kiel, Germany
© Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

A media success as preliminary media figures announced
The iShares Cup 2008 media evaluation is nearly complete and the level of exposure generated by this year’s spectacular five-event series has smashed the 2007 levels, with over 5 million Euros of media coverage anticipated to be received by the end of November 2008.

Monitoring and evaluation is being conducted by leading media evaluation agency, Sports Marketing Surveys, who concentrated on the iShares Cup key territories of UK, France, Germany, Switzerland and The Netherlands. plus international broadcast media.

Nearly 200 journalists attended the iShares Cup this year, of which over 40 took advantage of the unique “fifth-man” position onboard an Extreme 40 catamaran; an opportunity to report right from the heart of the racing, by joining one of the 12 international teams that took part.

“The iShares Cup’s organisers have, with their 5th man spot on the Extreme 40, offered journalists and cameramen a truly unique and exciting perspective to observe close-quarter action at the highest level of international match-racing. Few opportunities for sailing writers come close to this in witnessing the cut and thrust of competition while being secure in the knowledge that you are being protected by professional sailors and race officials. The series, with its stadium-style events, also draws in spectators in port cities who relish the thrills and spills on offer – long may it go from strength to strength.” Simon Greaves, the Financial Times London’s FT.com sailing correspondent.

Key for the 2008 media strategy was the international news distribution, managed by Sunset&Vine|APP, who created unique footage for broadcasters, with local language interviews with skippers and crews taking part, to penetrate those countries that weren’t hosting an actual event. This resulted in over 10 hours and 26 minutes of news coverage after four events, with the footage from the final Amsterdam event still to be evaluated. Key highlights include four appearances on the world’s most-watched sport magazine show, Gillette World of Sport, as well as in five editions of the internationally distributed Seamaster Sailing, which is distributed in 137 countries and across 28 international TV networks.


TV crews interview Pieter Van Nieuwenhuyzen, Alinghi bowman
© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

News highlights for 2008 include:
. Just under a minute on Channel 4 News in the UK, from the Amsterdam finalhttp://www.channel4.com/news/articles/sports/extreme+40s+catamarans+race+on+amsterdams+canals+for+grand+final/2468777
. 11 minutes of live TV on NDR Hamburg, the national TV station in Germany, from the iShares Cup Kiel.
. A four minute feature on NOS Studio Sport, from the iShares Cup final in Amsterdam.

In addition to the news distribution, Sunset&Vine|APP also produced a six-part TV series which is being distributed internationally to 119 territories across 16 TV networks – with an audience reach of 199.9 million homes per programme. That’s a massive 40 hours worth of programming each month! Sports Marketing Surveys has evaluated this coverage, after five programmes have been broadcast, at just under 1.3 million Euros. One programme has been broadcast from every venue, plus there will be a sixth programme with the overall highlights from the whole series. This final show will also be screened on 10 international flight networks.

“Send some of the video to your non-sailing friends. This is the future – especially of top-level, sponsor supported sailing.” Sailing Anarchy website.

The focus for the print strategy was to spread the interest across newspapers and magazines, working not only with sports journalists, but also the lifestyle and features press. To date, with coverage still to come in from Amsterdam and further international long-lead titles, the print coverage has a value of over 1.3 million Euros.

The 2008 iShares Cup provided photographers with dynamic photographic opportunities throughout the series, resulting in some of the most eye-catching images ever generated from sailing adorning front covers and double page spreads across Europe.


Day 3, iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week : JP Morgan Asset Management capsize
© OnEdition / OC Events

The iSharesCup.com website saw an 86% increase in total visits to the site with a 100% increase in unique users: up to 54,109 in 2008. Over 138,750 videos have been viewed online, with the most popular videos including America’s Cup defenders Alinghi’s dramatic capsize on Day 1 of the first event in Lugano, and Tommy Hilfiger’s spectacular pitchpole and recovery at Round 2 in Hyères. 209 online news and feature articles in French, Germany and English were posted on the site, plus nearly 700 images from across the five events, and 80 videos – including the six feature-length programmes were uploaded to iShares Cup TV.

Media coverage highlights:
. Channel 4 National News in UK:http://www.channel4.com/news/articles/sports/extreme+40s+catamarans+race+on+amsterdams+canals+for+grand+final/2468777
. Sport France (nationally distributed free sports magazine): double page spread featuring the iShares Cup in Hyères (circulation: 500,000)
. EasyJet Magazine August edition: double page spread seen by over 3 million people
. Three articles in The Sunday Times (circulation: 1.3 million) about the iShares Cup including three-quarter page prior to Cowes Week:
. Two features on RTL Germany from iShares Cup Kiel, aired to an audience of over 280,000 for each feature.
. Live interview with Shirley Robertson, skipper of JPMorgan Asset Management, on GMTV (audience: 95,000), the leading commercial breakfast show on UK terrestrial television.
. Double page spread in L’Equipe Magazine (circ: 365,411) showing the JPMorgan Asset Management capsize in Cowes.
. Over 500 articles and features online and over 45,000 downloads of iShares Cup footage on You Tube.

Find out more about the 2008 iShares Cup at www.iSharesCup.com

2008 iShares Cup season review: 10 stunning moments from a spectacular year!

The 2008 iShares Cup was a true show-stopper, with the competing teams producing one of the most dramatic regatta circuits of all time. It’s time to look back on some of the best moments from a thoroughly memorable year.

Tell us what you think was the best moment of the 2008 iShares Cup by emailinginfo@iSharesCup.com and the first 10 respondents will win an iShares Cup baseball cap. Remember to include your full postal address on the return email [offer ends Friday, 31st October].

1. First event, first race and some major drama
The refined Lake Lugano in Switzerland set the scene for the opening event on the iShares Cup circuit, from 30th May – 1st June, but the very first race of the season showed the raw power of the Extreme 40s. A sudden squall of furious black clouds, torrential rain, and bolts of lightning buffeted the mountain lake course, and in a monster gust Alinghi came off worst, with a capsize and broken rig, that put paid to the America’s Cup defenders’ chances of winning Round 1 – that honour went to the only female skipper on the circuit, double Olympic gold-medalist Shirley Robertson and her crew onboard JPMorgan Asset Management.

2. Mistral magic
The second event of the series took place in Hyères, France (13th – 15th June), in some spectacular sailing conditions – a powerful Mistral breeze and blue Mediterranean gave the Extreme 40s a perfect playground, with an epic 9-race second day packing in the Extreme 40 action just off the breakwater of the Cote d’Azur town. Hyères may be used to sailing events, but it hadn’t seen anything like this before.


Day 2 – Hyères
© Pierrick Contin/DPPI/OC Events

3. Tommy’s nose-dive
It was touch-and-go for the crew of Tommy Hilfiger in Hyères, who had a spectacular recovery as their Extreme 40 pitchpoled. nearly capsized. then bounced back the right way up to carry on racing! Skipper Randy Smyth recalls: “The crew were all hanging onto the net like scared rats, but I just crawled over the side – I thought it was history! Then it came crashing back down and the crew never stopped for a heartbeat. They put the gennaker up and we were off! They stayed as a team, as a unit, and that’s hard to do. It was a new definition of extreme!”


Tommy Hilfiger pitch-poles – but recovers – on Day 2 of the iShares Cup in Hyeres
© TornadoSport/Tommy Hilfiger

4. America’s Cup showdown
History was made at the third iShares Cup event of the season, at Skandia Cowes Week, as the current America’s Cup defender Alinghi met two challenging America’s Cup teams: BMW ORACLE Racing and TEAMORIGIN, the first time in history since the America’s Cup originated in Cowes back in 1851. BMW ORACLE Racing brought two boats and two top crews, but didn’t get things their own way as Franck Cammas crashed one Extreme 40 and team-mate James Spithill capsized during an action packed first day, then Cammas again flipped his ‘borrowed’ Extreme 40 on the final day.

5. Cats might fly


Day 1, iShares Cup at Skandia Cowes Week: Team Aqua pitchpole
© Tom Gruitt

The Solent’s famously challenging sailing conditions pushed the iShares Cup fleet to the limit in the third event at Cowes from August 2nd-4th, with no fewer than five capsizes in choppy seas and big breezes. Defending iShares Cup champions on board TEAMORIGIN went for their second unscheduled swim of the season, Team Aqua spectacularly capsized in between races, and the crew of JPMorgan Asset Management put on an acrobatic display as they parted company with their inverting catamaran.

6. Celebrity guests


G.H. Mumm ambassadors Bear Grylls, Jodie Kidd, Tom Avery, and Neil Laughton join Ellen MacArthur and Nick Moloney onboard the BT Extreme 40
© OnEdition / OC Events

The iShares Cup fleet got a little dusting of celebrity this summer, taking advantage of the ‘fifth man’ position which allows the Extreme 40s to carry VIPs during racing. They included G.H. Mumm ambassadors Bear Grylls, Tom Avery, Jodie Kidd and Neil Laughton, who joined Ellen MacArthur and Nick Moloney onboard the BT Extreme 40 at Cowes in August.

Four-times Olympic gold medallist Sir Matthew Pinsent took part in a special River Thames race onboard iShares, setting a new course record between Greenwich Yacht Club and the O2 Arena, and it wasn’t just celebs who got onboard: nearly 2000 corporate guests enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime sailing experience during the iShares Cup.


iShares taking part in the London River Thames Record, from Greenwich to the O2 arena in London
© OnEdition / OC Events

7. Entertaining the crowds
The fourth round of the iShares Cup at Kiel (29th – 31st August), put on a fantastic spectacle. An estimated 80,000 spectators came to watch over the three days of racing – packing the foreshore 10 deep. In glorious sunshine the Extreme 40s were powering off the startline and soaring into the shore on one hull, rounding the gybe mark and finishing just yards from the shore. “I think we’ve probably sailed in front of this many people in a television situation, but not in person – this is fantastic!” said Alinghi skipper and America’s Cup winner Ed Baird.


Extreme 40 fleet round a coursemark close to the crowded shoreside at Kiel
© Jean-Marie Liot/DPPI/OC Events

8. Everyone’s a winner
The fourth event of the circuit at Kiel ended with iShares winning the final medal race – part of an incredibly competitive season in which every single iShares Cup team won one of the season’s 79 races. Shirley Robertson on JPMorgan Asset Management got off to a great start by winning five races to claim round one in Lugano, TEAMORIGIN posted a consistent series to finish second in four out of five events, BT twice got on the podium in the overall event prizegivings, Volvo Ocean Race put in a impressive performance in windy Hyères to finish third in Round 2 – then Holmatro did just the same at Cowes, Team Aqua found some fantastic form to finish third overall at Kiel, and new team Oman Sail finished the season on a high with a third overall at Amsterdam.

The competition was so tight that each regatta, except the final in Amsterdam, went to the wire with the final double points race of the regatta proving the ultimate decider on who would get to step onto the top of the podium.

9. Sailing in the city
The iShares Cup returned to the home of last year’s dramatic finale, Amsterdam, for this year’s showdown over 19th – 21st September. Yet again the Extreme 40s brought sailing right to the heart of the capital city, racing on a seemingly impossibly small course of just 800m long. City workers and residents alike watched the catamarans sailing just inches from their windows – the Dutch boats of Holmatro and Volvo Ocean Race both out to put on a great show in their home city.


Extreme 40 fleet racing on Day 2 at Amsterdam
© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events

10. Worthy champions
Going into the final event last year’s champions onboard TEAMORIGIN were tied on equal points with America’s Cup defenders, Alinghi, while further down the fleet the fight for third was equally hot between home team Holmatro, Oman Sail and BT. But in the final reckoning it was Alinghi who lifted the Dutch trophy as well as the overall title, from TEAMORIGIN in second, with BT taking third in the series… Who will win in 2009? Well, that’s anyone’s guess as the competition just keeps on getting hotter!


Alinghi celebrate overall victory in the 2008 iShares Cup with G.H. Mumm Champagne
© Vincent Curutchet/DPPI/OC Events