Yachting: Uncertain future for world match racing

The World Match Racing Tour will remain a monohull event for now. Photo / Supplied

Sailing now sometimes feels like the Year of the Cat, as the old Al Stewart song had it. With the America's Cup class being switched to catamarans, the World Match Racing Tour faces an uncertain future.

Will the old monohull concept continue to attract interest, sponsorship and the next generation of talent? Will the traditional form of match racing remain relevant?

The current incarnation of the WMRT started in 2005 but stretches back to the late 1980s. Kiwis Chris Dickson, Russell Coutts, Dean Barker and Adam Minoprio are among those who made their first strides towards greatness in the class.

WMRT CEO Jim O'Toole remains bullish, saying a robust business model along with new venues, increased prize money and a deep talent pool ensures their future.

"Almost by accident this [the America's Cup shift to multihulls] puts us at the top of one pyramid," says O'Toole. "Before that, we were very clear in our position below the America's Cup. There are 1850 world-ranked match racers and we have a responsibility to promote monohulls. Our relationship with ISAF is about bringing through the next generation of match racing talent."

When the future direction of the Cup was announced late last year, O'Toole says there was "serious discussion" about using catamarans at a couple of the WMRT venues.

"But our eventual consensus was that this level of match racing is best done in monohulls. Catamarans are a completely different proposition with completely different racing techniques."

O'Toole also points out that the heritage of the sport is heavily tied to monohulls. "We don't believe that the guy who does the Friday night club match race is suddenly going to ditch the monohulls and say to their club, 'We all need to start racing in catamarans'."

Many clubs and marinas are not set up to house large volumes of catamarans. But at a professional level the defections appear to have started. Minoprio was reigning WMRT champion when he decided to leave the tour last year to pursue a Cup dream.

Ben Ainslie and Origin also left the WMRT at the end of 2010 when the route to the America's Cup was gone.

"The game has changed," Ainslie told the Herald on Sunday at the time. "I think that match racing will be a very small part of the next regatta. It will mostly be about trying to develop the fastest boat possible."

Current Australian hotshot Torvar Mirsky, the 23-year who has finished third and second in the last two years, has signed as helmsman of the Italian America's Cup challenge.

Meanwhile, British 2007 and 2008 WMRT champion Ian Williams is combining the tour this year with competing in Extreme 40s, amid speculation he will be skipper of the prospective Korean America's Cup challenge.

"Five years ago if our guys got a job with a Cup team they would be gone," says O'Toole. "But now the world has changed; the people running Cup teams realise that they don't need people 24/7; they don't need to relocate for years at a time. It means guys like Mirsky and Williams can combine the two."

"The America's Cup was always the end game," says Williams, who admits he is at the crossroads of his career. "Now the tour has to become the end game and, with the right strategy, I think it can."

With the America's Cup, all that glitters is not gold. In previous times if a sailor didn't make it to the pinnacle Cup event, there were plenty of other layers within match racing to fall back on. There are fewer with multihulls and the limited number of Cup teams will also restrict employment opportunities for professional sailors.

Australian Peter Gilmour has been at the forefront of five America's Cup campaigns since 1992 and is also a four-time WMRT champion.

"I think the Cup will eventually transition back to monohulls but at the moment the tour has a great chance to make its mark. Russell [Coutts] and his team were so good because they raced in so many different designs; it is still the proven way to learn your craft."

The WMRT will be adding new venues in 2012 (Holland and India are among potential inductees). Wellington, plus an Australian venue, is on course to come on board in 2013.

The new venues are obliged to offer prize money that takes the financial rewards to a new level, and the sailors will be racing in new boat designs.