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(Boats: Silk Cut | Swedish Match)

THE WHITBREAD RACE:

SPORT, MEDIA AND MARKETING IN ACTION

Gordon Lawrence

Pounding through heaving waves, dodging icebergs, isn't my sort of enjoyment. But for the nine crews of the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race for the Volvo Trophy, it's just part of the job as they navigated 14,000 nautical miles of Southern Ocean.

Why do they do it? The reasons vary but most commonly it is for the challenge of "just doing it". Some are professional sailors and this is a chance for work. Others just love yachting, or the sense of adventure.

The Race began at Southampton on the 21 September 1997. The first stage of 7,350 nautical miles to Cape Town, was the longest of the nine Legs. The winner was expected to cross the finishing line about 31,600 nautical miles later around 24 May 1998.

As the Race approached New Zealand, the public's awareness of the event was increased by media coverage. It would be difficult to live in Auckland, perhaps New Zealand in general and not be aware of the race. The media's build up of local interest was a feature at each port of call.

The Media is crucial to the modern success of the event. Without heavy media involvement, many of the sponsors would not participate. For television, The Whitbread has all of the needed ingredients. For example: the race to the finish - a form of conflict, excitement, nation against nation, goodies and baddies - in this race Dennis Conner was less a "baddy" than previously. Perhaps this was because there was no New Zealand boat competing. Coupled with this are danger, a sense of adventure, man against nature ... and the list goes on.

TELEVISION COVERAGE

For this Race, the planned television coverage is doubled that of the 1993-1994 Race. That race was seen by 2.6 billion in 177 countries.

By the Race start in September, 33 countries had committed over 560 hours of television time to the event. This surpassed the 1995 America's Cup in terms of programme coverage and was expected to increase during the eight months of the Race.

Much of the coverage will be content supplied by Trans World International who have their own crews moving from port to port to supplement video supplied off the boats.

For the first time, the BBC gave live coverage of the start and over coverage included 35 half hour weekly highlights programmes. This sort of programme has become possible by the supply of satellite fed material from each yacht each week.

TVNZ made a pre Race commitment to carry 23.5 hours made up of:

• 1 x 1 hour preview
• 35 x half hour weekly highlights
• 8 x half hour start coverage
• and they left open a possible live coverage of the Sydney start.

The highest coverage, at the start of the Race, was to be Argentina with 44 hours, Russia with 35 hours, Australia 34 hours, several other countries were to see over 30 hours. ESPN -International was only contracted to take 14 hours. Czech TV had the lowest contract at 1 hour.

Round the World yacht racing doesn't come cheap. One typical budget published by the race organisers was $US 10 million for the construction, fitting out and salaries for a single W60 yacht. But in reality that is only part of the cost. Added in must be the cost of ground support in each of the ports visited. For the dozen crew, one yacht mentioned another 50 support staff imported to Auckland.

Big money is involved in entering the Race. In every case this was obtained by sponsorship.
But sponsors want a return for their investment and this is where the media play their part - providing that exposure. So the amount of committed television time becomes a very important consideration in obtaining sponsorship.

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SPONSORSHIP

For some yachts the funding came from a single sponsorship source. Others had to get out and "sell" the concept to a larger number of companies. For example, Brunel Sunergy names two main sponsors, five sub sponsors and 34 additional partners.

Main sponsorship sources are interesting. It is expected that tobacco companies would be involved and three yachts could be considered to have that source of backing. Merit Cup is a cigarette brand owned by Philip Morris (J Reynolds Ltd), but the yacht's funding officially comes from the Merit Cup clothing company - also owned by Philip Morris. This difference is important as it enables restrictions on tobacco advertising to be side tracked.

Unexpected were the three yachts that were linked to educational institutions. EF Language and EF Education were funded by a international education company with schools and offices in nearly 40 countries. Between them, the EF boats had the greatest financial backing in the Race. Chessie Racing was sponsored by the Living Classrooms Foundation of Ballimore, USA and supporting companies.

Every sponsor has their own particular reasons for being involved.

VOLVO

Over the years, Whitbread PLC has spent an estimated $25 to 30 million on their sponsorship. While they saw it as time to "call it a day" for Volvo of Sweden it was the opportunity they were looking for. The company had decided to end its long sponsorship of international professional show jumping. Coincidently, a Volvo International Equestrian Competition was held in Auckland during the Whitbread stop over. Why one and not the other?

"The Whitbread Round the World Race is one of the world's most widely followed sporting events. Taking over sponsorship of the competition will provide Volvo with unique opportunities to achieve global exposure of our brand name in situations which will enhance our positioning amongst Volvo's important target groups," said Volvo's Chief Executive, Leif Johansson. "The Race succeeds in successfully bringing together adventure and personal endeavour with sporting competitiveness and high technology. And thanks to today's modern technology, sailing becomes a truly spectator sport, especially on television. The Internet additionally allows the public to follow the Race on a 24 hour basis - which strengthens the appeal even further," he added.

So the Whitbread is seen in terms of international branding and of brand building potential.

Volvo will assume full control of the Race on 1 June 1998.

EF

While Swedish based, the EF Education organisation has over 13,000 staff throughout the world. They wanted a something to unit their international staff and build a sense of identity. This was a suitable means to do it and in November 1995, they became the first of any yacht sponsor to announce their involvement. EF committed over 120 million kroner (approximately $NZ30 million) to the two boats' budgets. Although Swedish based, the crews reflect the international nature of EF. Only 3 members of the two crews are Swedish. There are more female students attending EF institutions, so it was important to represent this, hence the all woman crew on EF Education. This is the first time in the history of the Whitbread that two yachts have been sponsored by the same organisation in one race. The women did end up having more difficulty gaining additional sponsorship than did the male crew. In Auckland the EF ground crew support team of 50 included their own cooks, boat builders, mast specialists, public relations and marketing staff.

SWEDISH MATCH

Swedish Match paid 65 million kroner ($NZ14 to 15 million)over 3 years, for their sponsorship, although they describe it as "partnership". This gave then the naming rights and signage. While 65 million sounds a lot, it is only 6% of the company's marketing budget and is small compared to the cost of some other marketing projects.

When I interviewed Lars Elmenius, the Executive Vice President of Swedish Match in January 1998, the company was just one year and 19 days old. He explained that it had existed as a division of the Volvo company until it was decided that Volvo should concentrate on its key business of automobiles. This restructuring set up Swedish Match as a stand alone company. While the business structures could be set up successfully, something more was needed.

"From day one we were a company of 6,500 employees, 22 factories in 12 countries, selling in 130 countries world wide," said Lars Elmenius. This was the structure built up while a division of Volvo. The world race opportunity came just at the right time. It was a good way to give staff cooperate identity and to create a pride in their new commercial existence. It was also an international event and reflected the company's multi national base. Secondly it has helped create awareness of the company within the financial world, especially London and New York.

Lars Elmenius was very excited about the success of the project. Although only half way through the race the results already exceeded expectations. "We have already got our money's worth," he said.

It has certainly fulfilled its staff image building aspect and he was very pleased with the amount of public exposure. At Fremantle they distributed hats in the team colours to the waiting crowds. Without an Australian boat in the race, the hats generated tremendous crowd support for the Swedish boat.

But perhaps the most unexpected result is with the Internet. The company has been pushed into the Internet. With the huge number of visits to the Whitbread Race home page and the resulting flow on to the Swedish Match team pages, the company had to establish its own site. "We would have done that in time, but we never estimated the influence that the Internet aspect of the Race would have."

As the initiator of the company's involvement in the race, Lars has delayed his retirement to see the project through to completion. In Auckland he was using a Kodak D50 digital camera. His aim is to include these photos together with race shots and videos on a CD Rom. He visualises it as a management training leadership device. "How do you feel as a skipper ie manager, when you have lost the wind and the rest race ahead? There is a connection between the team skills of yacht racing and company management." he said.

Swedish Match manufactures lighters and various tobacco products.

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SILK CUT

He keeps regular contact with the boat by email and voice and feeds out press releases and encourages media coverage. In consultation with the skipper, he works out the media strategy for each leg of the race.

For instance Leg 4 from Sydney to Auckland was a short distance and was always going to be a sprint. So the emphasis was along the themes of "crew fitness", "we are tougher, fitter" and "the battle of the boats". Using this stress on fitness and training, stories were targeted to a variety of Fitness and Lifestyle publications in Britain. This was fairly success.

On Leg 5, the themes will be "man against nature," "the Southern Ocean as a roller coaster ride," "rough and tough."

Jullian also aims for the Sunday Colour Supplements in the national press. He gets into the tabloids but is also successful with many of the broadsheets as well.

He writes general press hand outs as well as singles targeted at a particular publication. He targets publications in any British boating area, both coastal and near the internal water ways. As well items about the "home town boy" are sent to relevant local press.

Because of the ground work done before the race, he claims a 90% success rate with the targeted items. He spent quite a bit of time before the race setting up his contacts. This included face to face presentations.

He is the news source for a least a dozen British newspaper sports writers, who produce regular race reports without ever leaving their offices. He is phoned regularly by them for items and ideas.

It is team work though. In New Zealand he has one assistant and a syndicate photographer. Back in the UK there are four full time and two part time staff as well.

There is constant evaluation of the coverage obtained, for his job is more than just a reporter. As a Public Relations person, his job is to get coverage for the sponsor. Everything that is done has a monetary value attached to it. How does it stand up in marketing, ie advertising value.

Owned by the large British tobacco company, Gallahers, Silk Cut is the number one brand in terms of UK sales. However, it is more popular with women than with males. Through the yacht sponsorship and the work of Jullian Yeomans and team, it is hoped to the brand more into the male market. That will be the ultimate evaluation test.

The key is the use of email and the Internet. All the Sports Marketing office work is now done by email, both internal and external. The Whitbread Race has pushed this development.

Jullian is very aware of the various public attitudes towards tobacco and sport. Legal requirements differ around the world and even the signage on boat and on the 38 sails each yacht carries has to comply with the laws of every country visited. British law does not permit advertising to carry a link between the product and the event. Even in the UK published, Official Whitbread Race Souvenir Programme the Silk Cut advertising is just a bland type statement "Silk Cut Sailing For Britain With Lawrie Smith" followed in smaller type with, " Silk Cut's Challenge in the 1997 Whitbread Round the World Race...." In addition there is the mandatory 10% space for a health warning.

Because of the complexities of tobacco legislation, the Silk Cut Web site www.silkcutsailing.com is not available outside of the UK.

Jullian commented that there were actually many more PR staff than actual journalists working in the Auckland Media Centre.

The New Zealand Herald's reporter Suzanne McFadden only watched the Sydney and Auckland Stop Overs. There she could work in a fairly normal manner. For the rest of the Race she relies on the Internet and on contact with the various boat press officers. She would contact the PR office of a particular contestant and request to have a satellite phone hook up with the skipper or crew member she wished to interview. With any luck this would be organised at a suitable time and the interview would take place.

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WEB PAGE AND THE INTERNET

As the yachts neared Sydney, a massive 8 million "hits" or page visits were recorded. This record was broken as the race leaders sprinted to the Auckland finish. During the last 24 hours of the race Leg, 13.8 million hits were recorded at the web page. Dennis Johnson, the project leader for Tandem Computers expected 20 million hits per day could happen about two weeks out from Auckland on Leg 5. Most likely the final record will be established during the three day sprint between Port Lauderdale, Florida and Ballimore, Maryland. Media coverage of the arrival to Florida will be intense in the USA and will serve to create a real public awareness which can be expected to result in Internet traffic. It is also possible that the race results could be decided at Ballimore, because of the points system which is being used for the first time in this race.

Note that the number of "hits" recorded does not actually meant that there were that number of different people arriving at the site. Rather it indicates the total number of individual pages at the site that were viewed by the various visitors to www.whitbread.org.

I tend to think of the Whitbread Race Web Page as being an electronic newspaper. The front page contains a photo and headlines referring to other stories further into the "newspaper". A click and you move to a selected story and page. There is also a menu bar or contents list which will take you to the various sections of the paper. These include Newsroom, Position Update, Gallery of photos and video clips. There is advertising on each page and a shop of Whitbread souvenirs. Information, such as boat positions, is updated ever six hours. Unlike a normal newspaper, previous stories are also accessible. And with the high number of daily "hits", it's certainly mass circulation.

Perhaps this is the way future newspapers will be delivered to us. Certainly, it is a very good example of The Internet at its current best.

Tandem Computers provided computer equipment to the yachts. Each yacht has two Tandem provided on board computers and a further two for on shore use by the syndicate. Because Tandem is more involved in high end equipment and computers, they actually did a deal with Toshiba and gave this brand note books out. In September 1997, as the Race started, Tandem were bought our by Toshiba's arch rival, Compaq Computers.

Tandem now have the infrastructure in place to handle 20 million hits per day. At the start of the Race they were geared up for a 12 million day, but had to expand to meet demand. For the technical, Tandem used their NSK (Non Stop Kernel) Himalaya server and 22 Compact Pro Liant servers. The NSK server using 16 CPU's is able to handle 1,000 requests per second. Each of the units runs on Tandem Tektonic Application Server software. This enables quick up scaling of the equipment cluster to meet increasing demand.

Tandem became involved for exposure of their equipment. It would also provide a useful testing opportunity. While Tandem had a strong reputation in the high end computer market, for the Race they decided to demonstrate that they could be equally strong in the expanding Windows NT market and the cheaper servers this operating system runs on.

There have been fears by clients that Windows NT could not handle really critical applications. So the Whitbread Web site was an opportunity for Tandem to demonstrate that their equipment and Windows NT could provide a robust system. So while Microsoft are not directly involved in the Whitbread they are getting an excellent test of their Windows NT software.

At the Auckland Media Centre, US based, Tandem staff were constantly on site monitoring the local network and its connections. With so much emphasis on the Internet for media communications it was essential that everything functioned perfectly. And the reality was that it did. Tandem also provided technical assistance to anyone with notebook problems. There was also Compuserve technical staff on site as well.

On-line communication for the media was provided through out the Race by Compuserve. Boats and journalists had sponsored ie free, accounts provided for their use. Five 21 inch screen desk top computers were available around the room. These had automatic Compuserve access for outwards mail and Web viewing. The Media Centre as well as the Cyber Cafe in a marquee outside used a T2 Telecom connection, which gave a wide bandwidth and therefore fast Internet access. Mostly, the pages being viewed just "snapped" onto the screen as soon as they were called up.

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MEDIA CENTRE

Around the walls were various desk top computers, scanners, printer, photocopier and faxes for general use. A receptionist guarded the door and worked the digital ID card camera. Also available were flatbed and Nikkon film scanners. Coffee and tea was free as were Pepsi brand soft drinks (Pepsi was a Race sponsor) and beer in the cooler.

The Race Press Officer had a small side office and a corner was partitioned off for the Tandem network equipment and staff.

A couple of tables had various press releases, posters, calendar, magazines and general race information for free collection. Merit Cup's press kit included a computer mouse pad and a set of six postcards. Toshiba and Swedish Match included several 35 mm colour slides.

Regularly working at the Centre was Mark O'Brien. Mark is a full time New Zealand
cartoonist who is especially known for his Monsta characters. He was travelling from stop over to stop over drawing regular cartoons for the Swedish Match team. Samples of this colourful work can be seen at www.xtra.co.nz/monsta. They were also on display in the teams VIP lounge.

Each incoming media person wanting accreditation had to produce ID then they were photographed and issued with Race ID - a photo card on a chain. A thick Race Media Kit, Souvenir Hand Book, cap, Web site Press Kit and similar items were also given out.

There were no loan note book computers, cameras, free film or similar services which are an expected feature of many major world sports events. This lack was commented on by some of the international visitors. There was a rumour however that Compaq would offer very cheap note books at the next stop over.

The media were offered opportunities to go harbour sailing on the Soren Loren, attend the Whitbread Stakes at Ellerslie Race Course, watch race videos and attend various functions hosted by the race syndicates. For instance, Swedish Match held a Meet the Crew function with a catered meal, one lunchtime.

THE RACE VILLAGE

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CYBER CAFE AND COMPUSERVE

The large marquee and facilities were planned by an American company who have specialised in high technology exhibiting. Their on site organiser, Allison Szklarz, had been responsible for Cyber Cafe establishment in other ports, including Sydney. She was regularly around the marquee quietly problem solving and meeting the public. At this contract, the clients (Compuserve and Tandem), where happy for to be fully involved. Often her company simply designs and sets up the exhibition site and then is totally hands off, with the client fully manning the exhibition.

Besides the brand promotion aspects, it seems that each sponsor had additional reasons for being involve. So too with Compuserve.

Compuserve was the first on-line service provider, beginning the concept in 1972. Since that time it has built up a tremendous variety and collection of stored resources. Much of this is collected into over 1000 Forums, which are areas dedicated to a particular topic such as Investment, Photography, Education, or Sailing. Each Forum has a file library, message area, conference centre and other facilities. Access to these areas has only been possible through subscribing to Compuserve and using its own connection systems around the world..

However, as the Internet has developed the tendency has been for people to connect through local Internet Service Providers. Consequently Compuserve resources could not be reached. In fact the rate of growth was slowing down as well.

After a couple of years of development, Compuserve has developed a way of access through any local ISP. Existing members can use the traditional direct phone in, or the new access. Internet users can arrive at www.csi.com and then visit any of the 500 or so communities (Forums) currently linked in. What non member visitors can do during a visit is restricted. By payment of a small month fee however, full access can be obtained to a particular Forum of their choice.

So Compuserve is moving onto the Web to sell content and Compuserve becomes a giant Web site. In time users will be able to subscribe to channels of content in much the same way as Americans are used to packaging their cable tv subscriptions. The marketing slogan is "C from Compuserve". "C" can be content, community, communication... This service is currently only available with in the USA.

Anyone hitting the Whitbread Web page could click on an icon and visit the Compuserve Sailing Forum - and many did. So the Whitbread is providing a test bed for the new access method.

For the New Zealand branch of Compuserve, the Cyber Cafe was an opportunity to raise public awareness that "Compuserver - takes you beyond the Internet."

While hundreds of free CR Rom starter kits were distributed, the real test, according to Craig Tikao, Marketing Manager for New Zealand, will be how many new subscribers are enrolled. Because the CD Roms were specially encoded, it will be possible to know exactly who joins up from the Cyber Cafe give aways.

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INTERNET AND COMMUNICATIONS

But the Internet was used. By Race rules each skipper had to up load a minimum of 50 words per day to Race Head Quarters. Most would send more than this however. In addition 5 still photographs and 8 minutes of edited video had to be sent each week. This provided material for Official Race press releases and for the Web page.

During the Race, a steady flow of information has moved electronically from the boats to the Race Headquarters in Southampton. Besides email, video and photographs sent at any suitable time, the Race organisation has automatically upload position and other data such as speed and prevailing weather conditions every 30 minutes. This provides more accurate tracking and monitoring of the Race than ever before.

The same equipment permits the boats to receive incoming messages and off satellite weather information.

Selected data is then electronically send to Quokka Sports in San Francisco. Quokka have the job of maintaining the Web site. Every 6 hours they place new position and other information on the page. During the last few hours before the end of a Leg, position updates are more regular.

Communication is via the series of four Inmarsat satellites located in geostationary positions around the equator.

SWEDISH MATCH

Each boat had two Sony digital cameras which could be fixed in any of four water proof housings situated on deck. Each housing was hard wired to the below deck video work space. This consisted of a Sony digital editor with monitors. The Sony equipment was standard for each boat. An additional Sony three chip, digital handicam (DCR VX1000) was provided for mobile work.

The fixed on deck cameras were Sony DXC LS1P and are about as long and thick and a finger or lipstick container. At just 12 grams, they are mainly a small zoom lens connected by cable to the below deck "works" where the recording takes place. During recording Magnus could switch live between the two cameras. A panic button on each housing acts as a remote control to instantly begin recording.

A number of audio input connections are located around each boat to help obtain optimum sound. This is important as much of the video satellited back to base will include interviews of crew as they work. World television broadcasters also expect good sound with the pictures, or they may not use the material.

Magnus would shoot between 30 minutes and 2 hours of footage per week.

His task was to get both sailing action and race interviews. Both could be sent to Trans World International, (TWI) who were in charge of the overall TV coverage. In addition he was shooting for a boat documentary that is expected to run on Swedish TV. Photography was in addition to his normal crew work and often he was on duty at the best filming times. It also took time and care to fit the cameras into their on deck housing. Additionally he had to ensure that he got pictures including sponsor's logos. He would get email instructions to take some pictures specifically including a particular logo or signage.

Stills were taken on a Kodak DC120 digital camera. These were mainly for up loading via satellite. The camera stored 50 pictures at resolution 3 - 4 being the highest resolution. This camera is not water proof and he had to wrap it in a plastic bag each time he went on deck with it.

Magnus was also photographing slides using Fuji film. He was considering a change to negatives for the rest of the voyage in order to get higher speed film.

Each boat has a light weight Nera satellite phone system, with the satellite dish installed under deck forward of the mast. While they can usually maintain voice communication, transmitting pictures can be more difficult. If the satellite position is behind the mast, the dish is blocked. In rough weather it is difficult to track the satellite. He said that one minute of compressed video took 30 minutes to send. However Race hand outs have varying timing including 20 minutes to send two minutes of video. Ultimately, it depends on weather conditions as much as anything else. Some times he had problems with the computer to satellite phone linkage.

Some of Magnus's video clips and photographs can be viewed in the Swedish Match Gallery at the Whitbread Site www.whitbread.org. Click on "Gallery' then on the boat's logo.

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PRESS CONFERENCE

I asked Merit Cup skipper, Grant Dalton, if this was a typical Press Conference. "They rarely run the full 60 minutes," he said. "No skipper is going to give their strategy away in front of the others and no one wants to say anything that will make look silly in the company of the rest."

He said that there was a core of 10- 12 reporters following the race and the rest in a conference tend to be locals. "There usually aren't any stories out of a conference, the real stories come from one to one interviews." He noted that there were no "Fleet Street" reporters present. A few minutes later I was discussing email with Stuart Alexander of The Independent (London), so he had obviously made a choice not to attend. He was one of the few reporters regularly working at the Media Centre throughout the month.

Was the stop over a public success? Various claims will be made. What I did notice was how empty the area was of people most days. Where were the crowds?

The weather in Auckland during January did not always encourage visiting. It was often windy and overcast, sometimes it rained. Some week days the food stalls didn't seem to have more than a dozen or so customers all day. Certainly the fact that the yachts were mostly away at boat yards for the first couple of weeks would have kept people away.

LEG 5 - THE RACE RE-START

Sunday, 1 February and the start of Leg 5. The village was humming and crowds had arrived before 9 am. At 11:20 am a local vicar blessed the boats and at 11:30 am the yachts began to
leave the Basin in the reverse order to their arrival. As each boat sailed out, their theme song was played loudly and distorted, over the PA system. Merit Cup sailed last and much of the crowd dispersed. At 1 pm the press boats set sail. There were several large launches and a number of small run abouts.

I chose a larger boat with about 25 media representatives and Auckland Promotions staff. Amongst the media were a sports writer from a Rotterdam newspaper, a cameraman from Swedish TV who was actually reporting for a German newspaper, several Norwegians including a photographer who was using an expensive SLR digital camera. Family TV were filming for a special race programme, Bob Hunter of Photographers' Mail was doing a test on a new Agfa digital camera. He had tested another brand at the arrival. And there was the woman who was writing for Penthouse.

We had about 30 minutes at the starting line for a photo opportunity as the yachts tacked back and forth. "Hey Dennis!" our photographers yelled as we tracked Toshiba. Dennis Conner obligingly looked across and gave a couple of waves. "Click, click," went the motor drives. He was to be on the boat for the start. Race rules allow crew changes up to 42 miles from the start and Dennis Conner was intending to leave then and return to the USA.

Our boat sailed across the line and took up a position beside HMNZS Te Kaha, the new navy frigate. Precisely at 2 pm the canon fired and the Leg 5 was under way. Actually it was also the signal for hundreds of spectator craft to rush out into the channel and chase their race favourite. This made it very difficult to manoeuvre the race yachts and our press boat. The view of all the racing craft and white churned up wakes was one of virtual chaos. I watched spectator craft collide and two competitors had a very close shave near us. In the middle of it bouncing on a rubber inflatable was TV One Sports commentator, Martin Tasker, attempting to do live a piece to camera! Near Swedish Match, on another inflatable, their PR person, Anna Pilotti Krantz, was constantly talking into a cell phone. A suggestion was made that she could be giving a live report of interview to the Swedish radio station she once worked for.

Actually it was very adrenalin creating and quite amazing to be in the middle of it all. Being a press boat enabled us to get close to the competitors.

By 4:30 pm the press were back at a now almost deserted Viaduct Basin. The food sellers had gone and so had the crowds. Suzanne McFadden of the NZ Herald went off to write three stories for the Monday edition.

The nine yachts were heading for Cape Horn and then Brazil. Press Room rumour had it that the Brazilians didn't have the facilities ready. At 5 pm the Cyber Cafe closed and the stands were packed into containers to be shipped to the USA. All afternoon the Cafe had provided opportunity via the Internet to watch live video of the start and view race position maps. There was a picture of the race start up on the Whitbread Web site within minutes of the start.

The various media returned to get reports done and pack up. Some were then taking a holiday in New Zealand, others headed back to base. Some would reappear again at Sao Sebastiao in Brazil. In just hours, the Basin would return to normality and the construction work continue, preparing for the next big event, the America's Cup. And, Auckland Promotions would have an extensive debriefing. They want to know if the $170,000 (the Council's contribution to the total $888,000 stop over costs) spent by the Auckland City Council on the Race was a worth while investment. And did city businesses actually gain the expected $16 million boost to the local economy?

By Tuesday the NZ Herald had put the Race onto an inside page and led the Sports Section with headlines about The America's Cup.

SOME INTERNET SITES

• Whitbread Race - Official Page www.whitbread.org
  This is the site for maps, daily up dates, photographs, video and email from all boats - worth viewing.
• Swedish Match - www.globalteam.org
  EF - www.ef.com
• Compuserve - www.compuserve.com and www.csi.com
  Forums within Compuserve with Race photographs. (Pacific Forum <go pacfourm>, Sailing Forum < go sailing>)
• Send free email postcards from Auckland. www.auckland.org.nz

Gordon Lawrence teaches Media Studies at Pakuranga College and regularly writes for "Script'. During the Auckland Stop Over, he was accredited to the Media Centre and was also a Cyber Cafe volunteer.

© G Lawrence 1998

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