How I See It

The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race

The media has become an integral part of all the sporting events. Nowadays the television audience has become considerably more important than the stadium spectators. Each and everyone can easily watch any football matches or baseball games without spending money on tickets, especially when sports are not played locally. People couldn’t even imagine that before. The media is the main way we learn about sports in the 21 century. Regarding the sport that I have chosen for studying, namely yachting or sailing, the mass media is the main factor by which this kind of sport has world-wide popularity. It is rather complicated and expensive to come to the country where regatta is held, and even in this case you won’t be able to watch all the process of competition, even from the coast, because it is always in the open water. That is why the Internet, print media, TV play irreplaceable role in the promotion of sailing. All the most influential sport magazines and TV-channels are interested and engaged in shooting the races and interviewing the yachtsmen. As regards the technical changes, which have happened since the very begging of yachting as a kind of sport, in order to make a video the helicopters with special equipment are used nowadays. All round the world races are always watched from the satellites, because they last in a non-stop mode at a great distance from the coast. Also, the journalists with the latest professional cameras follow the yachts by motorboats taking great shoots. What’s more, as the cost of a sailboat is several thousand euros, besides the fees and other expenditures (I am talking about the leading regattas with worldwide reputation), such brands as Rolex, Hugo Boss, Red Bull, Hennessy act as partners and sponsors. Such events always have a high concentration of the world’s richest people, so the most successful advertising agencies try to sign up the contracts with the organizers. There is no doubt, that the main psychological dimension of sports is competition and the achievement of victory. But as for me, yachting is more cooperative kind of sport, than competitive. Usually, there are at least 6 sailors on board (it depends on the class of a boat), so the winner is the whole team. Everyone is equally responsible for what is going on board during the race. The teamwork is very cohesive, there is no nation or sex discrimination because, firstly, the victory depends on it, secondly, the lives of people. There were many cases, when one of the team lost control and a yacht overturned. There for, I can say that the media presents yachting as very cooperative and breathtaking kind of sport.

Unfortuanatelly, yachting isn’t typicall for many countries, firstly, because it demands excess to sea or ocean, secondly, because it is rather expensive. Neveretheless, the Olympic Sailing Classes were used in the sport of yachting during the Olympic Summer Games since 1896 and has gerat popularity (over 3.9 billion people watch Summer Olympics).

Thus, I think that the media has completely changed yachting. If there were not any sport news and commercials, it would never atrract so much attention and true followers.