blood from a stone
As I sit here after the ‘Rolex’ Big Boat Series in San Francisco, the Status Quo still blows. It blows in a good way. We combine lots of wind (usually!) with one of the last bastions of the traditional sponsorship model. Big brands, big bucks, politely phrased press releases and a blue blazer organization. We have something a little different planned at the other end of the state later this week. Clean is promising G-Strings instead of blue blazers.
Your favorite bad boys of sailing media have persuaded a guerrilla brand, RONDAR, to sponsor the very untraditional Sailing Anarchy ISAF Regatta . We knew it wasn’t going to be easy. The Rondar wallet is famously airtight unless there is a cast iron business case. Part of their long standing success is that Rondar spends their customers’ money on resin, glass and carbon and keeps the boats affordable, and they hate layers of ineffective marketing spend that end up making the boats more expensive. Imagine our surprise when we got the call from Rondar’s west coast rep and long standing Anarchist, Schoonerman, to say “Yes. We’re in”. He claims that Rondar have seen the terrific marketing benefit in backing this event. We think it helps that the weather in San Diego is a lot better than England at this time of year. Whatever the truth is, we want Rondar to come back year after year, so if you meet Paul Young, President of Rondar at the regatta, get him a beer. It’s the way to an English boat builder’s heart.
So in true Blue Blazer press release style:
“We are proud to announce that RONDAR will be a sponsor for the upcoming Sailing Anarchy ISAF regatta coming up later this week. We will have 14+ Vipers on the line with a load of 505’s and various other sporties. Rondar are the class builder for two smaller sport boats, (the VIPER 640 and the K6) and numerous performance dinghies. In the 505 class they are supreme. Their record of winning more 505 World Championships than any other builder in the history of the class, was reinforced with total domination of this years event in San Francisco with Rondar hulls filling every spot on the podium and eighteen out of the top twenty slots. ". RONDAR West coast rep, Drew Harper of SPINNAKER SAILING comments, "We’re glad to support SA’s ISAF Regatta and look forward to riding the wave as this key market continues to grow. Although the Viper 640 is our principal focus, we are here for the long haul, and we’ll be introducing the two-person sportboat, the K6 to the West soon, followed a number of other great products."
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