Gary Jobson | segling i media

Gary Jobson is one of the best ambassadors for sailing in the U.S. Winner of the America’s Cup in 1977 as tactician for Ted Turner, he rapidly became a broadcaster / producer (he is ESPN’s Sailing Analyst), lecturer, and writer. He knows the sport of sailing inside out.

“The sport of sailing is huge from a participant’s point of view”, he says. “People can enjoy this sport throughout their life, whatever their level. It can be athletic or not, it allows you to travel and it is a very social sport that connects you with nature. It is a sport that combines all those values. However, sailing struggles to make it in the mainstream media and on TV. Why is this?”

“Well, it is hard to increase sailing airtime on TV. You need to buy time; the equipment is heavy etc… According to me, the solution is Internet. It has a huge potential. I’ll give you an example: during Key West, I proposed TV on Internet. 1’500 people connected the first day, then 5’000 the second, 30’000 the third… until 140’000 people logged in on the last day!”

“Another example is the sailing events in the Olympic Games, that didn’t make it to TV but were on the Internet. It is a good solution for the future. I think the key is that productions shouldn’t be any longer than 3 minutes. Otherwise people get bored.”

“The top sailors should also be the ambassadors of the sport, but they are not always good at it. They often want to take, not give. They have a huge responsibility.”

“I see things differently. I have done 650 TV shows, mainly based on sailing. I’ve also done 2100 lectures (I do approximately 100 per year) and written 900 articles.”

“When I film boats, I often struggle to get cameras on board. In the America’s Cup, teams often don’t accept microphones on board. This should be forced. There is way too much paranoia. The most interesting thing during a race is to listen to what happens on board.”

“Sailing definitely has a problem. However, this sport has all the ingredients to succeed and I have spent my life working to enhance its visibility.”