Segling i dagspressen

Som diskuterats ett par gånger så är det inte alltid det skrivs om segling på ett insiktsfullt sätt i våra stora tidningar. Nyligen har vi dock sett ett par riktigt bra exempel:

Telegraph hyllar Ben Ainslie. De har också en helt OK online-sektion med seglingrelaterade nyheter.

Telegraph’s football correspondent Henry Winter switches sports to reveal his admiration for an Olympic legend, sailing champion Ben Ainslie.

So it was disappointing to hear that Ainslie finished only fourth in the recent BBC voting for Sports Personality of the Year. When it comes to the viewing public, Ainslie’s sport lacks certain advantages enjoyed by the three who made the podium, Hoy, Hamilton and Adlington. Their sports – cycling, F1 and swimming respectively – make more instantly dramatic television. Understanding Hamilton and Hoy lapping a track or Adlington flying up and down a lane is pretty simple.

Unlike sailing. Ainslie plays a complicated game of chess amid the distant waves and fog of sporting war. His battles are fought a mile or more offshore. Even experienced observers sometimes struggle to follow the action. Results are often not established until protests are heard. For those whose knowledge of sailing extends no further than a Rod Stewart video, Ainslie’s sport can appear impenetrable. Sad. Few sports teach youngsters more.

If Ainslie participated in a more TV-friendly sport, this serial success would have been knighted by now.

New York Times håller koll på Vendee Globe och gör bra analyser kring varför seglarna bryter. Också här tillandahåller man mycket info och bra funktionalitet online.

Also Thursday, a rescue operation was under way to retrieve Yann Elies, who broke his femur Thursday morning after being slammed to the deck by a large wave. Elies has morphine on board his boat, the Generali, but is in such pain that he has not been able to get to it, according to Véronique Teurlay, a spokeswoman for the race. Two competitors are heading his way to help and an Australian frigate is expected to retrieve Elies by Saturday.

Owen said that Golding had discovered why the mast fell this time. “The wind had built from 25 to past 50 knots and the boat speed passed 30 all within two minutes,” Owen said. “The autopilot usually heads down wind to bleed the pressure while Mike takes the sails down, but the load was too great and bang.”

Golding discovered Wednesday that the running backstay, a line holding up the mast, had melted under the load on its winch and eased the mast forward, hyper-loading shrouds not meant for that kind of pressure. “We’ve never seen this happen,” Owen said. “If the rope didn’t slip, something else would have gone ‘bang.’ ”

Göteborgs-Posten håller på och nominerar till sitt stora sportpris. Hittills har Daniel Birgmark och Rasmus Myrgren kommit med på listan. Jättebra profiler, men är inte G-P ett par år efter båda sina internationella kollegor och Stockholmstidningarna?

Av de svenska dagstidningarna så är väl Dagens Nyheter bäst. Gustav Morin bloggar på sin egna Ocean Race-loggen. Svenska Dagbladet har Jan Semneby som bloggar från Volvo Ocean Race. Bägge lyckas också ta in en del notiser, både från Volvo Ocean Race och Sydney Hobart.

Det är svårt att avgöra om det skrivs vettiga artiklar i någon av våra dagstidningar. Den “svenka modellen” är att köra notiser på webben, och bara köra större artiklar och analyser i den tryckta tidningen?

Tipstack till Messing about in Sailboats.