Kostnader för ett Class 40-projekt

Nu och då så spekuleras det kring vad det kostar att kampanja olika båtar (för 1.5 år sedan diskuterade vi lite olika varianter). Nu har ju frågan om Class 40 dykt upp, och här finns en bra redogörelse från Josh Hall.

COUNTING THE COST

by Josh Hall

During the 2008-09 Portimão Global Ocean Race, many people asked us how much it costs to stage a Round-the-World-Race and even more people have asked how much it costs to enter the event. We have always answered these questions honestly with the minimum and maximum relevant numbers.

I have found that running a boat race is much like running a raceboat campaign in as much as some costs are fixed and some are variable. In both cases there will be many occasions where surprise, hidden costs rear their ugly head and a few occasions (far too few) when something comes in a lot cheaper than anticipated.

In both scenarios the budget is quite heavily front-loaded with investments being made in boats, sails and gear by the skippers and in websites, safety systems, hardware and people by the race organisers. This fact makes cash flow difficult especially when any sponsorship payments are spread evenly through the programme – in particular during times like these when institutional borrowing facilities to bridge things are as rare as hen’s teeth.

The entries in our race, and indeed the vast majority of Class 40 boats, are owner-driver situations. In general they are successful entrepreneurs and talented sailors with a dream of racing around the world. They secure some sponsorship for their programmes but for the most part they are self-funding their campaigns. They have not become successful by throwing their money away so they run their projects like small businesses with budgets and parameters. However, if something is required out of budget on a need-to-have basis, they do have the means.

The event itself does not have the luxury of this safety net and has to run on purely the budget it has, so great care must be taken to keep everything within budget. At the same time, the event needs to “punch above its weight” and have all the features of safety, promotion and image that is expected by sponsors, skippers and the public. It is a tough marriage of bean-counting and looking good, but one that has to work.

With both boat projects and events mistakes are made and sometimes there are financial losses as a result. Sailors know very well about hindsight being a wonderful thing and I have learned over the years to recognise that we make decisions at the time based on the current information available, so we must not look back with regret.

Onboard a boat the dilemma of pushing a spinnaker beyond its limits when chasing the boat ahead can be costly in miles and money, but unless you push you will never win! With the event, a similar example is that we spent money on a sponsorship-finder. He never did secure any money for us, but he came close a fewtimes and if it had worked out our race would have been made a lot easier – for us that is!

Another similarity I have seen between boat and event projects is that investment in the right people is fundamental, whether they are staff or a supplier. Having commitment and trust both ways is the only way to success. In 25 years of managing my own and other people’s projects, I have always been fortunate to have a fantastic team around me and this event ended up being no different. Between us we succeeded in pulling-off what we believe has been an amazingly successful event and we brought it in within budget – just about!

Sharing the financial nuts and bolts is an important thing for us to do at this point – we are committed to running the next race in 2011-12 and we are equally committed to our own sponsors and our entries getting great value for money. Affordability and achievability are our favourite words.

So, here is a breakdown of where the money went on the recent race (Section 1 & 2) and also where the money goes on entering a boat (Section 3 & 4):

Overview of where the money was spent on the PGOR

Section 1 – Income (all figures in Euros):
€600,000 Sponsorship from Portimão
€50,000 Entry fees from 5 paying boats
Total income €650,000

Section 2 – Expenditure
€52,000 Sponsorship agent’s commission in Portugal
€122,000 Principle 1 pay for 20 months (average €6,100/month)
€97,000 Principle 2 pay for 12 months (average €8,083/month)
€37,000 Admin services 13 months (average €2,800/month)
€2,500 Assistant’s pay for 9 months
€16,000 Video filming costs (filming/expenses/local editing services etc)
€2,500 Still photography costs (Professional at start of race plus expense)
€14,000 Agency employed to seek additional sponsorship
€25,000 Media management costs
€28,600 Principle 1 expenses first 10 months (travel/hardware/ business development)
€21,500 Principle 2 expenses first 10 months (travel/hardware/business development)
€28,500 Race tracker R&D and purchase cost
€15,000 Race Viewer costs
€2,500 Tracker communication costs (transmission and calculation costs)
€45,000 Website creation and management costs (top of the range site that performed and never failed)
€13,200 Flights to ports (team of 4-5 people). Additional costs due to delayed restarts and returning boats
€29,100 Expenses at Portimão start and finish (hosting/accom/ cars/phones/ send-off party etc)
€35,000 Expenses at other ports (4 ports)
€33,000 Corporate fees for period (legal/management/accounting etc)
€6,000 Race rules creation consulting
€6,700 General expenses during event (office gear etc)
€15,700 Advertising costs (other sites/flags/banners/programmes etc)
€9,500 Shipping costs (container share/deliveries etc)
Total expenditure : €658,500

Section 3 – Global Ocean Race 2011-12 entry budget overview (used boat campaign estimate)
€175,000 Purchase of second hand Class 40
€10,000 Category 0 modifications
€30,000 Electronic upgrades and additions
€50,000 Sails budget for the race
€5,000 Spares and tools
€15,000 Safety gear Category 0
€12,000 Entry fee for race
€10,000 Insurance for race
€7,500 Container-share cost
€40,000 In-port costs at €10,000/stop-over
€20,000 Contingency budget
Total Gross : €374,500
Sale of yacht after race : €125,000
Total Net : €249,000

Section 4 – Global Ocean Race 2011-12 entry budget overview (new boat campaign estimate)
€330,000 Cost of new boat Category 0 build
€20,000 Commissioning costs
€60,000 Electronics
€65,000 Sails for campaign
€5,000 Spares and tools
€20,000 Safety gear Category 0
€12,000 Entry fee for yacht
€25,000 Insurance for race
€7,500 Container-share costs
€40,000 In-port costs at €10,000/stop-over
€20,000 Contingency budget
Total Gross : €604,500
Sale of yacht after race : €240,000
Total Net : €364,500

Note for Sections 3 & 4:
Not included in these figures:
1. Shore crew – assume using local specialists within port budgets listed above
2. Salaries for skippers
3. Flights to and from ports – allow €1,000/person for each port
4. Accommodation in ports – cost depends on style and size of any team
5. Sponsor graphics – usually covered by the sponsor
6. Media/PR costs – again, usually covered by any sponsor involved