Testimonials
Testimonials from Delegates/Speakers at the 2010 Event
"This is the 2nd year that Spinlock have attended the WYRF & YRDTS. It gave us an excellent opportunity to network with many of the world's key yacht racing personnel and at the same time having a small showcase stand provided us with a great opportunity to demonstrate Spinlocks latest technology. We are already looking forward to the 2011 event."
James Hall, Sales Director, Spinlock Ltd
"The World Yacht Racing Forum is gathering more momentum each year with leaders from the professional and amateur sailing world in attendance. From my point of view it is a unique, once a year opportunity to catch up, network and discuss ideas with such a varied cross section of people in our sport."
Jamie Boag, Team Director, Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing
"I thought the forum was great. Definitely worth going to to network and also to participate / listen to the forums content. The length is perfect, and the subjects were well varied and very interesting / relevant."
Sam Davies, Female Solo Vendee Skipper
"The WYRF is getting better every year. It is the place for us at Cosworth to meet and network with our current clients and new prospects. Great atmosphere and well organised."
Simon Holloway, Business Development Manager, Cosworth Electronics
"A worthwhile investment that brings together a unique mix of the sailing community. A chance to air views, voice opinions and listen to what others are saying in the industry."
Dee Caffari, Dee Caffari Ltd
"The Yacht Race Design and Technology Symposium 2010 was a great success from a participants and sponsors' perspective. The depth and the variety of the presentations contribute to a better understanding of the opportunities and challenges in our industry. New talent meets experience; new enterprise has the chance of networking with established industry for the benefit of both. The coordination with the World Yacht Racing Forum emphasizes how our sport and our industry can progress together for the benefit of both."
Ib Ussing Andersen, President CEO, North Sails Europe
"A fantastic opportunity to meet and network with key figures from the business of yacht racing. The diversity of topics and speakers provided me with many valuable ideas for my own work. I will definitely be back next year!"
Hertha Baumann, PR & Events Management, Vice President MIRABAUD & Cie
"As a relative newcomer to the yacht racing industry it was a must-attend event. I met important colleagues, customers, potential new customers, and learned more in two days than I would in several months sitting at my desk."
Richard Aylmer-Hall, Business Development and Product Development Manager, Livewire Digital Ltd
"An invigorating landscape of yacht racing debate and brilliant networking window."
Alec Honey, President, Cape Horn Race
"Very good network opportunity and excellent roster of speakers."
Enrico Benco, Go Sailing for a Change
"Excellent networking and good to see what some Event Organisers are planning. This certainly helps us organise and plan our own strategy for the coming year and beyond."
Michael Castania, President, Offshore Race
"Great event. Essential for meeting the key actors of yacht racing business."
Paul- Edouard Henry, Director, Extreme Explorer
"A rich source of information about the state of competitive sailing...."
David Glenn, Editor Yachting World
"The Forum was very well organised and definitely very successful. The different panels and subjects were very interesting with high quality speakers."
Pierre Ducrey, Head of Sports Operations, International Olympic Committee
"SLS was delighted to attend the WYRF in Estoril, we found it very informative. Lots of great meetings and interesting talks. To us it has been worth every penny with confirmed orders from the event. Looking forward to December 2011 already!"
Giles Stanford, Managing Director, SLS Group
Testimonials from Delegates/Speakers at the 2009 Event
Now in its second year, the Forum is really growing into quite an event. The addition of the technical forum was excellent.
Paul Cayard, Pro Sailor
The forum is quite a good showcase of what is possible to do with sailing properties. It also reflects positively on the teams, the organisations and all the efforts to be very professional and therefore very attractive to potential sponsors.
Nathalie Quéré | Sponsorship | BT Global Services
Just to have the entire sailing community here makes it for us a superb venue for us to connect with people network and listen in to what's happening in the industry.
Karin Backlund, Global Sponsorship and Brand Partnership, Volvo Car Corporation
A unique opportunity to meet individuals from across the globe and from very different universes such as sport, luxury, photography or finance, all with a common professional passion: sailing.
Hertha Baumann, PR & Events Management, Vice President MIRABAUD & Cie
Congratulations on organising such an inspiring event, again - really excellent & I am sure will continue to grow and also help the sport enormously.
Nick Jeffery, Journalist
Congratulations for the great event you organized. It was a very interesting Forum and a unique opportunity to meet up with the superstars of the yachting world, the sailors, sponsors and event organizers. Beyond that, the hospitality was of a very high standard. Looking forward to the 2010 event!
Bianca Ascenti, Yacht and Sail
Fantastic event and surpassed all expectations as a second event
Jenny Cooper, Hong Kong
It's a rare opportunity to meet everyone in the one place from the same industry.. I will take from it a positive outlook for future sailing events, sponsorship and growth in the sector.
Maria Moynihan, Festival Director, Galway Stopover Volvo Ocean Race
The Forum is an absolute requirement for a sports industry that generates rough 1 billion dollars of income from commercial sponsors cities venues etc.It is a big industry and we don't get together at any other time in the year.
Mark Turner, CEO Offshore Challenges
Great buzz to the event. There were lots of really important people from within the industry and they all seemed to be both enjoying and benefiting from the event.
Richard Moore, CEO, Capitalize
Prior to this event we largely met at boat shows, and not everyone can attend those. So here is a chance for us all to settle down and have a chat and listen to each other.
Sir Robin Knox Johnson, Chairman Clipper Ventures
The two day event was exceptional, very informative and constructive.
Pierre Cohen
Thanks for a great Forum once again. I found this year's event far more productive than the first edition and hope to see it continue to grow. Hopefully it will become the place where our sports leaders meet to guide the professional/commercial part of sailing in the future
Mitch Booth, Pro Sailor
The choice of venue was excellent and despite the fact that I was not able to attend the full event I had a good insight into the yacht racing industry and met with some interesting people.
Michael Rasmussen, Chief Marketing Officer VELUX
Great for networking, great for business
Maria Moynihan, Festival Director, Galway Stopover Volvo Ocean Race
Thank you for great two days at the WYRF, It was a great experience.
Cam Lewis, Pro Sailor
We exhibited for the first time at the WYRF in 2009. It was a truly excellent opportunity to put our products and services in front of the key players in our industry of performance yacht racing. We certainly hope to be back in 2010.
Rob Sleep, Director, Marine Camera Solutions
Great work at the Forum, definitely something we need in the industry, and best of luck with organising next years.
Mark Chisnell, Journalist
Many thanks for the opportunity given to Clipper Ventures, the Forum is a great success and we certainly hope to put more in to it in the future.
William Ward, CEO Clipper Ventures
Stimulating presentations, many new ideas, good business development opportunities.
Jack Griffin, America's Cup Hall of Fame
Exhibiting at the WYRF for the first time was a very enjoyable and worthwhile event for Peters & May. It enabled us to network with our marketplace and we will certainly be there again in 2010.
Angus Bruce-Jones , Marine Sales & Logistics Manager, Peters & May
A really important meeting / event for the sport and sailing business and hope to see you next year.
Henrik Grape
It was a real pleasure to meet you. I was impressed with the WYRF and look forward to visiting next year. Ricardo Diniz, Portugal Ocean Race
We exhibited for the second time at the World Yacht Racing Forum in 2009. It was a really worthwhile event with so many of our customers in attendance. We were also delighted to be involved with the inaugural Yacht Racing Design and Technology Symposium which took place at the same time. This gave us an excellent opportunity to hear the latest developments in the industry and also highlight the areas that Cowsorth are involved in. We will be back in 2010.
We exhibited for the second time at the World Yacht Racing Forum in 2009. It was a really worthwhile event with so many of our customers in attendance. We were also delighted to be involved with the inaugural Yacht Racing Design and Technology Symposium which took place at the same time. This gave us an excellent opportunity to hear the latest developments in the industry and also highlight the areas that Cowsorth are involved in. We will be back in 2010.
Simon Holloway, Cosworth Electronics
I think that the forum is definitely something that sailing has needed. It is helping to increase both the learning and professionalism within the industry
Russell Coutts, CEO BMW ORACLE Racing
Very good forum, with good leads! We will be back next year!
Herbert Dercksen, CEO eXtreme Ribs
Your forum is fantastic, I am very happy with the business I am making grateful to attend this and proud to have been a speaker among so many sailing legends and businessmen.
Phillipe Guigne, CEO Many Players
It really is the who's who, not only of yacht racing but of sponsorship and events and host cities.
Dee Caffari, Pro Sailor
It was good to be able to get up on stage and show people that you can be creative with the activation of sailing and expand it to a new audience.
Dan Miles, Puma
It has been a well received initiative, ISAF as the governing body of the sport needs to be in touch with the problems that face the business of the sport.
Jerome Pels, Secretary General ISAF
Testimonials from Delegates/Speakers at the 2008 Event
I don't know if a collection of people representing this much fire power in the sport of sailing has ever been in one room for two days.
Paul Cayard - 7 x Sailing World Champion
A must attend event for anyone serious about the business of yacht racing.
Ian Williams, World Match Racing Tour Champion 2007 and 2008
A fantastic opportunity for high profile sailing teams to network with the big players in motorsport and sports sponsorship in general.
Leslie Ryan, Marketing and Communications Director Team Origin AC Team
Sailing is a great sport, but the world of yacht racing needs a forum of this nature to debate and discuss the key issues that will raise its global awareness.
Ian Walker, Double Olympic Silver medallist, Volvo Ocean Race skipper and Americas Cup sailor
Everyone here has agreed this is something we should have done a lot earlier, and we should keep doing again in the future.
Ben Ainslie - 4 x Olympic medalist
An excellent arena to share and learn from the views of some of the leading players in the sailing industry.
Göran Petersson - President ISAF International Sailing Federation
Stimulating, absorbing, informative and thoroughly worthwhile.
Tim Jeffrey - Sailing Correspondent
It's the one sport that has the biggest opportunity for growth on the global scene. It is the eco-sport.
Datuk Patrick Lim
A great platform for sharing best practices as well as networking opportunities for our industry. We are delighted forCowes Week to be involved
Stuart Quarrie, CEO - COWES WEEK
A great forum and I only see the sport growing better and further as a result.
Beth Perry, President, S360S
The World of Yacht Racing has needed something like this for many years.
Sir Keith Mills - CEO Team Origin
