Message:

Dear M32 Fans,

Starting something new is rarely easy, always stressful, and usually quite rewarding.  At the moment, we’re well into parts one and two of that outline, and hanging on for the rewarding part to begin.  And as soon as I get a minute to breathe, I’m going to get really excited…I promise.  While the workload for everyone involved is not about to get any lighter, everyone involved – the sailors, coaches, builders, staff, media, and of course the public – is more than ready for it to begin!

Starting something new is rarely easy, always stressful, and usually quite rewarding. At the moment, we’re well into parts one and two of that outline, and hanging on for the rewarding part to begin. And as soon as I get a minute to breathe, I’m going to get really excited…I promise. While the workload for everyone involved is not about to get any lighter, everyone involved – the sailors, coaches, builders, staff, media, and of course the public – is more than ready for it to begin!

The never-ending work of building the M32 Class into a success unfortunately kept me away from Bermuda for the second M32 Racing Club event last week. By all accounts, it was another great regatta, and the level of competition is surely ratcheting up as the Northern sailing season gets ready to kick off. After a tough first outing in January, my crew (some of them, at least) and I have given ourselves a few weeks to work on our strength and fitness, and we’re expecting more out of ourselves in a few weeks time when Bermuda event # 3 kicks off. I will, of course, report on the event for you M32 World readers – through the eyes of a lifelong monohull sailor on the wrong side of 50.

But for the moment, all eyes are on the brand new World Tour venue of Fremantle, and not just for the giant Great White Sharks that abound, or the massive “Freo Doctor” afternoon seabreeze. The truth is that nothing makes noise quite like money, and the 2016 tour winner will take home the biggest prize purse in the history of the sport – a cool million dollars!

Attention is also on Western Australia because of its history – millions of sailing enthusiasts got their first-ever look at America’s Cup sailing thanks to the 1987 America’s Cup. Who could ever forget the boat-breaking conditions in Freo, the carnage leading up to the America’s Cup final, and Dennis Conner’s Stars & Stripes 4-0 drubbing of Iain Murray’s Australia III in front of millions of fans in the first internationally televised Cup?

While San Francisco 2013 and ‘the biggest comeback in the history of sport’ was incredible television, for guys like me, who were in our teens when the Americans won back the Cup, nothing will ever be quite as exciting as the ’87 Cup: 30 knots of breeze, huge waves pounding the most advanced racing yachts of their time, and legendary sailors fighting for the pride of their nation and the future of the America’s Cup. And it was all free on TV in many countries – even the most ordinary kid could (and did) become inspired to sail.

33 years later, with the America’s Cup now sailed in state-of-the-art catamarans, we’re proud to close that circle with over 25 hours of live, completely free, highly innovative video coverage of the entire Fremantle stage of the 2016 World Match Racing Tour. The sailors are some of the best in the world, the venue is sunny, breezy, and just about as perfect as can be, and our coverage team includes a talented group of producers, directors, commentators, videographers, editors, and social media wizards. If you’re already a fan of sailboat racing, come on in, make yourself comfortable, and enjoy the show. If not, please spend a few minutes with the M32 next week, either via our live broadcast or with some of our mountain of social media coverage. We think you’ll be hooked.

With all that out of the way, I’d like to personally thank you for joining us for our second issue of the new M32 World newsletter. We’re doing our best to provide sailing fans with all sorts of interesting news and info about the M32 catamaran, the M32 Class, and the different M32 racing going on around the world. I’m Hakan Svensson, the owner of the M32 project and the World Match Racing Tour (as well as my own M32, Valhalla), and if there’s anything I can do to welcome you into the M32 family, don’t hesitate to ask. If there’s something you’d like the M32 World newsletter to cover, let us know about that too. You can get in touch with us via the contact section of our website, or via Facebook, or Twitter, or LinkedIn, or…well, you get the picture.

Best Regards

Håkan Svensson, CEO
Aston Harald