Seven to bring new look to Rolex Sydney Hobart

• NEWS
• 25 Jul, 2005 10:27:00 AM

Seven to bring new look to Rolex Sydney Hobart

Shtein, a former competitive sailor himself, knows the intricacies of covering yacht races and has an idea of what the public wants.

The Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, organisers of the Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race, recently announced Channel 7 as its new host broadcaster and Seven’s Head of Sport, Saul Shtein, says the station will bring a new look to the coverage.

Shtein, a former competitive sailor himself, knows the intricacies of covering yacht races and has an idea of what the public wants. He says, "we will cover the race right through until the handicap winner is announced - and possibly beyond that, if we feel it is warranted. We will cover stories of general interest in the lead-up to the race – it won’t just be about line honours contenders.

"We are still formulating our plans, but the coverage will extend into our Sunrise morning program and possibly into Today Tonight. We are also looking at Nuala (Nuala Hafner is Seven’s weather presenter) doing the weather from the CYCA.

"There will be stories on handicap chances and yachts with a story to tell. Our coverage on Boxing Day will start at 1.00pm, with the race starting at the new time of 1.20pm, which gives us a bit of time to talk the race up before the start."

Who does Shtein have in mind to host the coverage? "The ink has not quite dried on the contracts, but we will announce our commentary team shortly. We have what we believe to be a major star of sailing as part of team and we will announce that person when everything has been signed. I can only tell you the team will be a good one and the race will get extensive coverage from an all-round perspective," he told Sailor’s Radio on the weekend.

Shtein is fully aware of people’s dissatisfaction over the coverage of the past few Hobart races on Channel 10. "I don’t want to get into that, only to say we will be doing things differently. Channel 7 sponsored Nicorette (Ludde Ingvall’s 2004 Rolex Sydney Hobart line honours winner) last year and from there, we decided we would like to make a bigger contribution to the race."

Seven will follow up with a review programme produced by Rolex, ‘Spirit of Yachting’, in January, adding to coverage of one of Australia’s most watched sporting events.

Di Pearson
Courtesy Sail-World.com