English Translation
Just a quick note to paste in an English translation of the article (below) relating to me, graciously done by a friend here in Germany (thanks Nicki!). Just to contextualise where this piece relates to in the rest of the text - Basically the author is talking about the costly sponsorship requirements for Germanies entrance into the Americas Cup. The author then goes on to mention me and my somewhat different attempt. Here is the translation:
The German-Australian blogger and photographer Nick Jaffe (www.bigoceans.com) however chose another way to garner sponsorship. Currently Mr. Jaffe is working in Berlin, and plans to return to his home country Australia on his yacht, starting from Southampton (England) via New Zealand in May 2007.
He will document the journey on his weblog, using podcasts, and digital photos using the Flickr photo service. It is here that his project becomes interesting for attracting potential sponsorship. Looking for people willing to offer financial aid for his trip, he offered the space on his sails for purchase via eBay, starting at $9174 US dollars. As part of the offer to purchase the advertising space, the art group eBoy from Berlin have offered their skills to the future sponsors as art directors and designers. As part of the auction, 10% of the proceeds earned will be donated to Oceana, an organisation which focuses on ocean protection.
During the 9 day auction period, there were unfortunately no bids. However 650 visitors visited the auction, including a worldwide car producer, which for legal and organizational reasons did not place a bid during the auction. However the company is still in contact with Mr. Jaffe, and is actively working on a potential sponsorship arrangement. So things still look good for a sponsorship deal and a beautiful sail designed by eBoy.
Not a lot else has been happening on the boat front over the past few weeks. I am currently just struggling to get payments through, which is my main priority. I think things will become more interesting when the boat is paid off and I don't have such enormous financial commitments, and I can start doing things like training and making repairs and modifications to the boat.
I am considering bringing Constellation over to Germany as early as possible next year (May/June), which may end up modifying my planned route - I could end up leaving from Kiel or similar as opposed to Southampton.
Ideas ideas ideas...
If anyone knows anything about the legalities or what I need to do to bring the boat over here, please chime in. Currently Constellation is not registered on the SSR (small ships register) and it would be nice if I bring the boat to Germany, to sail under the German flag. I'm however unsure if I can sneak out of British waters and make a clean registration in Germany, or whether I need to register with the SSR, insure, sail here, and then re-register etc. I will investigate further.
Nick.