#WorldSailing - World Sailing has announced plans to take the sport to a mass audience in 2016 at the London Boat Show.
Live broadcasts from three Sailing World Cup events will be bolstered by a new television series produced in conjunction with Sunset+Vine titled World Sailing.
The 26-minute monthly programme will deliver international news and highlights from medal races at World Cup regattas in Miami, Hyères and Weymouth and Portland, which will also be broadcast online around the world.
Rio 2016 is set to be the biggest Olympic sailing competition ever, and many of the potential medallists will be on show at the World Cup regattas in the build-up.
More than 10 major global broadcasters have pledged to bring live Olympic class sailing to their audience and "generate national heroes", according to the former ISAF.
Fans around the world will also be able to tune into the World Sailing TV YouTube channel.
And over 20 broadcasters worldwide have been confirmed for the highlights programme, which begins this month with an editorial focus on the build-up to the Olympics as well as coverage, personality features, background stories and news from the cutting edge of the sport.
Before that, World Sailing has today (Friday 8 January) relaunched its website at sailing.org providing a cleaner presentation that's intended to be easier to navigate.
"In order to take sailing forward in 2016, a pivotal year for sailing with the Olympic Games on the horizon, a new approach and fresh ideas with the fan experience at the heart was required for the governing body's website,” said World Sailing's chief marketing officer Malcolm Page.
"Social media is key for us to communicate directly with our audience across multiple platforms. With engaging content, increased interaction and regular video content on sailing.org we will be able to keep our worldwide audience continuously up to date in our evolving sport.”
The relaunch of sailing.org comes in the wake of the world governing body's rebranding from the International Sailing Federation (ISAF) to World Sailing last month, as previously reported on Afloat.ie.