HAD RUSSELL COUTTS and Paul Cayard not given the launch of the new World Sailing League (WSL) a massive shot of credibility, the temptation among many of the press in Lisbon last week would have been to stifle a yawn and refer to a history of failed attempts at establishing a Formula One series on water. Cayard admitted that the vision of a professional fleet-racing grand prix series had been a subject for barroom debate for more than a decade now and a personal crusade for at least three years. The question is whether the brash American, Cayard, and the quietly spoken Kiwi, Coutts, two of the most charismatic figures in sailing, can turn their dreams into the reality of a worldwide, multi-million-pound, televised sporting spectacle.

The chances are not favourable, not even for men accustomed to battling the elements. At the launch of the new WSL last week, the most significant facts were ones of omission. No venues have been secured, no teams or sponsors have been signed and no distinctive marketing plan yet formed. Like F1, there will be an element of nationalism in the identity of the boats, but if each of the 12-14 planned teams attract global sponsors to fund the £3.3m-£4m annual running costs, there will be a natural dilution of an obvious point of contact with the public.

Fourteen identical 70-foot catamarans will be built this year, underwritten to the tune of £33.3m by Joao Lagos, a former Davis Cup player whose company Lagos Sports organises, among other sporting events, the Portuguese Opens for tennis and golf. If realised, that is a handsome start. Races will be quick, ultra-competitive and, at 30 to 45 minutes, tailored to TV. Provisionally, the series will include 10 races across four continents, scheduled to start in 2009. The myriad complexities of the America’s Cup, a match-racing event, will be replaced by an easy-to-understand spectacular brought directly into viewers’ homes via onboard cameras and media wizardry pioneered so successfully on the recent Volvo Challenge.

“We are about 40% down the road,” says Cayard. “We’ve had lots of meetings, spoken to companies, venues and potential sponsors and all have shown huge interest, but they want to know what guarantee there is that 14 boats will be on the startline. We’ve put our reputations on the line. We’ve invested our own money and will be running our own teams. It’s not our style just to blab about something that isn’t concrete.” Cayard, a winner of the Whitbread Challenge, and Coutts, winner of three America’s Cups, have delved into their own considerable sporting past and borrowed aspects of sports they know best: the marketing of F1, the cost control of the NFL and the potentially explosive formula packaged in the US so successfully by Nascar.

At the centre of it all will be the boats, designed for maximum speed and just durable enough to withstand varied weather conditions in Europe, North America and Asia. “They’ve got to be able to race in 6 knots and 30 knots and be robust enough to travel around the circuit,” says Coutts. “They will be a handful, and a good team of pros will be needed to sail them, but if they make a mistake, it’s liable to be expensive.”

It promises to be the hardest, most treacherous, journey of their lives.