As in "Robby Naish, Naish Hawaii"?

If its the case it doesn't really worry me. I have more important things to worry about.

No more like "Jason Polakow (JP / NeilPryde) and Robby Swift (JP / NeilPryde / Mystic / Maui Ultra Fins)".

I agree its not a big issue, however I feel it's a unwanted / unsolicited intrusion to the narative of the story.

Perhaps it's a convention for sports journalism. I see no problem with it. The athlete would probably be doing some boring job 40 hours a week if they were not sponsored. There would be no story as the sailor would be working in a supermarket in Leeds or something like that instead of sailing the secret break in the Indian ocean. The sponsor pays good money one way or another. The sponsor should get something in return.

If its an issue there are plenty of other things to read.

I suppose so.

Cheers Da Vecta (Herbal Essence)

it may be a requirement the sponsor places on the person or team...

I just thought they needed to pad out the articles some how

From a journalistic perspective I think they do it so that you, the reader, realise that the rider is sponsored by said brands and you need to consider this when weighing up their input to a story.

Grumplestiltskin (Bentley Continental driver)