Street-fighting man

In 2009 Ed Baird is using the World Match Race Tour to get his troops ready for whatever is coming at them...

Seahorse: Multihull racing last summer and now back to match racing this year – is this a case of preparing for all eventualities?

Ed Baird: In 2008 Alinghi worked very hard to learn about multi- hulls, as it looked as if BMW Oracle’s lawsuit might force us to race them. Late in the season the court found in our favour, and told us we were back on track for the more traditional monohull Cup that we had hoped for. BMW Oracle are still pursuing their lawsuit through the appeals process, meaning we still have to plan and position ourselves to respond to the multihull possibility. However, we now need to be sure we’re able to remember how to match race in monohulls! Enter the World Match Racing Tour.

SH: The Louis Vuitton Pacific Cup in Auckland was your first major match race since the America’s Cup – how did you enjoy getting back to the game?

EB: Match racing in Version 5.0 boats takes a colossal team effort, and getting it right is very satisfying. We enjoyed having our team back together for the first time since the America’s Cup, and trying to get back the mojo that helped us win in Valencia... The racing was very different from the Cup; the courses were short with obstacles, obstructions, current and quite shifty winds. It was terrific to see some new teams get on the course, and to renew old rivalries. The format and large range of conditions made it possible for anyone to win on any given day.

We also appreciated the opportunity to sail on boats that we would otherwise never get to go aboard. The numerous problems to be solved on these boats challenge sailors and designers alike. To see how other teams had tackled things inspired new ideas, but also gave us confidence in many of our old ones.

More than anything else, it was great to renew our friendships with the other teams. It’s been too long that we’ve all been kept from what we enjoy most: getting on the water and trying to beat each other into submission!

SH: As a three-time match racing world champion, how did it feel to have to take a three-year break from the Tour after 2005?

EB: It seems like yesterday when I went to my first major match race in 1991. Since then I have had a few periods when I took breaks for various reasons. Each time I missed it a lot, and always enjoyed getting back on the circuit.

This is the longest break I’ve had, and I think we’re starting to see a new generation come up into the rankings. It’s going to be fun to see what the latest moves are, and of course to see the subtle changes that come with the new rules. The Tour is a great way to challenge yourself, to plan and adapt for unusual conditions, and to see a lot of different styles and ways to solve problems. The short duration of the races, different boats at each venue and pressure to make quick, correct decisions in rapidly changing situations is always a rush. But when your team get it all right, it really feels great.

SH: And the reason for the absence...

EB: Oddly enough, preparing for the America’s Cup takes you off the Tour. But the Tour was what prepared you for the Cup opportunity in the first place. So go figure...

To compete on the Tour you typically take a four or five-man team that includes a bowman, trimmer, main trimmer/tactician and driver. If the larger team is testing, training or racing in the Cup boats, missing these guys can be critical to good results during that period. Sometimes we scheduled maintenance or modifications during a Tour round, and went off to do an event that way. But the reality is, when the Cup boats are sailing, your world is those boats, six or seven days a week, for months at a time. And when there is a free moment most of us want to spend time with our families.

The fact is you can’t do everything, which is a big reason why so many teams want to limit Cup campaigns to one boat. Take away the two-boat testing and we could schedule time to practise and do the Tour.

SH: And your squad for 2009...

EB: This year we have one small group that’s planning to do the Tour. We’ll start with Warwick Fleury, Pieter van Nieuwenhuijzen, Lorenzo Mazza and me. When we sail with five we’ll add Rodney Ardern. While we can certainly mix other guys into the match race team from a talent perspective, the communication can be pretty important at these events, so keeping the same guys is preferable. One of the challenges of racing in the Cup is getting the big guys some good match race experience. On the Tour the average weight of the team members is limited to 87.5kg. Spread over four or five guys, that makes it impossible to bring along a 110kg mastman or grinder, so they don’t get the same experience as the smaller trimmers and tactical guys.

Other Alinghi sailors will be racing with Ernesto on his D35 cat in Geneva, and on big boats like the Numbers. We also have the Version 5.0 pre-regattas in June/July and October in addition to the CNEV annual regatta in November which will see us race together again as a team.

SH: And preparation...

EB: Each venue is different, and often so are the boats. We will try to spend a little time together before each event, but it’s not always possible. In that case, the hope is always that you have a good round robin at the beginning, and that you do well enough to make the quarters or semis later in the event. By that time you should be starting to feel comfortable in the boats. It’s not perfect, but often it’s enough.

Once we know what type of Cup we’ll be sailing you can be sure we’ll start devoting time to preparation in the new boat.

SH: What is your opinion of the current level of Tour competitors?

EB: It’s been a few years so I don’t have a good frame of reference to rate the current teams. I can say that Tour events always include a strong field, so we are expecting some tough battles. I know we’ll learn a lot and it’s always good to get back to sailing boats more by feel. In addition, having spent all last season on cats, it will be good to remember how to sail boats that heel over a lot more and cast a bigger wind shadow!

SH: What about women’s match racing?

EB: I have enjoyed coaching women’s teams over the years. Perhaps most notably, I spent a fair amount of time with world champion Sally Barkow and her team a few years ago. I see a lot of natural talent from the women’s teams, but they need exposure to more of the sport. One thing that remains a challenge for most women’s teams is to get experience in larger boats where they can gain confidence in using bigger equipment in varying conditions.

SH: Is Alinghi doing all the Tour events?

EB: You can’t do it all. We hope to do the majority of the Tour events this year, but that has a lot to do with the outcome of BMW Oracle’s lawsuit... Our goal is to prepare ourselves for the Cup. If the Cup is going to be monohull based, match racing, then the Tour is the right place for us to be.

SH: Which is your preferred venue from past experience?

EB: This is a question I get asked often, and I think every week I have a different answer. There are a lot of great venues. For the Cup Valencia provided great sailing with a startline right outside the harbour. That’s hard to beat. On the Tour the venues range from still, but busy lakes in Germany to rocky resort islands in Sweden. Brazil has quiet bays, while Malaysia sees swirling currents where two rivers come together. Every place is different, and usually every day too. The one thing they all have in common is friendly, fun people who are excited to have the event there.

SH: How do you transfer this preparation onto the big boat?

EB: Ahh, that’s the million dollar question. There is a lot to be learnt by paying attention on the Tour. Sure, rules and umpire calls, tactics and strategies are all good to watch, but there’s more. Winning the America’s Cup is all about people. The last Cup saw 17 of us do our best to sail smart and fast so we could have a chance to win. But the fact is that if the other 120+ people on Alinghi hadn’t done their jobs so well for the years that we prepared we wouldn’t have had a prayer of winning.

Imagine the processes you have to get right to win something as difficult as the America’s Cup. Ideas, arguments, budgeting, research, mistakes, agreements, sacrifices and straight-up hard work. The families have to be behind you. The sponsors have to be exuberant, yet patient. The designers and builders have to give you a great product. The shore team have to work all night... again. And the sailors who don’t make the final team still have to be in the game, every day.

By getting on the Tour we keep learning about racing. If we struggle the bigger team can see the risk and do something about it early. If we do well, our teammates gain confidence to work harder at what they do well. Alinghi is a racing team, and we need to go racing to keep improving. Fortunately, we have the Tour to give us that opportunity.

SH: The new AC33 is a faster boat than we have been used to in past years of AC match racing – are there boats on the Tour that will fall into this style?

EB: Nothing on the Tour will simulate the size, power and efficiency of the new Cup class – the AC33. The only option for learning about them will be sailing them! However, until the new boat is available we need to keep challenging ourselves to get around the race- course smartly. The Tour’s strong teams and difficult venues will help us. But we’re all very excited to get hold of a new big boat and see what it can do!

SH: Can you see the Tour one day adopting sportsboats and a faster style of sailing?

EB: One of the great things about the Tour is that it’s affordable, using basic boats that are easy to maintain. Most of the prominent names racing in the Cup cut their professional teeth doing match race events over the years. It’s not about the boats, it’s about techniques. We learn timing, positioning and how to squeeze a little more out of provided equipment than the next team. We fight aggressively through tough races on the ‘dog’ boat that every event seems to have, and apply more conservative strategies when we have a boat that seems to go well.

There are ups, downs and in-betweens. More than anything, we find out a lot about our teammates and ourselves, and what it takes to compete against the best out there. The Tour is where we learn about trusting our teammates, and dealing with pressure. It’s where we form relationships with race organisers and umpires. And it’s where we find out who can get the job done, month after month, year after year.

The Tour doesn’t need fast boats. All it needs is great teams to race against. Whatever boat they put us in we’ll try to figure out. When it comes time to prepare for the Cup we’ll learn about our particular boat by spending thousands of hours on it which, again, means we can’t sail on the Tour all the time.

SH: How does a faster boat like the AC33 impact crew work, strategy and the whole approach to match racing?

EB: The AC33 will be faster, but also it won’t behave like the Version 5.0 boats. My understanding is that it should see a quicker VMG upwind and down, but it’s how it gets there that matters. Especially downwind, the new class will require more aggressive course alterations to keep it at target speeds, and bigger responses to puffs and lulls. Wider gybe angles will make the racecourse bigger and using puffs will be just as valuable as playing shifts. Boat lengths will come and go quickly, making crew work a more significant part of overall speed.

Match racing is about managing risks. Make fewer mistakes than your opponent, and you usually win. With the new boats there will be a new set of risks and rewards to learn and manage. The teams will be looking for ways to put pressure on their opponent, and force them into mistakes. The best teams are all exploring new territory – just one of the challenges that make the Cup so exciting.

Below: quite often he is thought of as the quiet man of America’s Cup sailing, but when Ed Baird slotted into the Alinghi sailing team as a helmsman four years ago he soon impressed the data-analysers with the efficiency with which he could steer an ACC-class yacht