Capt. Cayard’s cut-throat crew

Unsurprisingly, given that there are just 65 days to go to the start, Cayard’s team is highly experienced. “For this campaign, it was important to start with an experienced group,” said Cayard. “We are the last team to hit the water so we don’t have a lot of time to train. We will be counting on experience to help make up ground on all the other teams”.

Cayard’s squad represents seven countries and contains four past winners of this race. Two of the crew, Rodney Ardern and Curtis Blewett, have prior commitments to the America’s Cup.

The selected crew are: Paul Cayard, Skipper; Julian ‘Jules’ Salter, Navigator; Freddie Loof, Watch Captain; Rodney Ardern, Watch Captain; Dirk de Ridder, Trimmer and Helmsman; Nigel King, Trimmer and Helmsman; Craig Satterthwaite, Trimmer and Helmsman; Justin Ferris, Bowman, Trimmer and Helmsman; Curtis Blewett, Bowman; Jerry Kirby, Bowman; and Justin ‘Juggy’ Clougher, Bowman.

Cumulatively, The Pirates of the Caribbean have enjoyed the kind of success that is rare in the Volvo Ocean Race. That success includes 12 campaigns between them and four wins – Paul Cayard, Curtis Blewett, Dirk De Ridder and Justin ‘Juggy’ Clougher. Rodney Ardern is also a veteran who has participated three times in this race. Additionally, the team has participated in 20 America’s Cup campaigns and won three – Curtis Blewett, Rodney Ardern and Jerry Kirby – as well as three Louis Vuitton Cup wins. Paul Cayard and Jerry Kirby, both of the USA, have each participated five times in the America’s Cup. Between them, the 11 Pirates have also taken part in six Olympic Games in different classes, including a bronze medal win for Freddy Loof, in the Sydney 2000 Games in the single handed Finn. Truly a talented bunch of Bucaneers.

Rodney Ardern and Curtis Blewett will be racing three legs (Vigo to Cape Town, Cape Town to Melbourne and Melbourne to Rio) as they are contracted to Alinghi in the America’s Cup. Curtis Blewett will be replaced by Jerry Kirby. The replacement for Ardern has not been finalized yet. Vend

/by

Cayard Sailing Goes Global

Cayard Sailing to manage Disney’s entry to the 2005 Volvo Ocean Race

Cayard Sailing Inc. has been appointed to manage Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean entry to the famous Volvo Ocean Race. Paul Cayard, winning skipper of the 1998 Race, will skipper the entry from Hollywood. The ‘Pirates’ boat will be fully branded on the hull and sails with ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ film artwork, and will be named ‘The Black Pearl’.

Cayard Sailing will focus it efforts for the next year on this premier Ocean Race. Content will be added to this site on a regular basis, probably daily once racing starts. Some of you may have followed EF Language in the 1998 Whitbread Round the World Race though various websites. We will try to bring you as much insight as we did in 1998 if not more. Apart from www.CayardSailing.com, you can find information about the race and Pirates of the Caribbean at VolvoOceanRace.org and www.PiratesRacing.org.

Projects:

The Volvo Ocean Race is the world’s premier ocean going yacht race, and has taken place every four years since it’s birth in 1973 as the Whitbread Round the World Race. It is one of the world’s leading sporting events – an unrivalled high-seas adventure that transcends sport and gains enormous media coverage around the world over an 8-month period.

The Start of the 2005 race will be November 5th in Sanxenxo, Spain and finish in Goteborg, Sweden on June 20, 2006.

Walt Disney Pictures ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ – a global film property

‘Pirates of the Caribbean, The Curse of the Black Pearl’, was released at cinemas in 2003 and became a worldwide phenomenon grossing a global box office of $653 million. The film gained 5 Academy award nominations including Best Actor. Johnny Depp, Orlando Bloom and Keira Knightley will be reuniting with producer Jerry Bruckheimer for ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ II, which will be filmed in the early part of 2005 with the cinema release in July 2006.

The next Volvo Ocean Race starts in November 2005 and finishes in June 2006, reaching its peak to coincide with the global release of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean II’.

Buena Vista International (BVI) and the Volvo Ocean Race have concluded a film marketing deal resulting in the creation of a unique and unparalleled partnership between the worlds of entertainment and sport. This partnership has produced a fully competitive ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ entry in the Volvo Ocean Race

This groundbreaking initiative will inspire a global audience and deliver massive media coverage for the race, the film and the boats marketing partners.

The Team

James “Kimo” Worthington will manage the Pirates entry for Cayard Sailing. Worthington brings a large amount of management experience to Pirates through his six America’s Cups and one previous Round the world Race. Worthington is joined shoreside by Curt Oetking, who like Worthing, possesses a strong resume in both the America’s Cup and Round the World competitions. Oetking is the technical director of the team, running the “pit crew”, whose primary responsibility it is to make the Black Pearl race ready. The “shore team” will number about 20 and more information and CV’s will be posted soon.

The Boat

For the 2005 Volvo Ocean Race, a new class of yacht has been designated. The Open 70 is more of a weapon than a boat. It is 70 feet overall and has a 2 meter bowsprit. It weighs just 114 tonnes and carries a maximum of 6700 square feet of sail area. The boats have canting keels gving them a similar righting moment to the current America’s Cup designs but at close to half the wight, these machines will fly.

Telefonica, the Spanish entry who has been sailing since March, has already set a new monohull 24 hour record notching up 530 miles in 24 hours. They hit 35 knots regularly and it is estimated that 40 knots of boat speed will be achieved.

The Crew

The crew onboard the Black Pearl will consist of just 10 for the offshore legs and 11 for the import races. This relatively small number of crew means that there will be a huge physical requirement for the 10 who are onboard. Remember we sailed the 60’s with 12 and they had roughly

/by

Cayard set for Volvo adventure

Only those who have competed in the Volvo Ocean Race know how grueling and exhausting the event can be.

Paul Cayard tested the elements of wind and sea and pushed the limits of human endurance while leading EF Language to victory in the 1997-98 Whitbread Round the World Race.

For Cayard, whose reputation was built on round-the-buoys racing, it was a life-changing experience.

“It was the most exciting race of my life, one that has left an indelible mark on my professional career and provided me with the most on a human level,” Cayard said recently.

That statement helps explain why Cayard agreed to skipper the Disney entry in the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race. The 46-year-old San Francisco native considers the around the world adventure the ultimate challenge in competitive sailboat racing.

“I think the Volvo is a unique opportunity to explore the most extreme side of our sport,” Cayard said last week in an interview with The Capital.

“Those four weeks in the southern ocean were just spectacular. It was some of the most thrilling and exhilirating sailing I’ve ever experienced.”

Cayard was immediately intrigued when initially approached about captaining the Walt Disney Company’s Volvo 70. For a sailor with a swashbuckling personality, the thought of steering a pirate ship known as the Black Pearl was appealing.

“There’s no question that Disney’s involvement with this project was the determining factor,” Cayard said. “It’s an enormous opportunity to introduce the general public to sailing and the Volvo Ocean Race. I just couldn’t say no to a proposal of this scope.”

Disney intends to use the Volvo Ocean Race as a platform for promoting “Pirates of the Caribeean II: Dead Man’s Chest.”

“Most of the sponsors I’ve worked with were looking to promote a brand name or a product,” Cayard said. “It will be interesting and different to promote a film. Disney is a very well-known international company and I’m honored to be involved with its first venture into professional sailing.”

Cayard, a seven-time world champion, five-time America’s Cup participant and two-time Olympian, was announced as skipper of the Black Pearl last Tuesday. However, the 1988 Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year has been working behind the scenes for the syndicate for months, sources said.

What’s for certain is that Cayard was completely organized by the time of last week’s announcement. He and operations manager Kimo Worthington have already selected the 10-man crew, which will be announced within the next month.

“We have put together a very good crew that includes four past winners of the event and will represent seven different countries,” said Cayard, speaking from Palma de Mallroca Spain, where he was competing in the Copa del Rey Regatta.

Worthington will not sail aboard the boat, but there will be other Americans in the crew, Cayard said.

“Make no mistake, we are representing the United States,” he said.

Cayard became the first American skipper to capture the Volvo Ocean Race through thorough preparation. EF Language was trialing on the water well ahead of the other syndicates in 1997 and thus created a tremendous advantage in sail development.

That certainly will not be the case this time around as Disney is will behind the other six syndicates, all of which have launched Volvo 70s and are on the water training. Additionally, Cayard will work with a budget of approximately $14.6 million that is far less than the competition.

“Clearly, our campaign has a lot of catching up to do. I’m not naive enough to minimize that problem and figure we might not be up to speed until we’re three-quarters of the way around the world,” Cayard said. “The good news is that only one third of the points will have been awarded by the time the race reaches Rio de Janeiro.

“Our strategy is to learn and improve as we go and reel the others in during the latter stages of the race. It will be important to minimize our losses between the start and Rio.”

Cayard is thrilled to again be working with Farr Yacht Design. The Annapolis-based firm designed EF Language and he trusts the quality of its work.

Disney’s Volvo 70 was constructed using a mold owned by Allant Racing and is being built at Green Marine in Lymington, United Kingdom. Allant Racing, comprised of Richard Brisius and Johan Salen, is organizing and managing the Swedish entry sponsored by Ericsson.

There has been much speculation as to what Allant/Ericsson would receive in return for allowing Disney to piggyback off its program. It was presumed there would be some level of cooperation between the two syndicates.

Cayard somewhat squelched that idea, saying that Allant Racing “would have no role” in the Disney program. He was unsure whether the two teams would trial against one another to test sails and boat speed.

Russ Bowler, president of Farr Yacht Design, said he’s witnessed an unprecedented level of cooperation among the Volvo Ocean Race syndicates this time around.

Cayard said that’s true to some extent. For instance, the Spanish entry Telefonica Movistar shared information with the other teams regarding a design flaw in the structural part of its Volvo 70.

“On the down side, Ericsson discovered a problem that it tried to keep from us,” Cayard said.

Cayard is excited about the Volvo 70, which replaces the 60-footer previously used in the race. Telefonica has already established a 24-hour speed record for a monohull, hinting at the potential of the class.

“These boats are extremely cool and very, very fast,” Cayard said. “They are a cross between an Open 60 and a Volvo 60. Sailing them will be incredibly demanding physically.”

Cayard is concerned about how a crew of 10 will handle the powerful machines. In 1997-98, he raced EF Language with 12 men aboard.

Cayard hopes to have the Black Pearl on the water by Sept. 1 and will conduct initial sea trials off England. The Pirates of the Caribbean boat will then embark on its 2,000-mile qualifying run before returning to Spain for further practice in preparation for the Nov. 5 start of the Volvo Ocean Race.

/by

Cayard to Skipper Disney’s Black Pearl in Volvo Ocean Race

The Volvo Ocean Race added a marquee name yesterday with the announcement that Olympian and America’s Cup veteran Paul Cayard will skipper the U.S. entry Black Pearl. As has been rumored for months, Cayard will steer the Disney-sponsored boat when the fleet of seven boats leaves Spain in November for the quadrennial ’round-the-world event.

The San Francisco sailor was the first American to win the 30,000-mile race when he skippered EF Language to victory in 1998 in what was then the Whitbread ‘Round-the-World Race. Cayard, 46, was the U.S. entry in sailing’s Star Class in the Athens Olympics last year and has five America’s Cup campaigns under his belt.

In a phone interview from Palma de Mallorca, Spain, where he was competing in a big-boat regatta, Cayard said he’s assembled a crew of 10 from seven nations and expects to start training around Sept. 1, as soon as boat construction is completed in England. Nine of the crew have been around the world in the Volvo or Whitbread before, he said, and four were on winning boats.

Disney’s sponsorship was late arriving, and Cayard’s team will be one of the last to begin preparations. The team with the most experience is Movistar, a Spanish entry that began sailing last February and completed a trial run from Australia to England via Cape Horn.

“Our campaign has to be catch-up,” said Cayard, “and we may not catch up till we’re three-quarters of the way around the world. The good news is, at that point, only one-third of the points will have been awarded.

“Our idea is to get a good crew, learn and improve as we go and reel the others in. The only thing that matters is having the most points at the end of the last leg.”

Cayard is credited with taking the Whitbread/Volvo to a new level when he captained EF Language in 1998. Previously, it had been largely a race for offshore sailors who put as much emphasis on the adventure as on winning. He brought the intensity of inshore dinghy sailing. When Volvo took over sponsorship in 2001-2002, winner Illbruck was skippered by another American Olympian, fellow San Franciscan John Kostecki.

For the third straight time, the race has a Chesapeake Bay stopover scheduled in Baltimore-Annapolis in April. Chesapeake sailors will get a look at the new race boats, which at 70 feet are 10 feet longer than the last rendition and have movable keels for stability.

“The boats are extremely cool,” said Cayard. “They’re very, very fast — so fast that it may be a liability changing headsails when you’re going 30 knots in the Southern Ocean. There will be a lot of water on deck and keeping everyone on board is going to be a task.”

Cayard made it clear after his Whitbread victory in 1998 that he didn’t plan to do another ’round-the-world race but said he found the chance to partner with Disney and the challenge of assembling a new team attractive.

“Long-term, if it’s good for Disney, it could be good for the sport if we get other media companies interested in sponsoring sailing.”

Disney will use the sponsorship to promote its upcoming “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie sequel. Cayard says he’ll work with a budget of 12 million euros ($14.6 million), “which is probably a little less than the others.”

Other race entries come from Spain, Holland, Brazil, Australia and Sweden.

/by

Il Corriere della Sera

NEW YORK – Quando Pierre Cayard cominci

/by

Cayard to lead Volvo race entry

Cayard, 46, the first US skipper to win the race in 1997-98, will lead the “Pirates of the Caribbean” team in the four-yearly round-the-world race.

“It was the most exciting race of my life,” said America’s Cup star Cayard.

“And one that has left an indelible mark on my career and provided me with the most on a human level. That’s why I decided to do it again.”

The entry, with a boat named Black Pearl to be launched in August, is promoting the July 2006 film release of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest.

“Disney’s involvement in the project has been another determining factor,” Cayard added.

“It’s an enormous opportunity to introduce the general public to sailing and to the Volvo Ocean Race. I simply couldn’t say ‘no’ to a proposal of this scope.”

Cayard won the Whitbread Round the World Race, as it was known then, on EF Language in 1998.

He is a seven-time sailing world champion, a five-time America’s Cup veteran and a two-time Olympian.

His accolades include election to the Sailing World Hall of Fame in 2002 and Rolex Yachtsmen of the Year in 1998.

The race will begin on 5 November with an in-port race in Sanxenxo, Galicia, Spain.

Leg one from Vigo, Spain, to Cape Town, South Africa, starts on 12 November.

The eight subsequent legs take in Melbourne, Wellington, Rio de Janeiro, Baltimore, New York, Portsmouth, Rotterdam and Gothenburg.

/by

Disney’s cast for ‘Pearl’ getting star in Cayard

The pirate boat of the Volvo Ocean Race now has a skipper with a swashbuckling image to match.

Paul Cayard, one of America’s most decorated sailors, has agreed to lead The Black Pearl, the Walt Disney Co.-backed syndicate, in the 32,700-mile race around the globe that will begin in November.

The announcement is scheduled for today.

With his thick mustache and deep tan, Cayard is the very model of a modern buccaneer.

The 46-year-old San Francisco native has sailed in five America’s Cup campaigns and is a seven-time sailing world champion. He was named Rolex Yachtsman of the Year in 1998 and was elected to the Sailing World Hall of Fame three years ago.

In 1998, Cayard was the first American skipper to win the global race, then known as the Whitbread, on EF Language.

“I think Cayard is a good choice,” said Gary Jobson, author and sailing commentator for NBC and ESPN. “He won in 1997-98 and that’s invaluable. He’s a strong organizer. I hope this means we’re going to have a majority-U.S. crew.”

Cayard is competing this week in the Copa del Rey regatta in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. He is expected to be on hand when The Black Pearl is launched from the Green Marine shipyard outside London later this month.

Although he considers his 1988 world championship in the Star class to be his greatest achievement, there is no doubt that, in Cayard’s mind, the Volvo race is in its own class.

“The race itself gave me the richest experience I have had from sports,” he wrote in the forward to the book, Fighting Finish, about the Volvo race.

“I had won world championships before, but circumnavigating the planet we live on in the vehicle of my professional career – a sailboat – is a lifetime achievement.”

Disney is banking on the boat to help promote the sequel to its movie, Pirates of the Caribbean, due out next summer. The 70-foot racer is expected to have a black-and-red hull with a skull-and-crossbones motif on its main sail.

The syndicate has deep pockets, with Disney expected to spend about $17 million on the campaign. But Cayard faces an uphill battle to get to the starting line in November.

The other six syndicates are much further along in preparing for the race. All of the other boats have been launched and crew selections have been completed or are in their final stages.

The global regatta, which introduced Cayard to the non-sailing public in 1997-98, might give him a platform for revenge.

Last year, with teammate Phil Trinter, he finished a disappointing fifth in the Summer Olympics in the Star class. The gold medalist, Torben Grael, is the helmsman of Brazil 1, one of the other Volvo boats.

The Volvo intrigue may not be over with the Cayard move.

The winner of the last Volvo race, John Kostecki, the skipper of illbruck, has hinted that he and other top sailors are available for duty this time.

Two weeks ago, Kostecki was removed as tactician and sailing director of BMW Oracle Racing, the San Francisco-based challenge to the 2007 America’s Cup. The news release announcing his dismissal said he will remain with Oracle as a consultant.

But that leaves plenty of time for other pursuits, Kostecki said in a recent interview with California’s Marin Independent Journal.

/by