Update from San Francisco

I am back home for the holidays, after three months in Valencia. As we all know, the event has yet to gain traction. The court case between BMW Oracle and Alinghi has completely derailed the America’s Cup. As of this time, there is no date, there is no class of boat, and no venue. There is a defender (Alinghi) and one (1) challenger, BMW Oracle.

Desafio Español, like most other teams, has had to make new plans. In the New Year, we will go to a reduced operation until there is some certainty about the next Cup that the team will be able to participate in. A new program has the team competing on the TP 52 Med Cup and GP 42 Circuits next summer, both in the Mediterranean. These circuits are very competitive and in fact most of the America’s Cup sailors race there. By having its own team boats, supported by Iberdrola and other top sponsors, Desafio will keep the sailing team working seriously and together and continue its presence in the sport of sailing.

This situation is obviously hard on the people on every team who have to, after getting their lives organized to be in Valencia for two years working for the America’s Cup. It is also a shame for the fans of the sport and the corporate sponsors who were starting to appreciate what sailing can offer.

It is amazing to think that just 6 months ago, on the 21st of June, we were heading to the most competitive America’s Cup final in many years following on of the most interesting Louis Vuitton Cups. The first America’s Cup in Valencia raised the profile of the event world wide and indeed Alinghi is to be complimented for that. But, how long will it take to get back to that level? When will we next see a harbor with 60,000 spectators and the kind of enthusiasm we witnessed last summer? What a shame to be in this situation.

For me, I plan to continue with Desafio on their TP 52 project next summer, keeping the team together and hoping for some Cup news before December of 2008. This spring, I will sail on Warpath with Steve and Fred Howe of San Diego, on the Farr 40 circuit which includes Key West, Miami SORC, and the World Championship in April (also in Miami). We finished 4th in the World Championship in Sydney a few years back, so it will be fun to try to improve on that.

I am also revisiting a plan I had last year to race with my kids and a few others to Hawaii. There is a lot of organization required to get a project like that to come to fruition but no time like the present. No Star sailing for the time being although my new boat still sits in a friend’s hangar at Gnoss Field in Novato….fully cured I guess by now.

For now, a bit of a rest and family time. We will be at our home in Kentfield, CA for Christmas and then off to Lake Tahoe for a week of skiing. I want to wish all of you a Very Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Year’s!

Paul Cayard

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‘The Black Pearl – A Pirate Ship’

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The perfect gift for the holiday season!

This is the last chance to purchase a limited edition copy of Captain Cayard’s memoirs of the Pirates of the Caribbean team’s momentous race around the world.

Imagine what it was like onboard ‘The Black Pearl’ for Captain Cayard and his Pirate crew as they competed in Volvo Ocean Race 2005-2006.

Click here to order your copy in time for the holidays.

Copies are $25 or $50 for autographed copies. All proceeds are in support of youth sailing in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Please allow two weeks for domestic shipping, autographed copies are available.

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Update from Valencia

I have been here in Valencia for 3 weeks now. My new job as Sports Director of Desafio Español has been keeping me busy. Desafio has a good base from which to start the challenge for the 33rd America’s Cup; two good ACC boats, a fully staffed and operational base. The main sponsor, Iberdrolla, is back supporting the team with more budget than last time. We are certainly not the richest team on the block but we have a good base to build on.

Farr Yacht Design was hired in September to be the main designer for the team. One of the advantages with Farr is that they are a team of people. This means they have their procedures and systems for working together and covering a large number of the technical tasks. This should be a nice advantage with the time frame for this Cup being so short, and with construction of the first boat needing to begin in early spring.

Our days start at 0800 with a 90 minute gym workout. We are starting with a fairly strong aerobic program and then moving into strength training. For sure, the new class of boat will be very demanding for the crew. The bigger and stronger the better for most. There will be 12 people grinding most of the time on 6 pedestals. Everyone is a grinder at some point. There will be plenty to do in the gym and in the dining room over the next 18 months.

Breakfast is at 0930, then a head of departments meeting and crew meeting to set the plan for the day in motion. Most days we sail, but the weather can be uncooperative here in the winter. So far we have been lucky. We have two sailing programs; 1) is racing the ACC boat from the last Cup against another team or 2) racing the two Swedish Match 40s we recently acquired. The SW 40’s are excellent for training the specific discipline of match racing. Friday for example, the Germans were on vacation do we got our race committee and umpires to run a series of races in the SW40

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Some good… some not so good

In August I rejoined the TP52 MedCup Circuit for two events. I say rejoined because I sailed both the 2005 and 2006 seasons in the fleet with George Andreadis and his Atalanti team.

This is the class that has enjoyed the most growth in the past three years. I think that’s because of the perfect balance between fun in fast, fairly evenly matched boats, and costs, which are not minimal but are obviously manageable for 25 teams. After spending most of the spring commentating on TV for the America’s Cup, I was anxious to see if I could remember how to sail myself.

My first regatta in 2007 was Copa del Rey in Palma where I joined Alberto Roemmers and his Matador-Siemens team. The skipper of the boat is Guillermo Parada and he has put together a great team. The boat is one of five new Vrolijk designs for 2007 and Siemens have joined as the sponsor. Everything was well organised and the boat was fast so it was a pleasure to be asked to step aboard in the tactician role.

We sailed a very consistent series, never out of the top five in the windward-leeward races. I did manage to get us a disastrous result in the ‘coastal race’ but what would you expect from a guy with little offshore experience? In the end we won the Copa del Rey with a nice margin. This fleet is now so competitive that the slightest mistake and you lose six places.

My second event was in Portimão, Portugal with Doug deVos and his Windquest team. Doug skippers and helms his boat and is a very good sailor. Even more, he is a great guy to hang around with. The current Windquest is last year’s Botin & Carkeek designed Warpath which was a very strong boat. We managed to finish fifth overall in the shortened series as the wind was MIA for the last two days…

Another feature of the Portimão event was the first appearance of Lagos Sports on the sailing scene. Everyone there was quite impressed with the shoreside hospitality and organisation. There was a large tent with breakfast for everyone each morning… I am talking about freshly made omelettes, fruit, cereal, juices, breads, yogurts, you name it, we had plenty of it. The free bar was always open and there were great evening events as well. Lagos Sports really impressed and set a new standard for hosting a sailing event; this fact was especially pleasing to Russell Coutts and myself as Lagos Sports is now the managing partner of the World Sailing League!

It is impressive to watch the eight new boats in the TP52 fleet. The five Vrolijk designs, upwind in particular, are very fast. They just have a nice little edge in anything over 11kt. Even compared to Mean Machine, last year’s Vrolijk super-boat, this year’s models are special. The new boats are even wider in the transom on deck, which must make more use of the crew weight when hiking. The new Botin boats, Caxia and Mutua Madrilena, are good boats also but more so under 10kt of wind… and downwind all the time. Patches, the only new Reichel-Pugh boat, is a very good all-round performer. For sure the new boats are faster but Peter de Ridder’s Mean Machine team showed everyone in Portimão that it is more about who sails best than boatspeed.

Artemis won the 2007 Breitling MedCup circuit with owner Torbjorn Torqnvist steering his own boat. That is the second year in a row that an ISAF Category 1 helmsman has won the season championship in this very competitive class. I think that sends a great message to the sailing community.

A few words on the Cup. I read Grant Simmer’s ‘justification’ of the Protocol for the 33rd AC in this magazine last month. I like Grant and respect him a lot. He asserts that changing boats will be ‘better for the small or new teams’. I really struggle with that. With 100 boats built, the existing AC class is running out of design space so it is harder for the big-budget teams to find significant gains. The competition this spring was the closest ever. Teams like Shosholoza surprised many.

And I think the final, with Team New Zealand, was a real scare for Alinghi. A new rule will create a wide open playing field and a lot more research will be required so the best flow codes and operators will yield significant speed advantages for their teams. That is good for the big teams who have money and a large design team in place now.

Of course Alinghi are stacking the deck even more… in case a new rule wasn’t enough. They are the ones creating the rule so they are pocketing another six months’ design time advantage. So help me again with this one, Grant?

Then once the new boats are launched, and since two-boat testing is not allowed, the teams with the most experienced people will be able to develop their boats more and faster. How does this help a small or new team?

There is another new rule, the ‘no two-boat testing rule’, whose purpose it is to save money by cutting personnel. This rule will cut some costs but maybe not as much as one might

think.

First of all, any cuts in personnel are from the lower end of the pay scale, not the top. Then, because delaying the start of construction will give the design team the best chance to find the right shape the teams will get their new boats with just three months to go until the racing. How do you optimize this boat that no one has any experience in? You hire one-and-a-half shore teams and they work all night every night to make sure that the boat is on the water every day. You hire two full sailing crews and you keep that boat sailing every single day of the week! But this rule is the motivation behind Alinghi saying, ‘Well it wouldn’t be fair to us to not have anyone to race against so we

are going to join the challenger selection series.’

This has all gone way too far. Changing the class of boat and moving to a two-year cycle is too much to do at the same time. Now we have the uncertainty of a court case to boot. The event was growing in such a positive way. Let’s come back toward the rhumb line… a couple of hundred miles to the right I think.

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PAUL CAYARD MEETS THE PRESS

Less than a week after joining Desafío Español as its new Sports Director, Paul Cyarad talked to the Spanish media, together with the team’s general manager, Agustín Zulueta. The American legendary sailor talked about most aspects of his team but the most controversial ones (validity of the Challenger of Record, current litigation in New York, possible postponement of the America’s Cup) were developed to a much lesser extent.

Being a conference for the Spanish media, the interest was mainly focused on what Cayard could bring to the team, his goals and the level of Spanish participation in the sailing crew. In our opinion, there are three or four main points from the conference. First, Cayard will helm the new boat during the development phase but not necessarily during actual racing. Second, both

him and Desafío Español don’t want to have the event postponed till 2010 and hope a solution to the litigation can be found before Monday. Third, Cayard thinks Alinghi doesn’t have the 33rd America’s Cup in the pocket and BMW Oracle will be very difficult to beat, given their enormous financial, technical and human resources.

— Valencia Sailing, full report: http://tinyurl.com/yrpyp2

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Cayard: “Desafío Español will fight for the Cup”

Valencia,

This morning in Valencia Agustin Zulueta, General Director of Desafío Español, presented Paul Cayard as the team’s Sports Director.

In the last edition of the America’s Cup, Cayard worked with the team as Technical & Sports Advisor, overseeing the preparation and set up of ESP 97 during the weeks leading up the Louis Vuitton Cup in April 2007.

“In February and March, I experienced what it was like to work with Desafío Español. That experience made today’s agreement possible,” stated Cayard. He added; “The 33rd America’s Cup will be very different from the previous Cup. It will be more like the Cup in 1992 when we started to first use the America’s Cup Class boats.”

As Sports Director of Desafío Español, Paul Cayard indicated that he is aware of the “short time remaining until the start in 2009.” “You need money and resources to succeed. Fortunately, Desafío Español benefits from both. The team will fight for the Cup,” stated Cayard.

Cayard has led many campaigns, so his experience will be a fundamental asset to the Spanish syndicate. “I am well aware that this is a Spanish team. I will endeavour to learn Spanish and more about the Spanish culture. I did this with the Italian syndicate Il Moro di Venezia. I realize that it is key to create unity in the team, which is fundamental to win.”

Agustín Zulueta, General Director of Desafío Español, said that he had thought to introduce the entire crew at the beginning of October, but that he didn’t wanted to do so without introducing their leader first. “In the last edition, the Spanish team started a relationship with Paul Cayard with the idea of continuity. We want to create a team with an identity, the best Spanish team,” said Zulueta.

“We now have a motivated team, a crew which is excited to have a great leader such as Paul. He is one of the few people with in-depth experience in this game. Paul also knows what it is to live in Spain, having lived in Palma in 1990 to prepare the campaign of Il Moro di Venezia for the 1992 America’s Cup,” Zulueta added.

When asked about who will be at the helm of the Spanish boat, Zulueta said that it is very possible that Cayard will be, but another possibility is Laureano Wizner. “We won’t discard the possibility of signing another helmsman with a match racing background, one who could contribute his experience to the team,” said Zulueta.

Cayard added that it is important to have a helmsman able to feel the boat and understand the technical side of things. “It is important to have a helmsman who can convey their sensations to the technical team, in order to develop the best possible boat. To be at the helm is the best way to feel the speed and acceleration, and this information is critical,” stated Cayard.

“This America’s Cup will not be a classic match race, and the talent you need to develop a boat does not have to be the same as the one you need for pure match racing,” Cayard concluded.

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US Olympic Trials – San Diego

Obviously, a great deal has been written about the battles at the top of each class during the US Olympic Trials last week.

I had the pleasure of driving the coach boat for my son Danny and his crew Pike Harris at the 49er trials one day last week. The boys are 18 and 17 years old and were not in the running for the slot to China. But they achieved success by exposing themselves to the best, learning a lot and enjoying sailing such an exhilarating boat for ten days.

Theirs was the four hour Olympic program, not four years! Danny’s regular crew could not make the trials for school reasons. So I thought that was the end of it. No. Danny was determined to race and he called Pike Harris. Pike is a senior in High School in San Diego and was keen. The boys know each other from sailing 29ers against each other over the past couple of years.

So Danny and Pike set out on a learning experience; a “quick start” to launch their future participation in the class, but with expectations well in check. Through the week they learned heaps from friends like Morgan Larson and Pete Spaulding, and Zach Maxam, all of whom have coached Danny over the years at various clinics like CISA. The US 49er Olympic Team coach, Luther Carpenter, was also very generous to give Danny and Pike some pointers throughout the week.

After measuring in on Thursday, the boys headed out for their first sail together on Friday. Saturday, October 6th was the first race of the Olympic trials, it was also Danny’s first race in a 49er. I would say that he has sailed a 49er less than ten times before and I believe Pike never had!

On that first Saturday, with the wind peaking at 20 knots (a hurricane for San Diego) they finished 9th in all three races, out of 13 competitors. Not bad for the first day! The top three teams are world class; Tim Wadlow/Chris Rast; Dalton Bergan/Zach Maxam and Morgan Larson/Pete Spaulding. John Heineken (20 years old) and his crew Matt Noble are nipping at the heels of the big boys and have been in the class for about a year, including the Worlds in Cascais last summer. Johnny and Matt also graduated from the 29er class.

Through the week they went through all the frustrations and exhilarations one experiences while learning. They pouched some starts. They didn’t shift gears when the wind dropped at the end of the day. They tried different rig settings, starting techniques, vang tensions…always watching the top teams and learning. There were ups and downs, but the boys finished the 24 race series with a 2,5,4, finishing 9th overall. In the race in which they finished second, they rounded the last windward mark first! What a thrill that must have been!

The amount they absorbed from this 24 race “clinic” was easy to see in their performance.

I spoke to Danny last night, as he was driving back to Cal Poly San Luis and I was boarding a flight to Valencia. He is a very understated guy (unlike his father), but it was clear to me that those ten days in San Diego did more for his self confidence, self esteem and general enthusiasm and passion for life, than any ten days in his life so far.

What is great about Danny is that he truly loves sailing. For sure he is competitive and wants to win, and someday he will, but he is enjoying the ride in getting there. To say that I am a proud father is an understatement.

I also want to congratulate all the trials winners, but especially John Dane and Austin Sperry who won the thriller Star series in Marina Del Rey.

All the best to Team USA in China!

Paul Cayard

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Paul Cayard Joins Desafio Espanol

PRESS RELEASE

Paul Cayard has joined Desafío Español as Sports Director for the 33rd America’s Cup. During the last edition of the Cup, Cayard was the team’s Technical & Sports Advisor overseeing the preparation and set up of ESP97 during the weeks leading up the Louis Vuitton Cup in April 2007.

Cayard (San Francisco, USA 1959) has 24 years of experience in the America’s Cup and will contribute his expertise to the team, in his new position as Sports Director.

Cayard will start to work with the team in the middle of October. This is the seventh time Cayard will be involved in sailing’s premier event since his debut as a sail trimmer on board US-33 in 1983.

In 1992, Cayard won the Louis Vuitton Cup skippering “Il Moro di Venezia” and in 2000 advanced to the finals of the Challenger Selection Series as Skipper of “AmericaOne”. He also finished the 2005-2006 Volvo Ocean Race in the runner up position skippering the “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

Paul Cayard holds seven World Championship titles in different classes, has participated in two Olympic Games and, in 1998, was the first American to win the Whitbread Round the World Race skippering Ef Language.

“This is an opportunity to put my experience to work”, he says. “It is also a chance for me to get back into the Cup game after missing the competition in 2003 and 2007. It will be enjoyable to race for the home team and to try to improve on the fantastic result of 2007”, he adds.

The American sailor starts his relationship with the team at an early stage of the campaign. “I believe that my experience will help in the overall strategy for the team as well as decision making on an operational level. Also, this Cup will have a new design rule so the experience in getting a new class of boat to its maximum potential will be valuable. Further it will be imperative that the sailing team and the technical team have good communication and a good working relationship. I think I can help that process. The Spanish team is a good team that aspires to be great”, remarked Cayard.

Note to the editor: A press conference will be arranged in mid October upon Cayard’s arrival in Valencia. Opportunities for interviews will follow.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

World Championship Titles

2002 IMS, Capri, Brava Q 8

1996 ILC 40, Athens, Brava Q8

1991 50′ Class Japan Abracadabra

1991 America’s Cup, San Diego, Il Moro di Venezia

1989 One Ton, Napoli, Brava

1988 Star, Buenos Aires, Argentina

1988 Maxi, San Francisco, Il Moro di Venezia III

Round the World Sailing

2006 Volvo Ocean Race 2nd Pirates of the Caribbean

1998 Whitbread Round the World Race 1st EF Language

America’s Cup

2007 Desafio Espanol, Technical Advisor, Valencia

2000 AmericaOne Skipper, Auckland

1995 Stars and Stripes Helmsman San Diego

1992 Il Moro di Venezia Skipper/Manager San Diego

1987 USA Tactician Perth, Australia

1983 Defender – Sail trimmer Newport, RI

Won the Louis Vuitton Cup in 1992 and Citizen Cup in 1995, hence sailed as helmsman in two consecutive America’s Cup finals.

Olympic Games

2004 Star, Athens – 5th

1984 Star (Alternate), Los Angeles

Match Racing Results

2001 Bermuda Gold Cup, 1st

2001 Nations Cup, 1st

1999 Steinkager/Line 7, Auckland 1st

1998 Yachting Match Race Virgin, Gorda 1st

1997 Golden Gate Invitational, San Francisco 1st

1996 Steinlager/Line 7, Auckland 1st

1994 St. Francis Match Race, San Francisco 1st

1994 French International Sete, France 1st

1994 World Championship La Rochele, France 2nd

1992 Louis Vuitton Cup, San Diego 1st

Racing/Cruising Helmsman Awards

2006 St Francis Yacht Club Yachtsman of the Year

2002 Sailing World Hall of Fame

1998 Rolex Yachtsman of the Year

1997 St. Francis Yacht Club Yachtsman of the Year

1992 Rothmans Yachtsman of the Year

1991 Yachting Magazine Yachtsman of the Year

For more information or high resolution photos please contact:

Pablo Ruiz-Jiménez – Press Officer – Desafio Espanol

E pruiz@espacc.com M +34 628 31 31 67

W http://www.desafioespanol2007.com

Jennifer Hall – Marketing & PR Manager – Cayard Sailing

E Jennifer@cayardsailing.com M +39 392 976 8107

W http://www.cayardsailing.com

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12 Meter World Championship-Day 5-Final

Cannes

No wind today on the Bay of Cannes. We have been out here on the water since 0930 hoping for some wind, but nothing ever materialized just some rain.

So the 12 Meter World Championship is a non-event as you need to complete five races to have a series. The owners will get together tonight to see if there is a consensus to make the St. Tropez series next week count as the Worlds.

I am sorry we did not get to race more. It was very nice of Bill Koch to invite me here onboard Kiwi Magic. The fleet is very competitive and the racing extremely close. Unfortunately, I can not continue onto St. Tropez next week.

Paul

Correction – Bob’s Fisher’s recent book on the America’s Cup is called ‘An Absorbing Interest: The America’s Cup. A History 1851-2003’ and was published by Fernhurst Books
http://
wiley.com/WileyCDA/Section/id-302847.html

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12 Meter World Championship-Day 4

Cannes

Blown out today. 30 knots of Mistral kept the boats in the harbor all day.

Some of us from the Kiwi Magic team went to our friend Anna Gambiagi’s house in Valbonne for a great lunch with a little French wine. What a luxury to have a four hour lunch on a Friday.

During the afternoon, we had to “petanque” championship. The winner was “Buddha Bob” Billingham who had perfected the “shot put” technique to win over myself and Lexy Gahagen.

I used the high altitude, mega reverse spin technique which got me launched into the lead initially. However, one of my “ultra high altitude” balls went out of bounds and I had to take a Grappa penalty. From there my game kind of deteriorated.

Later in the evening, having sailed two America’s Cups in 12 Meters (Defender and USA), I was privileged to be part of a “round table” discussion on the 12 Meter Class with Marc Pajot (French Kiss), Cino Ricci (Azzurra), James Spithill(Kookaburra). Bob Fisher, esteemed journalist and author of the most comprehensive book on the America’s Cup, “an irresistible” served as moderator. We reminisced about the 12’s in Newport, no shore teams, no pay, etc….the good old days – and answered a few questions.

There is a movement to race on Sunday to get a few more races in, since we only have three races so far, when ten were scheduled. Tomorrow we will find out the result of this effort. I want to note that Roger Wright’s KZ3, who is leading the World Championship, is in favor of more races despite the obvious advantage to them to have fewer races. This is real sportsmanship on the part of the Brazilians!

We are hoping for good wind tomorrow!

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