| Double No. 1 (continued) |
Reaping the Fruits of Labor  Baird has been sailing with his core crew, Horton and Ziskind, for two years now, and noted how they’ve grown into their roles.
“Jon is the trimmer and in the number of different boats we race that’s a challenge,” said Baird. “The boats in Russia were masthead rigs with small jibs. The week before we raced a fractional rig with overlapping jibs. Even downwind the spinnakers are different how you trim them, whether they go to the top of the mast or not. There’s a lot of skill and experience necessary to be a great trimmer.
“From Andy’s position, in some boats he’s a dedicated tactician, like in Italy of the Congressional Cup,” Baird continued. “But in most of the events he has to do a job on the boat. In Bermuda he’ll do the bow. At the Worlds he did the mainsheet. And so he has a lot to do with boatspeed as well as looking around the race track. So we’ve had to look at a lot of different ways to make sure that we are paying attention to the right things at the right time while still getting a lot out of the equipment.”
Baird has now won three match-racing worlds, joining an elite crowd that includes Russell Coutts, Chris Dickson and Peter Gilmour, all three-time winners. Baird won his first title in 1995 in New Zealand, the second last year on Lake Garda, Italy, before this year in Russia. Each holds a different memory for him.
“The first one we ended up winning 3-1,” he said. “We kind of had the momentum, we could see where it was going, and we knew we were going to win the title in the last race because we had a nice lead through the whole race. It was very exciting because the first time is always a thrill.
 “The second came a number of years later. To win that one in Lake Garda, we had to complete a penalty turn at the finish of the last race, and we made it by less than half a length. So there was lot of adrenaline pumping and a lot of energy and excitement and we just squeaked across the line. Everybody was very pumped up.
“This one (Russia), we were sitting on the dock in drifting conditions waiting for the Race Committee to tell us if we were going to race or not. And so all of a sudden they came over and said it’s done, it’s 7 at night the event’s over and you win.”
Baird has been a long-time competitor on the Swedish Match Tour. He is one of only two skippers who have placed in the top eight on the final rankings in each of the Tour’s first five seasons.
Although he’s never finished higher than fifth, that could change this year. Baird’s Team Musto is planning to compete in as many events possible to chase the new Tour prize, a BMW 545i Touring that will be awarded to the Tour champion along with $60,000 in prize money. But, as always, there’s a financial burden to consider.
“The Tour represents the elite events of the world and we love to go to the best events. The one thing we’re missing is a sponsor that can help us pay for the time to prepare and to get to the events that are farther away and more expensive for us. And also to keep a team together,” Baird said.
“We’ve been representing Musto for the last two years which has been fabulous. They’re wonderful to work with and they’re helping us with team gear. But cash is hard to come by. If we can find a more significant situation that we can afford to train harder and longer we’d be at every event.
“When I think back on the match-racing circuit there was a great wave of excitement 12 or 15 yrs ago. When it got started, it was terrific. Then there was a period of slow down. It got harder, it wasn’t as exciting and there were question marks about future,” Baird said. “But it’s great that Swedish Match and their partners have been committed for so long. Now, they must be seeing that this is truly the top end of sport and it’s a great place for them to be.”
Go to Page 1
RELATED COVERAGE
Ed Baird bio
Swedish Match Tour 2004-05 Leaderboard
Team Musto Win Second Tour Event (July 31, 2004)
Baird's Resiliency and Luck Lead to Victory (April 25, 2004)
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