| CATCHING UP WITH ED BAIRD |
Ed Baird`s Team Alinghi crew works upwind on the Bay of Porto Azzurro during practice for the Toscana Elba Cup 2005. (Swedish Match Tour/Sean McNeill)
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American Ed Baird forged his lead on the Swedish Match Tour last year with compatriots Andy Horton and Jon Ziskind as the primary crew. They were the only American team competing regularly on the Tour, and they enjoyed a superb year, winning four Tour events as well as the match-racing world championship for the second consecutive year.
This year is different, however. Baird cultivated the fruits of his labor into a helmsman’s role with Team Alinghi, the reigning America’s Cup champs. He’s one of three helmsmen for the team along with Peter Holmberg, a past Tour champion, and Jochen Schumann, who was in the afterguard for Alinghi’s victory over Team New Zealand in 2003.
Baird, however, couldn’t bring Horton and Ziskind with him, and the team has split up. Ziskind has joined the Mascalzone Latino – Capitalia team, while Horton is racing Star boats and contemplating an Olympic campaign.
Baird’s new crew features members of Team Alinghi. Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen is the bowman, Dean Phipps works the pit, Nils Frei is the headsail trimmer and Yann Gouniot is the mainsail trimmer.
The team got off to a good start, winning the Marseille Invitational in March. But, as Baird said, that was a low-key event, and he knows there’s much work to be done.
“We’re starting from a new place,” said Baird, who leads the Tour standings with 65 points. “They’re all very talented, but we have to become talented as a group. They’re new to being with me, but not to each other.”
Van Nieuwenhuyzen and Phipps both sailed aboard Alinghi’s SUI-65 during its Cup triumph two years ago. And the two sailed with former Alinghi skipper Russell Coutts when he won last year’s Elba Cup.
But Van Nieuwenhuyzen and Phipps aren’t that new to Baird. Van Nieuwenhuyzen raced with Baird four times last year, and Phipps sailed with Baird when he won his first match-racing worlds in 1995.
Gouniot is no stranger to match-racing. He used to race with Bertrand Pacé’s crew some years ago.
“We know we can trust each other, we just have to get those quick words of understanding going between us,” Baird said. “Yann and Nils are great guys, we just have to get used to each other.”
So how does this bear on the Tour championship? How will it affect Baird’s pursuit of the $60,000 bonus and BMW 545i Touring from partner BMW? Baird says it’s not a big deal.
“It’s great to have a few points in the bank,” Baird said, “but we’re trying to improve as a group. If the results work out in our favor, that’s a bonus.”
A very lucrative bonus.
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