Ed Baird talks about the 33rd America's Cup

                             Ed Baird

Ed Baird was Rolex World Sailor of the Year in 2007. He was helmsman in Alinghi’s 32rd America’s Cup win, and will defend the Cup as Alinghi 5 helmsman for the 33rd match. He won the world match racing championship in 2003 and 2004, and has been world champion in Lasers, Solings, and J24s. SFBE caught up with him at his home in St. Petersburg, FL, on Saturday, October 25, 2009.

SFBE: What is your view of what is going on between GGYC (Golden Gate Yacht Club) (GGYC) and SNG (Societe Nautique de Geneva)?

Ed Baird: It was exciting at the end of the last Cup, with a lot of teams ready to keep going in the traditional multi-challenger format. We had agreement among most of America’s Cup community, before AC 32 was over, on a new 90-foot monohull class to replace the International America’s Cup class, and we hoped to race last summer, 2009, in Valencia. There would have been a lot of teams involved. But GGYC have been pushing hard for two years now to take control of the event through the New York Court system. In effect, GGYC is trying to make a hostile takeover of the America’s Cup.

SFBE: What is the basis for GGYC’s actions?

Ed Baird: The way the America’s Cup works under the Deed of Gift is that the defender picks the team that will be the Challenger of Record, and then an elimination series is held among all challengers to select the team to race for the Cup against the defender.  At the end of AC32, SNG picked the 4th place Spanish Federation to be the Challenger of Record. The Federation wanted to race on behalf of all Spanish clubs, rather than a single club, so they created a new yacht club. Unfortunately that was a violation of the ruling Deed of Gift because they had not ever held an annual regatta before challenging. So GGYC sued in the New York Court to replace the Spanish club as Challenger of Record.

SFBE: What’s the big deal about being the Challenger of Record?

Ed Baird: Among other things, the Challenger of Record gets to pick the type of boat for the race. Traditionally the type of boat has been selected by the challenger in agreement with the defender and the rest of the clubs who want to race. The defender gets to pick the venue. The Challenger of Record also can decide whether or not to hold an elimination series to select the final challenger.

SFBE: Is that when the multihull boats became the new America’s Cup class and the venue was changed to the Arab Emirates?

Ed Baird: When the Court established GGYC as the Challenger of Record the negotiation between GGYC and SNG on a new protocol went nowhere, so we had to go with this 90 by 90 foot boat BMW/Oracle came up with that no one had ever seen before. It is not a class boat, not a type agreed to by multiple challengers, and not what the majority of teams were expecting. We really had to scramble to come up with a boat to defend with. Then we changed the venue from Valencia to the UAE, which GGYC is challenging in Court, too. GGYC also decided they did not want any other clubs to be involved. (Below is Alinghi 5, the boat SNG came up with, Ed Baird at the helm.)

SFBE: There is an argument about measurement, too, isn’t there?

Ed Baird: BMW/Oracle wants to exclude the rudder from the measurement of the length, even though it hangs off the back of the boat. They want it to be one way and we read the rule another way.There will be a hearing before the New York Court on October 27th to clarify these issues and to pick the venue between Valencia and the UAE. We are all looking forward to that clarity, and to learn whether we are reading the rules incorrectly or that we have done things the right way. We are all waiting for Tuesday.

SFBE: Is it possible there will not be a 33rd America’s Cup race?

Ed Baird: There is always the question whether BMW/Oracle is actually going to come to the venue, whether they will meet measurements. But we expect it to happen and we are preparing for it.

SFBE: Is there an upside to this?

Ed Baird: There are some pretty spectacular boats out there ready to race if we can ever get it put together. They are truly amazing.

SFBE: How do you feel about using motors to trim sails?

Ed Baird: It makes a lot of sense. You cannot do things manually fast enough with boats this large and this fast to get the best from them. It is even a safety issue. By allowing the trimmers and other crew to do things quicker you actually can get more out of the boat and this also means you must get better performance out of the crew. When you are at the dock and you fire the motor up and listen to noise it makes you scratch your head and wonder if this is the right thing to do. But when you get out on the water and start sailing, having the motor is fantastic. You can turn the winch just when you need to without worrying about grinders being ready and at station.

This is an exciting time in sailing, with technology breakthroughs and new types of sailing, including kites and hydrofoils.