Paul Cayard gives press conference

As we said yesterday, Paul Cayard made this morning his first public appearance since joining the Spanish Challenger of Record, Desafío Español, as sports director.

It is always interesting to listen to what Cayard has to say, although it is true that despite the many questions journalists asked, the most controversial ones were not touched. Our long list of questions was left unanswered but we will have the opportunity to have a one-on-one interview hopefully next week.

Leaving apart the controversy of the Protocol, the CNEV (Club Nautico Español de Vela) and the Challenger of Record, the most important news that came out is that Cayard will certainly helm the new boat during its development stage although his role during official races in 2009 is still unclear.

Desafío Español is actively combing the market for another helmsman specialized in match racing. Cayard put it clear that there are better match racers than him available right now.

Our whole report will be online later today.

You can listen to the whole 34 minutes of the press conference, thanks to the small media player. It works like any other player, using the three control buttons (play, pause and stop). You can also move around the sound file by clicking on the grey bar. Finally, you can adjust the volume through the small triangle on the right.

Unfortunately, for our non-spanish readers, the conference took place in a mixture of Spanish and Italian, given Cayard's fluency in the latter.