Quantum Racing Announces New Helmsman for 2011 Season

[Source: Quantum Racing] America’s Cup winner and world champion helmsman Ed Baird has joined the Quantum Racing team as helmsman for the 2011 season. Baird assumes the position following the decision by Terry Hutchinson, helmsman since 2008, to compete in the 34th America’s Cup.

Ed Reynolds, President of Quantum Sail Design Group and Managing Director for Quantum Racing, says Baird’s expertise as both a sailor and coach make him a great fit for the team, which clinched the TP52 World Champion- ship title earlier this month. “Ed is an 11-time world champion, has sailed with many of the guys on our team and is very much committed to our program, which is as much about product development as it is winning races. Ed’s accomplishments both on and off the water are impressive and his analytical approach to sailing is a real asset. We’re very excited to bring him on board and will value his expertise as we work to put a new boat, rig and sails on the water.”

Ed Baird is the new Quantum Racing helmsman

Reynolds adds, “We wish Terry all the best as he prepares for the America’s Cup. He’s done an excellent job for us and we’re grateful for his sailing leadership and contributions to our test team program. This is not unexpected, as we’ve been aware of Terry’s aspirations to one day join an AC campaign. We’ve had a great run with Terry at the helm and fully expect his participation in the America’s Cup to be just as successful.”

Baird joins Quantum Racing with an appreciation for its accomplishments and purpose. “Terry Hutchinson has done a great job with this team. He’s had a lot to do with the personnel and process of developing the equipment and the product. I see my role as continuing to lead the team at a high level. The team has an impressive history from which to move forward. Our focus is on continuing to look for ways to improve and advancing the process of making fast sails and putting them together with fast boats, fast rigs and great people. I’ll be in the middle of all this and I’m excited about the opportunity.”

Baird has racing experience in nearly every type of boat including TP52s when they were a new class. Baird was the winning helmsman of America’s Cup 32 aboard Alinghi, the 2007 ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year, and was part of the 1995 America’s Cup winning team, Team New Zealand. Baird has raced in the Whitbread Round-the-World Race, is a three-time Match Racing World Champion and the only American ever to reach #1 on the ISAF World Match Racing rankings. Baird also has extensive Grand Prix and Olympic racing experience and numerous World, International and North American one-design championships to his credit.

In the coming months, Baird will be involved in the process to put a new boat on the water for the 2011 Audi MedCup Circuit. “We have plenty to plan and organize, and before you know it the boat will be built and ready for launch!”

Quantum Racing serves as a test platform to evaluate and validate Quantum’s iQ® Technology process for sail development and the company’s Fusion M® sails. It is winner of the 2010 and 2008 TP52 World Championships and runner-up in the 2010 Audi MedCup Circuit.

Video: Highlights from Day 2 of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena

Highlights from Day 2 of the LVT La Maddalena. La Maddalena, 23 May 2010. Video copyright Louis Vuitton Trophy

Luna Rossa and Azzurra train in Valencia

In a clear sign of Patrizio Bertelli's intentions for the 34th America's, Luna Rossa announced yesterday its participation in the forthcoming LV Trophy in La Maddalena, Italy, as well as the next two LV events in Dubai and Hong Kong, with a renewed crew, skippered and helmed by former Alinghi helmsman Ed Baird. The American sailor will also be joined by 4 of his former teammates from the two-time America's Cup winners, Rodney Arden, Lorenzo Mazza, Claudio Celon and Cicco Rapetti.

Robert Scheidt, helmsman of Luna Rossa's TP52 yacht, will hold the role of strategist aboard the ACC boat while Torben Grael will be calling tactics, just like he did on the same yacht 3 years ago with James Spithill at the helm.

Luna Rossa is currently in Valencia, training together with Azzurra. The two Italian sparing partners started their training on Monday and will continue match racing off the Malvarosa beach until Sunday. We got the usual "reconnaissance" photos of the Luna Rossa yacht on her way out of the canal but stay tuned for a more extensive coverage with photos, videos as well as interviews during the rest of the week.

Luna Rossa trains in view of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena. Valencia, 20 April 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna Rossa trains in view of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena. Valencia, 20 April 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Luna Rossa trains in view of the Louis Vuitton Trophy La Maddalena. Valencia, 20 April 2010. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Ed Baird and Dirk Kramers talk about the day and Alinghi 5

Although in the city of Valencia and the first 2-3 miles off the breakwater conditions were considerably calm today, further offshore it was very rough. Ed Baird gives a very detailed explanation of today's "nasty" conditions. The strong westerly was causing strong westerly wind waves while the very strong north westerly offshore was causing a strong swell. Their combination forced the race committee to call off racing since both the boats and their crews would be in danger.

Ed Baird and Dirk Kramers talk about the day and Alinghi 5. Valencia, 10 February 2010. Video copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Giant leap in US match racing in the making?

A major shift appears to be taking place in US college sailing. College/University sailing in the US will likely be making a change next year, scrapping its sloops/keel boat championship and switching to match racing. The philosophy behind the change is that match racing ia big part of the future of sailing and it is the one aspect of the sport where US colleges do not produce experts straight out of school.

The ICSA (Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America) produces just about all elite US sailors, including Ed Baird, Terry Hutchinson, and Anna Tunnicliffe,as well as the last several world team racing champions. If this change is made, one can expect the caliber of US produced match racers to grow rapidly.

In the ICSA board meeting that took place last January in Park City, Utah it was decided that a "Sloops Working Party" be created in order to investigate the future of college sloops, specifically looking at match racing. In the following meeting in San Francisco last May, Stanford University Coach John Vandemoer (husband of US Olympic Match Racing sailor Molly Vandemoer, who finished 3rd last week at Sail for Gold in the UK) presented his "Report of the Sloops Working Party". The minutes of the ICSA board meetings can be accessed here.

Where this gets bigger is that the ICSA would like to work with US Sailing, to automatically get the winner of the new college match racing championship a berth to the US Match Racing Championship, as well as other Grade 2 or 1 events in the US. The ICSA hopes its sailors could rapidly overtake the current fleet of US Match Racers, since they already team race so well. The weakness for college sailors will be keel boat teamwork and boat handling skill, but that has not been hard to learn for other ex-college sailors.

Without any question this should help grow the sport. The US is about to really start focusing on match racing, which generally played a secondary role in the past. The fleets will get more competitive and more teams will be trying to get into events.

Terry Hutchinson, here at the helm of Quantum Racing, was College Sailor of the Year in 1989 and 1990. Cartagena, 14 September 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Ed Baird and crew sail Décision 35 on Lake Geneva

[Source: Alinghi] Ed Baird and crew put the chartered Décision 35, SUI6, through its paces for the frst time yesterday on Lake Geneva. The team and that of the other Alinghi D35, SUI1, are training this week in preparation for the upcoming Challenge Julius Baer which starts on Friday with the GP Corum at the Société Nautique de Genève . This regatta series and other training sessions are towards a 33rd America's Cup in multihulls next year.

What are you and the crew doing this week?

We are on Lake Geneva, in a town called Nyon, in Swizterland, and we are going out sailing on the D35s that we are going to sail all summer. This is our first time together as a group on the boat to try and experiment and learn a little bit about how they work. We are trying to get ready for the races that start this weekend.

Ernesto started this class way back and he’s been racing on these boats since they were originally conceived. This is the first time for us. There was a boat that wasn’t being used and we were able to charter it for the season, for part of the season actually, because we can’t do all of the races, but we’ll have another team within our team to race against and train against and that will be interesting.

Alinghi starts training on D35's. Video copyright Alinghi

What sort of competition do you expect in this multihull fleet?

My understanding is that there are going to be 12 boats this year, which is fantastic. Last year it was 10 and now a couple more. There are several great teams that have been here since the beginning but there are some new ones that are going to be tough as well. We know we have our work cut out for us to try to catch up and learn about sailing these boats, but that’s the position we are in for this next America's Cup, it’s to try to get better at multihulls.

Last year you raced the eXtreme 40s and won the iShares Cup - how do those boats compare to the D35?

In some ways the X40s and the D35s are similar. They are not that different in length and they have gennakers, and mains and jibs, but the D35s have a lot more sophisticated equipment. There is a lot more that you can manipulate on the boat to control the way the sails are, the way the boat is able to move through the water and there are more sails. We have more to select from for the different wind speeds, and it’s a more powerful boat overall, so it’s going to be a real handful to try to get used to. It’s good that we had the opportunity last year to sail the X40s, but this is definitely a more difficult step.

Who is the crew racing with you?

We are pretty lucky to have some of the same guys we raced together with last summer, but we are also trying to teach a new gang what they need to learn and learn together: Warwick Fleury, Brad Butterworth, Murray Jones, will all be sailing this summer. Of course Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen and Lorenzo Mazza are here and they were with me all last year. We have a different group of people supporting us: Juan Vila, Peter Evans, who was with us last year, and quite a number of different folks that are coming looking at the different things that these boats do to try to learn from it

Alinghi launches multihull training programme on Lake Geneva

[Source: Alinghi] Alinghi, 33rd America's Cup Defender, has started its 2009-2010 multihull campaign in Switzerland launching the two Décision 35 catamarans that will be used as training platforms towards a multihull America's Cup in May 2010. The sailing team will be dedicated to multihull training, racing the Challenge Julius Baer on Lake Geneva for the rest of the season and withdrawing from other monohull commitments.

In addition to Ernesto Bertarelli's original SUI1, the team has chartered a second Décision 35 (SUI6) for the season and the two grand prix multihulls will race the eight events that span the summer, starting on 8 May with the Grand Prix Corum.

Ed Baird will helm Alinghi SUI6 with Brad Butterworth as tactician while Ernesto Bertarelli, Alinghi president, will helm Alinghi SUI1. “Ernesto and his team have been strong in this class for years, we look forward to learning from and with them throughout the season,” said Baird. “We realise we have a lot to learn, and there will be a number of great crews to race against, so we're excited to have the opportunity to get back on the water in a competitive environment.”

The Alinghi multihulls will face a strong 10-boat fleet that includes some of the best offshore multihull sailors in the world, and while an Alinghi team has won the last two championships on the Lake, the group is candid in its expectations: “We are here to try to win, just as we did last year, but this season is going to be tough: the circuit has two new boats (Veltigroup and Banque Populaire) manned by highly professional multihull sailors with lots of experience, so the starts of the races will be more challenging. We will definitely be trying to keep the trophy in our hands though!” said Yves Detrey, Alinghi bow/mastman.

The first event, the Grand Prix Corum is from 8-10 May at the Société Nautique de Genève, so the Alinghi teams will start training from next Monday, “the D-35's represent a more sophisticated racing multihull than we have experienced before, and we need all the training opportunities we can get as we prepare for an America's Cup in multihulls,” Ed Baird concluded.

Crew lists

Alinghi SUI1
Club: Société Nautique de Genève
Ernesto Bertarelli, helmsman
Pierre-Yves Jorand, mainsail trimmer, performance
Nils Frei, trimmer
Yves Detrey, bow/mastman, boat captain
JC Monnin, trimmer, performance
Luc Dubois, helmsman, performance
Tanguy Cariou, tactician
Coraline Jonet, trimmer
Andrew Graham, spare
Claudy Dewarrat, coach
Christian Wahl, tactician

Alinghi SUI6
Club: Société Nautique de Genève
Ed Baird, helmsman
Brad Butterworth, tactician
Warwick Fleury, mainsail trimmer
Lorenzo Mazza, trimmer
Piet van Nieuwenhuijzen, bow/mastman
Curtis Blewett, bow/mastman
Murray Jones, tactician

Valencia Sailing talks to Adam Minoprio

The young New Zealander match racer talked to Valencia Sailing on the eve of the Open de España Match Race in Calpe. Continuing the tradition of his small island country, Minoprio and BlackMatch came aggressively into the World Match Race Tour and won their first ever event in their second year in the circuit. Minoprio talks about his past, the present and his future in the Tour and, why not, the America's Cup. BlackMatch and the other 11 teams trained on Tuesday under, unfortunately, light and shifty conditions.

Valencia Sailing: Let’s start with a brief overview of your sailing background. I suppose, like most kiwi sailors, that you started in a very young age.

Adam Minoprio: I grew up in a farm in rural New Zealand. My father bought my first Optimist and we used to travel on weekends to the coast in order to have a little sail. From there I went on to race Optimist and started competing in Optimist events. I can’t remember too much of it right now but I really enjoyed it and wanted to do more each time. When I was 11 I won the New Zealand Optimist nationals and then went to the 1997 Worlds in Belfast. That was really my first taste of international sailing and from that point I felt I wanted to do more and really get into it. After that, I continued sailing the youth classes in New Zealand and went in a few more championships.

When I was 17 I joined the Royal New Zealand Yacht Squadron LION FOUNDATION Youth Training Programme. They have ten elliot 6m boats and they teach you how to sail keelboats and get you out on keelboats on Wednesday nights in southern Auckland. From there I was introduced match racing and went to youth regattas in Australia and America. I really enjoyed that and I learned about match racing, the World Match Racing Tour, the America’s Cup. I learned about all the top-level professionals, the lives they lived and led and thought it would be exciting to get into that. When I finished the youth training program in 2006, my mates and I decided to set up our own team, race in regattas, work our way up and hopefully get in the World Match Racing Tour. We developed a 5-year plan whose ultimate goal is to win the World Match Racing Tour in 2010.

On each step of our plan we decided we knew how much money we needed to raise. In the first years we had the support of Line 7 from New Zealand but after a couple of good results, people took better notice of us and FedEx joined us. All of us were students and last year was the first one we toured Europe full time. We started getting our act together, did very well in various events and ended up finishing the World tour 4th overall, something far beyond what anyone of us hoped to do. Our aim is to improve even further.

Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing train on the eve of the Open de España Match Race. Calpe, 21 April 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Valencia Sailing: You are yet another top sailor from New Zealand that comes out of the youth training program. Is that the key to your nation’s success in sailing?

Adam Minoprio: The youth training program is the key to what you learn as a young sailor. It shows you what you can achieve and inspires you. We have figures such as Cameron Appleton, Gavin Brady and a bunch of others that went through the youth programs, sailing in the America's Cup, the Volvo Ocean Race the Farr 40 Worlds and many other top races. It shows what you can achieve if you put the effort. We also have great facilities, good boats and excellent coaches. It is the best you can have if you really want it and put the effort.

Valencia Sailing: This is now your second year in the World Match Racing Tour. How difficult was it for a young crew like BlackMatch Racing to compete in this level?

Adam Minoprio: Last year it was rather difficult. We were new and had never raced the other guys before. Some of the teams had been competing for more than 10 years while we went to Europe for more than couple of weeks for the first time. You know, when we had to race people such as Magnus Holmberg or Peter Gilmour we were impressed. We tried to do our best and last year was our learning year. Our mission was to learn as much as possible. We had a couple of good results and improved in each and every event. The more we improved, the more confident we got and in my view, success in the Tour is a combination of confidence and experience.

Valencia Sailing: The big breakthrough came last month in Marseille when you won a Tour event for the first time ever. How difficult was it? Did you expect it?

Adam Minoprio: We didn't expect it in the J80 class because the previous time we sailed a J80 boat we didn't have a huge success. We were hoping to compete and definitely get into the semifinals. It would have been a disappointment for us if we hadn't made it to the semis. It was a very tough field in Marseille and getting through to the quarterfinals was a big achievement. Then Ed Baird picked to race us in the quarter finals.

Valencia Sailing: That was a fatal error he committed.

Adam Minoprio: [Laughs] Yes. Last year, in every event we made it to the quarterfinals we were the team that others picked to race against. So, we wondered if that changed this year. When Baird picked us, he probably failed to notice that each time we were picked in the quarter finals we won. Of course, at the same time we were aware we had to race the America's Cup winner. It was a very tight match and to beat the America's Cup champion was a fantastic reward. Still, even after that victory we knew it wasn't over because we had to race 2 French guys that had lots of experience in J80's and were very competent match racers. Being in the semifinals and having achieved our goal we were able to sail much more relaxed and just enjoy ourselves. I think this is why we managed to sail very well and beat them.

Adam Minoprio and BlackMatch Racing train on the eve of the Open de España Match Race. Calpe, 21 April 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Valencia Sailing: What aspects in the World Match Racing Tour do you like and what do you think could be improved?

Adam Minoprio: What I like is that we go to a lot of fantastic locations to sail, a lot of different boats, there is a lot of fantastic people on the Tour and it's awesome racing everywhere you go. With the prize money we can make ends meet, so we can have a fun year, we are still young and don't have any mortgage payments to do. We are having a good time doing what we love. Hopefully we can go further from there. The only thing we don't like is that our home is in New Zealand, so we don't have home here in Europe. We are nomads traveling around. If we were Europeans it would be easier, we could go home between the regattas. That's the one part that could probably get us down a little but is also a motivation to succeed and in between the regattas we try to find other boats to sail so that we have less down time.

Valencia Sailing: Is it difficult to find sponsors for a team competing in the World Match Racing Tour?

Adam Minoprio: It is always hard to find sponsors but we had our sponsors not knowing we would have entered the Tour so we are pleased we ended up getting it. I think it would have been easier if we knew we had an entry in the Tour but, definitely, with the amount of TV coverage and the media the World Tour attracts it will be easier to find a sponsor.

Valencia Sailing: Let's talk about the future by mentioning three names. Russell Coutts, Dean Barker, Adam Minoprio. Is this the line of succession to the helm of the Team New Zealand America's Cup boat?

Adam Minoprio: [Laughs] I can only hope. It's going to be a long time before we even join this list of names and there is still a tremendous amount of work we need to do. It's a dream for the moment.

Valencia Sailing: Is it something you aspire to, you look forward to?

Adam Minoprio: This is definitely a goal.

Valencia Sailing: How difficult would it be to jump from these match racing yachts to an 85-90ft America's Cup yacht in, let's say 2-3 years? Do you have helming experience in bigger boats?

Adam Minoprio: I have driven some boats of that size, Maximus, a 100 footer, in New Zealand. I'm hoping to try and get more experience on bigger boats. I've done a few offshore races in 50 footers. It's going to be quite a long time before I get the opportunity to helm an America's Cup yacht, so I will be able to get a lot more experience.

Valencia Sailing: You have the support of Emirates Team New Zealand and its logo on your shirts. Does that mean you have any contractual obligation with them or could you go to any team that knocks on your door?

Adam Minoprio: I'm not signed up with Team New Zealand so I don't have any obligations. They have supported us and helped us get entry into World Tour events last year and as a result, we are very grateful to them. Ideally, being New Zealanders we would love to sail with them first. It's definitely our priority but you never know what could happen.

Valencia Sailing: Last but not least, Torvar Mirsky, the other antipodean young gun. Is he your toughest rival? Would you rather race against him or Peter Gilmour?

Adam Minoprio: They are both Australians so there is a lot of rivalry across the Tasman. He is another young guy on the Tour, he is of my generation of sailors and there will certainly be a lot of competition between us. We are good friends and we enjoy racing him, especially as of lately. Still, we wish him as much success as we have. Having another strong young guy adds value to the World Match Racing. There will is lot of competition and we always like to come out on top.

Alinghi's Ed Baird wins MIMR round robin clear by only one point

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] In contrast to yesterday’s stately emphasis on timing and speed in light air, today’s match racing action was fast and furious in a breezy Round Robin run-up to the Quarter-Finals of the Marseille International Match Race. Out of a top-ranked field of 12 teams competing for a piece of the €50,000 total purse, only eight have survived this day to carry on in the competition of this first stage in the 2009 World Match Racing Tour.

Leading this pack is Ed Baird (USA) and his America’s Cup-winning crew from Alinghi, whose 5-4 win-loss record of the day would not seem remarkable except that he managed to defeat not only the top two seeds in the competition yesterday - reigning World Champion Ian Williams (GBR) and his Bahrain Team Pindar and Sebastian Col (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team/K-Challenge – but also yesterday’s undefeated Paolo Cian (ITA) and his Team Shosholoza.

Having won this Stage One of the competition, Baird has earned the right to choose his opponent in tomorrow’s start to the first-to-three point Quarter-Final round.

Ed Baird loses to Torvar Mirsky. Marseille, 13 March 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget

Appreciative of his team of Lorenzo Mazza, Pieter Van Nieuwenhuijzen, and Warwick Fleury, Baird said “The three guys sailing with me have really earned their living this week. Today especially, with so many starts, tacks, and gybes, we had a lot on all day. It was tough out there, we got beat up by the wind more than anything.”

The wind was tough on race managers from the YC Pointe Rouge as well, who kept busy trying to keep on top of a breeze which flicked back and forth and up and down between a weak offshore Mistral and a late onshore sea breeze. Choosing the correct side of the course was critical in many of today’s nine flights, but even those that chose well had to stay sharp, lest their leads earned early evaporate in the warm Mediterranean sun.

On how he felt getting back into Tour competition, Baird said “It’s great to be out there again with a chance to get back out and race these guys - it was fun!”

While Cian’s impressive 7-0 score yesterday assured him some place in the Quarter-Finals, no one else in the field had such a certain outcome, and even Cian succumbed to lose to all four of his opponents today. In fact, no less than five teams were tied on six points in the 4th through 8th slots in the results.

So the pressure was on for all teams to perform in every match, and the final eight not known until the very last flight. Accordingly, Chief Umpire Alfredo Ricci and his umpire team were kept busy all day, adjudicating on levels of aggressiveness not seen thus far in the competition. Whereas penalties yesterday were relatively few and far between, with half being for benign infractions like hitting marks, today the intense boat-on-boat action resulted in numerous penalties, some deciding matches even as late as on the finish line.

One such match was in Flight 12 in a hotly-contested race between Col and Bjorn Hansen (SWE) and his Team Onboard. Perhaps feeling the pressure to perform as the local favourite, Col made an uncharacteristic error which he would have normally avoided when Hansen, in the lead but carrying a penalty, lured Col to sail between him and the signal boat at the finish. The infraction cost him two penalties from match umpires Philippe Gomez and Arnault Mante, with the first offsetting Hansen’s to clear him without doing a turn to finish and win the match, and the second requiring Col to do his own turn before finishing himself.

But for as many tactical errors as there may have been amongst this talented field, there were also some moments of absolute brilliance. Perhaps with skills learned in winning the qualifying Y’s Cup event, in Flight 10, Damien Iehl (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team pulled off an impressive double-gybe manoeuvre while remaining overlapped to leeward of Torvar Mirsky (AUS) and his Mirsky Racing Team on their final approach into the leeward mark. The move conferred luffing rights to Iehl, who then copped a penalty on the Australians they could not shake before the finish.

Young gun Adam Minoprio finishes the round robin in 6th place. Marseille, 13 March 2009. Photo copyright Gilles Martin-Raget

Moves like this gave Iehl a 7-4 record, the highest among the non-Tour Card teams and third overall in the Round Robin. Baird, Cian, and Iehl will be joined by Col, Williams, Mirsky, Mathieu Richard (FRA) and his French Match Racing Team/French Spirit, and Adam Minoprio (NZL) and his ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Team on Saturday morning in the first-to-three point Quarter-Final, due to start at 1000 local time.

Final Results
1. Ed Baird (USA) Alinghi 8-3
2. Paolo Cian (ITA) Team Shosholoza 7-4
3. Damien Iehl (FRA) French Match Racing Team 7-4
4. Sébastien Col (FRA) French Match Racing Team 6-5
5. Ian Williams (GBR) Bahrain Team Pindar 6-5
6. Adam Minoprio (NZL) ETNZ/BlackMatch Racing Team 6-5
7. Torvar Mirsky (AUS) Mirsky Racing Team 6-5
8. Mathieu Richard (FRA) French Match Racing Team/French Spirit 6-5
9. Philippe Presti (FRA) French Match Racing Team/French Spirit 5-6
10. Pierre Antoine Morvan (FRA) French Match Racing Team 3-8
11. Bjorn Hansen (SWE) 3-8
12. Ian Ainslie (RSA) Team Proximo 3-8

Loïck Peyron leads Torphée Clairefontaine after six races

Loïck Peyron, the French 7-time winner of the Trophée Clairefontaine, is leading this year's edition after 6 races, despite winning one race less than Alinghi Red's Luc Dubois. Similar to Friday's Rhodia Warm-up races, consistency paid off for the French. Still, a mere 3 points separate him from Luc Dubois and with 3 races scheduled for Sunday anything could happen.

The 8 crews raced one Raid and 5 Runs under clearly lighter conditions than yesterday but still offered the spectator crowds very close races, especially inside the basin. In the trophy's parlance, the Runs are the triangular races carried out right inside Port America's Cup while the Raid is a longer race lasting apporximately 30 minutes.

Overall standings after 6 races

1- Loïck Peyron (FRA), 44 pts (1,2,2,5,1,5)
2- Luc Dubois (Alinghi Red - SUI), 41 pts (6,6,1,1,4,1)
3- Nicolas Charbonnier (FRA), 33 pts (3,3,3,8,2,3)
4- Ed Baird (Alinghi Black - USA), 26 pts (2,5,8,3,5,6)
5- Fernando León (ESP), 26 pts (7,1,5,6,3,8)
6- Michel Desjoyeaux (FRA), 24 pts (4,4,4,7,7,4)
7- Jean-Pierre Dick (FRA), 23 pts (5,8,7,4,6,2)
8- Claire Leroy (FRA), 17 pts (8,7,6,2,8,7)

Valencia Yacht Base Raid
Today's Raid was a traditional windward/leeward fleet race with the addition of a gate in the middle of the course that all boats had to cross. It took place right in front of the Malvarosa beach, not far from were the America's Cup yachts used to race until last year. Unfortunately, conditions were significantly lighter than Friday and organizers had to wait half an hour before firing the starting gun but again the breeze never got over 4-5 knots.

Ed Baird initially led the race, followed by Loïck Peyron and Michel Desjoyeaux, but was unable to hold on to his lead. In the second upwind leg, Peyron was able to overtake Alinghi's helmsman, stay ahead and grab the first 10 points of the trophy. Baird finished second and Nicolas Charbonnier, the young French Olympic medalist, was third.

Start of Saturday's Raid. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Ed Baird was leading at the first weather mark. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Ed Baird was leading at the half-way gate in the first downwind leg. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Alinghi Black was still ahead of the fleet at the leeward mark. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Nicolas Charbonnier was 3rd at the leeward mark. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The start of the day was quite unpromising for Alinghi Red, 6th at the leeward mark. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

At the approach of the top mark Peyron grabs leadership. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Michel Desjoyeaux, defending champion, had a mediocre first day in the 2008 edition of the Trophée Clairefontaine. Valencia, 13 September 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Ed Baird leads after first day of Bermuda Gold Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] In a classic Bermuda day resplendent with sunshine and a westerly wind around 15 knots, the 59th annual King Edward VII Gold Cup got underway today with three flights in all three round robin groups. The 21 teams have been split into three groups of seven for the initial round robin racing.

America’s Cup-winning helmsman Ed Baird of the U.S. is the only skipper to go 3-0 on the day and leads Group A. He’s closely followed by the event’s reigning champion Ian Williams of the U.K., who’s at 2-0.

In Group B there’s a three-way tie between Johnie Berntsson of Sweden, Staffan Lindberg of Finland and Mathieu Richard of France, each at 2-0.

Group C is led by Paolo Cian of Italy and Daniel Glomb of Brazil, both with 2-0 records.

The top two finishers in each group at the end of the round robin advance to the Quarterfinal Round while the third- and fourth-place finishers advance to a Repechage Round.

Baird, who helmed Alinghi to victory in the 32nd America’s Cup in July, is the only skipper at 3-0 because he’s the only leader who hasn’t had a bye. Each team receives one bye in round robin racing.

“It’s the first time I’ve stepped on a boat since the Cup,” said Baird, of St. Petersburg, Fla. “It’s also the first time the four of us have sailed a match race regatta together. We’re just trying to sort it out as we go along.” Baird is sailing with Alinghi teammates Rodney Ardern, Lorenzo Mazza and Piet Van Nieuwenhuyzen, who all sailed the Cup.

Ed Baird leads the Bermuda Gold Cup. Hamilton, 9 October 2007. Photo copyright Bermuda Gold Cup/Charles Anderson

“It was a vintage Bermuda day,” said Williams, the skipper of Team Pindar. “It was lovely wind, lovely sun and good for us because we got two wins.”

Lindberg, sailing in his sixth consecutive Gold Cup, is one of three tied for the lead in Group B.

“We started well and did well on the racecourse,” said the tall Finn who is ranked No. 5 in the world. “We had good communication on the boat and good crew work on the racecourse. We’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

Cian is tied with Glomb for the lead in Group C.

“Our team is working very well,” said the Italian who helmed South Africa’s Team Shosholoza in the Louis Vuitton Cup last May.

Local heroes Glenn Astwood and Blythe Walker also fared well on Day 1. Walker, who placed third overall last year, is third in Group A with a 2-1 record, which is identical to the spot and record Astwood holds in Group C.

Walker might’ve been at 3-0 tonight if not for a penalty he incurred in his Flight 2 match against Ian Williams, the event’s defending champion. Walker was able to pull even with Williams on the final run, but then got penalized for taking his competitor past the layline to the finish.

Astwood, however, moved to 2-1 after overcoming Brian Angel of the U.S. in their Flight 3 match. Trailing on the second upwind leg, Astwood initiated a tacking duel that eventually allowed him to get to the right of Angel where he found more wind.

“When I’m behind I love to start a tacking duel, so that’s what I did,” said Astwood, who won the Bermuda National Match Racing Championship in August.

Alinghi to choose helmsman and afterguard in "Defender Trials"

[Source: Alinghi] Alinghi is wrapping up the first period of the Dubai winter training camp at the Dubai International Marine Club with the first event of their Defender Trials Series. These Defender Trials will span the period in Dubai and later in Valencia and will have for long term aim the crew selection and later the racing yacht selection.

Dubai Defender Trials

Pre-trials: This warm-up event for the “UBS Dubai Defender Trials”, will take place from the 12-15 December when helmsmen Ed Baird and Peter Holmberg and their respective crews will go head to head over a four day event. There will be two races per day on an America’s Cup course.

Round 1: Kicks off the first of two “UBS Dubai Defender Trials”, from the 31 January-3 February, which will include two races per day and a prize-giving at the end.

Round 2: The second of the “UBS Dubai Defender Trials” will be from the 16-19 February and will result in the helmsman and afterguard selection for LV Act 13 in Valencia.

Valencia Defender Trials

Further rounds will be announced to be held after LV Act 13 in Valencia.

The Defender of the 32nd America's Cup training with SUI-64 and SUI-91. Dubai, 24 November 2006. Photo copyright Thierry Martinez / Alinghi

Alinghi's Ed Baird unbeaten in Allianz Cup semifinals

America’s veteran match racer is up 2-0 and England’s wunderkinds are tied 1-1 in the Semifinal Round of the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2005-’06 World Match Racing Tour.

Ed Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) leads Denmark’s Jesper Bank 2-0 in one semifinal match. Baird staged a come from behind victory in their first race and then dominated the second race for the lead.

“We got an opportunity at the first windward mark,” Baird said of his first race. “He dialed us down hard on starboard. It was close whether we could cross behind him but were able to.”

Once around the windward mark, Baird’s crew snapped off a maneuver quicker than Bank’s. “We had a much better jibe and that was the race,” said Baird.

In the other half of the semifinal bracket 29-year-old Ian Williams, the match racing world championship points leader, is tied with triple Olympic medalist Ben Ainslie, also 29.

Williams won the first race after unloading a penalty. Ainslie won the second when he nipped Williams at the finish of a 5-minute run that saw the lead change hands three times.

“We were sailing nicely and fast,” said Williams. “But we made a mistake and gave him a get out of jail card. We had two opportunities to jump on him, but didn’t take advantage.”

The semifinals were suspended late this evening with the setting sun. The wind shifted to the west for the semifinal races and blew around 10 knots. The conditions were much more suitable for racing than the light northerlies that the quarterfinals were sailed in and have dominated the regatta, but there were still pratfalls on the racecourse.

“The breeze was more solid at the end,” said Williams. “We were sailing up and down with the current but it brings new challenges, like time and distance in the pre-start.”

Baird noticed differences in the ebb current from the shoreside to the middle of the bay.

“It was a little softer on the shore, we were surprised by that,” said Baird. “The beats were short so you had to start to the right.”

The quarterfinals were held earlier in the day. Baird defeated Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing, 3-1. Bank needed five races to defeat Peter Holmberg, Baird’s teammate at Alinghi.

Williams beat old nemesis Peter Gilmour, 3-1, to knock a chip off his shoulder. Williams has beaten Gilmour plenty in round robin racing on the tour, but has lost to him in three knockout rounds.

“It felt good to get that one,” said Williams. “He seems to be our nemesis in final rounds. For the tour standings it’s a big deal.”

Ainslie defeated Paolo Cian in the last quarterfinal match, also by 3-1. Ainslie won the first two, dropped the third and then won the fourth. Cian aided Ainslie by getting a penalty and being over the start line early. Despite all that Cian led towards the finish line, but saddled with the penalty Ainslie was able to steam past for the win.

In racing for 5th through 8th places this evening, Cian defeated Dickson and then Gilmour to place 5th and Gilmour 6th. Dickson placed 7th when he passed Holmberg on the final run to the finish, relegating Holmberg to 8th.

Racing is scheduled to resume on Sunday morning at 10:00 a.m. and will be broadcast live on the Internet at www.Sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m., weather permitting.

Alinghi's Ed Baird wins Group B at Allianz Cup

[Source: World Match Racing Tour] Ed Baird, a helmsman for America’s Cup defense syndicate Alinghi, won the Group B round robin at the Allianz Cup Presented by Oracle, Stage 5 of the 2006-’07 World Match Racing Tour.

Baird (St. Petersburg, Fla.) won all three of his matches today and finished with a 6-1 record. Baird tied for the win with Italian Paolo Cian of Team Viano Mercedes Benz – Shosholoza. Cian led yesterday at 4-0, but his lone loss was to Baird in Flight 5 which gave Baird the win.

“It was pretty light,” said Baird, the only skipper to finish in the Championship 8 every Tour season. “There was some current. The current was changing, and each race was different. That was part of the difficulty, to be comfortable with that. Especially in the starting area, it seemed to be quite different than on the racecourse. My guys did a great job of reading that and timing to the line. It gave me a lot of confidence to be in right place in the starts. We got ahead and stayed there today.”

Baird’s timing was the difference in the pre-start against Cian in Flight 5.

“They did an incredible job of time and distance to the line and were able to push us up and out of the line,” said Cian. “So the race was probably over at the beginning. I think we were pretty happy with six wins out of seven races. It’s just the way you read it.”

Racing in the San Francisco bay in the third day of the Allianz Cup. Video copyright Sportshows Television/Narrowstep - Allianz Cup

Denmark’s Jesper Bank, skipper of United Internet Team Germany, finished third at 5-2 and Australian Peter Gilmour, the reigning match racing world champion, was fourth at 4-3.

They advance to tomorrow’s Quarterfinal Round, which features some very intriguing matches. Baird will face Chris Dickson, skipper and CEO of BMW ORACLE Racing. Cian races Ben Ainslie, a helmsman for Emirates Team New Zealand. Bank takes on Peter Holmberg, another helmsman for Alinghi, and Gilmour goes against Ian Williams, the current leader of the world championship standings.

The winner of each match is the first to 3 points. The quarterfinals will be broadcast live on the Internet on Saturady at www.sail.tv. The Webcast is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. , weather permitting.

The light winds from the north today inhibited the completion of more racing. The wind blew mostly between 6 and 8 knots, but died away in the afternoon which forced racing to be abandoned after Group B finished its round robin.

Paolo Cian (left) follows Ed Baird back to the start line in their Flight 5 match. Baird won the match and the Group B round robin. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The event moves on to the quarterfinals without arguably its biggest attraction, Larry Ellison. The CEO of Oracle and founder of the BMW ORACLE Racing Team fell to 0-5 before closing out with two wins. He finished with a 2-5 record and in 6th place in the group.

“Actually, we’re kind of pleased with sixth place,” Ellison said to a packed press conference at the St. Francis Yacht Club. “Let’s here it for sixth place!”

Ellison said he hadn’t raced in J/105s before but enjoyed the regatta. He said that yesterday was a very humbling experience sailing in a cross current.

“It is very difficult and tricky sailing in a cross current,” Ellison said. “And sailing against this caliber of skipper and these quality teams, it’s quite astonishing how good they are at what they do. It was just an honor for me to be out amongst them.”

Cameron Dunn leads Brian Angel off the start line early in their Flight 5 match, which Angel would win. (Allianz Cup/Bob Grieser photo)

The Allianz Cup may not be Ellison’s last World Tour event. He received an impromptu invitation to Stage 6, the Monsoon Cup in Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia, from Gilmour, the event’s technical director.

“Just yesterday I got word that Russell Coutts is unavailable to come because he doesn’t have a crew,” said Gilmour. “So Larry, there’s an opening for you. It’s known as the world’s richest event in sailing with a 1 million ringet ($275,000) prize money.”

“Are you serious?” replied Ellison. “I guess that’s a yes,” Gilmour concluded.

Saturday’s schedule calls for the quarterfinals to begin at 10:00 a.m. The race committee also hopes to sail the semifinals in the afternoon.