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From the BYM News & Magazine, written by Stuart Streuli
After months of sailing just about any multihull he could get his hands on, Ed Baird showed that he hasn’t lost his touch in lead-ballasted boats, teaming with Keith Musto to win the 2008 Vineyard Vines Pro-Am Regatta.
Competing against America’s Cup contemporaries Paul Cayard and Dawn Riley and former Melges 24 and 470 world champion Dave Ullman, among others, Baird, the helmsman for Alinghi’s successful defense of the 32nd America’s Cup, went five for five to open the event, hosted by the Bitter End Yacht Club on picturesque North Sound in the British Virgin Islands. A seventh in the sixth race broke up his perfect string of victories, but it only dented slightly his overall lead. And Baird rebounded with yet another first in the seventh race. “It’s a casual event, and the instinctual skills aren’t far away even though we haven’t sailed much this year,” said the former match-racing world champion. “We just had fun.”
The Pro-Am regatta is unique in the sailing world, allowing any amateur sailor, regardless of experience, the opportunity to sail side-by-side on the 24-foot IC-24s with legends of the sport. While the event has been run in many different formats over its 22-year history, the current scoring system pairs a junior professional, such as Baird, Cayard, or even Olympic silver medalist Zach Railey, with a senior legend in the sport. Baird and Musto won the event in 2007 and were all but unstoppable again in 2008, taking the title by 23 points over the team of Paul Cayard and Morgan Larson—who split the junior spot—and J/Boats designer Rod Johnstone. Riley and Ullman finished third, with Railey and former Olympian and Laser designer Bruce Kirby in fourth. It was Baird’s sixth title, having won the event in 1991 and 1994, when a match-racing format was used, and in 2001, 2004, and 2007.
For Baird, however, this trip represents more than just another sailing competition. He was one of the invitees for the inaugural pro-am in 1987, and he and his family—wife Lisa and sons Max, Ty, and Nick—have been back almost every year since. Attending this year required missing the Club Náutico Español de Vela’s annual regatta, Trofeo Desafío Español, in Valencia, which features the first racing action in America’s Cup Class yachts since the 32nd Cup match in June 2007.
“It really is like coming home,” he said. “So much of the staff has been here [since 1987] and they’ve seen our kids as babies grow up to be big kids. They’re like our good friends. It’s a great feeling to come here and enjoy not only the sailing, but the people who work here and are involved in making this event happen.”
This year, for the first time, Baird’s eldest son Max sailed alongside his father throughout the event, while Ty and Nick rotated among the other legends of the game. “My younger sons were at an event in Clearwater, Florida, a few weeks ago and the awards were given out by a young Olympian named Zach Railey,” said Baird, of the United States lone male medalist from the 2008 Olympic Regatta in Qingdao. “They didn’t know anything about Zach, they’d never run across him before, and so they said, ‘Thanks very much,’ and off they went. But now they’ve spent a week around him and one of my sons came to me and said, ‘Dad, do you think Zach will let me take a picture with him?’ I think that’s really great. It’s why we’re all here.”
With the week over, Baird and family will be heading back home to St. Petersburg, Florida. But it won’t be long before he’s back behind the wheel of an America’s Cup Class boat. Alinghi is one of 12 teams scheduled to participate in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in February in Auckland, New Zealand. Many fans of sailing see this event—as well as the CNEV regatta—as a sign that the sport’s marquee event may be trending back toward the water after an unfortunate sojourn into the New York State Court System. Baird agrees. “It really shows that the vast majority of the teams out there just want to go sailing,” he said. “That’s what we’ve been saying for a year and a half, just let us do that. It’s great to have the chance to go down there and race in a place where the sport and the Cup are really well received. Team New Zealand will do a tremendous job I’m sure and we’ll have a lot of good teams that are fighting for it. So we’re looking forward to an opportunity to just get back into a race environment.”
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