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Ed Baird -
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The American sailor who helped warm Kiwi hearts with Team New Zealand and then broke them with Alinghi is back in Auckland.
Ed Baird helmed Alinghi to victory in Valencia two years ago and is hoping to do it again for the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series.
Baird is practising on an unfamiliar boat - one of the Oracle
boats that will be used throughout the Series - but the harbour he
is sailing on certainly is not.
His history in Auckland stretches back to 1991 but even with this
experience he has no expectations of easy victory this time.
"We know that the playing fields are a bit tipped away from us. Not
our boats, not our harbour we haven't been practising for
this&We are just one of the many who have a chance to do well"
says Baird.
It certainly has been a colourful journey with champagne moments
like victory in the Steinlager Logan World Match Racing series and
truly desperate times such as the near sinking of Young America in
1999.
Those experiences were invaluable for Baird.
"It taught me a lot about teams and people...we had one desperate
day where we broke the boat and set in motion a number of
situations that killed us in the end and that was disappointing.
But the overall experience was very good."
In 1995 Baird was part of Team New Zealand when the cup was won and
12 years later he was at the helm of Alinghi for the one second win
that kept the Cup in Europe and earned him the World Sailor of the
Year title.
Yet he doesn't consider it a life changing moment
"It's not something you look back on and say that was the one
moment of the whole life, no, but it was very memorable and very
special moment that will always be there yeah definitely.
The Louis Vuitton Pacific Series is billed as a friendly regatta -
is there really such a thing?
"Well so far it's been very friendly&we've made a lot of
good new acquaintances (and are) getting along well. The racing
remains to start though&"
Two days to go. We shall see.
