Sail-World.com : Paul Cayard comes to town
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Paul Cayard comes to town |
Woollahra Sailing Club and Bethwaite Design hosted two brilliant nights this week; Russell Coutts and Paul Cayard kindly gave up some of the little free time on their agendas to help raise funds for shipping some Aussie 29ers to their world championship in San Francisco in July this year.
Last night it was the turn of 45 year-old Cayard, one of the most versatile sailors around at the top end of our sport. He is a multiple Olympian and gold medallist, contested America’s Cups, match races and the former Whitbread Race in which he sailed on EF Language. What style of racing Cayard hasn’t attempted is not worth mentioning.
He even had a go at the 18 Footers, but it was not to his liking, but last week jumped on a 29er as crew for his son Dan, in San Francisco where they live. Dan wanted some practice for the upcoming 29er Worlds - and who could ask for better help?
Over the following two weeks, Cayard, who spoke at Woollahra ‘because I like to give back to sailing,’ will call tactics on War Path, Steve and Fred Howe’s American entry for the Farr 40 Worlds.
Today they start the first day of the Pre-Worlds regatta off Sydney Heads and judging from the advice he gave to the handful of young 29er sailors in attendance at Woollahra last night, it will be of no surprise to see he and his friend Russell Coutts (sailing with Hasso Plattner’s Morning Glory), at the top end of the scoreboard in both Farr events.
Starting his career sailing small boats, Cayard said, ‘I really love sailing, I loved it from the start and I really enjoy it, it is important to enjoy it.’
He told the kids last night, ‘go and enjoy your sailing. If you are going to be any good, you need to have a passion for it, you need to be committed and you have to spend time on the water training.’
A lot can be learnt by sailing dinghies, according to the Finn Gold medallist, enabling one to learn to sail by feel and good for working at steering the waves. ‘It is important to get your head out of the boat, look at the water, the clouds, don’t spend too much time on instruments; the less you have to worry about the mechanical aspects, the better off you are.’ Good advice.
Communication is another factor when racing. Cayard explained that particularly with bigger boat racing, such as America’s Cup, the crew can’t hear each other, so it is imperative to work out hand signals or other forms of non-verbal communication, which will make sailing your boat a lot easier.
Preparing your boat and your day, including getting weather reports to map out your plan of action. Weather plays a vital role, as wind strengths can be divided into sections eg. gusty, light, moderate etc. and make those aspects work for you, including your starting technique.
Cayard went into long detail of what to look out for in each of the wind ranges and conditions giving all in the room food for thought. He said a lot of people who do poorly then make excuses such as they were ‘forced out of the start’ or similar. However, the all-rounder says, ‘they just didn’t plan; they didn’t go through their check list.’
Diet is another big factor. Sailing is getting more and more professional, the sailors are getting better, so you need to do what a good athlete does – eat properly. ‘You won’t win races by eating at McDonalds on a regular basis,’ he says.
When it comes down to match racing, you have to go through the scenarios. Think through your mind ‘what if he does this or that – what will we do.’
Rules are a major factor in sailing and each person needs to know them inside out, although Cayard would like to see them simplified. ‘You need to react without having to think about it,’ he commented. Good point.
‘We need to simplify this sport, because it is so complex, I would like to see the rules simplified,’ he stressed.
Speaking about his Farr 40 campaign and other regattas, the American said he chose to go sailing with whomever he would have fun with.
Importantantly, check out people you might want to sail with, see what their personality is like, which makes sense. The better you know your contemporaries the better you make your decisions. ‘If you have the right people, no obstacle is too hard.’
The Farrs - Cayard loves them and the owner/driver concept. ‘No, but it is a challenge to become a good coach/psych/mentor/friend to the person you are working for,’ when someone asked if it was sometimes hard not to grab the wheel from the less knowledgable owner/driver.
In making mistakes when racing, he said it was imperative to remain calm and objective, otherwise more mistakes will follow, saying you learn that from experience. He did!
Strive to learn how to do things better, as there is always room for improvement. On winning, he says that in most years you would be lucky to get 30% of wins.
Of his own future in sailing, Cayard said that now was a good time to re-evaluate. ‘I was focused on America’s Cup racing, but it’s just a small part of our sport.
‘They need to cap the salaries or something though; it has turned into ‘he who has the most money wins' kind of event. It’s actually great to sit back and do other types of sailing that are just as much fun; like the Farr 40s.
His name has been synonymous with our sport for many years and we asked when his first trip to Australia was.
‘I was here with Dennis Conner in 1980 – the year we hit the rock off Shark Island – not a great start. His fondest memory though, is doing the Whitbread aboard EF Language.
They were the first boat into Sydney Harbour on the Sydney stopover, arriving around midnight.
‘To sail into the Harbour at full speed and see the Bridge and Opera House and all the lights was fantastic,’ he said.
More on the Whitbread (now Volvo Ocean Race). ‘There is nothing like sailing in the Southern Ocean. With the icebergs, you are rolling the dice a bit, even with a radar. It doesn’t pick up everything and we had some close calls.
'You are always a little more frightened at night at what you might miss. The icebergs are beautiful all the same, all different where they have been bashed about by wind and water. It’s only a matter of time before someone hits one.’
On his fifth place in the Star at the Athens Olympics, Cayard had this to say. ‘I went too early (to Athens); I thought that if I put in the hours I would win.
'I always manage against burn-out. Mostly I go to an event one week before hand, because if you have done all your preparation and thought through your strategy, a week is all you need.
‘I decided to sail conservatively up till the middle of the series, because I didn’t want any letters (OCSs etc) against my name; doing that should keep you at the top end of the scoreboard.
'If you are at the top, then you are in control, so you just keep executing your plan and from there, you can mentally beat your opponents.
'I came unstuck because I was off my game. I had wanted to spend time at home with my family, but they were away in Sweden (his wife is Swedish), so I delayed and then had them meet me in Spain – I think the timing was wrong and it threw me. Timing is so important.’
While he and Coutts will sail in the Transpac 52s later this year, all were interested in the pair’s plans in relation to an announcement shortly after Coutts’ demise from Alinghi.
‘We are working on a project together and we will have to see if we can pull it off. It’s entertainment – sailing needs to be more entertaining. It needs to be best value at the cheapest prices – I can’t tell you anymore just now.’
Cayard has strong ideas on Olympic sailing too. ‘Philippe Kahn (a US owner/driver here to contest the Farr Worlds) is funding some serious Olympic contenders in America. He checks the sailors out thoroughly, chooses, then helps them achieve their dreams.
'Philippe supports and encourages sailors and I have a lot of respect for him. There needs to be more of that, because Olympics is an expensive four years and most can’t afford it,’ and he is so right.
Some final advice to the young up-and-coming elite sailors. ‘Before you go away to an event, make sure you boat is fully prepared before it goes into the container. Make sure everything is ready and you have plenty of spare parts. Practice – make sure everything is working. When you race, you don’t want to worry about breakages.
‘At the Olympics, I went on the water before racing started and practiced changing my mast, just in case I broke one during racing. We saw that if I tied up to the tow boat and worked from there, it would work.
'You had to put the tip of the mast aft for it to succeed and I watched others with their tips forward. That was never going to work, so I had the advantage. Sailing is getting more competitive, so you need to be good at many things now.’
Thanks for the night also go to Ronstan, big supporters of sailing. The company donated a large amount of product to be raffled, with proceeds going to the 29ers shipping costs as well.
by Di Pearson
1:19 AM Thu 24 Feb 2005 GMT
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2005 Rolex Farr 40 World Championships
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