By Suzanne McFadden]
After a year of eating humble pie, America's Cup runner-up Paul Cayard was able to feast on the reputations of some of the world's best skippers again on the Waitemata Harbour yesterday.
The AmericaOne skipper finished the first day of the Steinlager-Line 7 match-racing regatta equal at the top
of the pile with Team New Zealand's Dean Barker.
Cayard, the losing finalist in the last two America's
Cups, has been absent from the world circuit for the past two years. He took 18 months off to sail, and win, the round-the-world race, and then went out hunting for cash for his latest cup campaign.
"Since I've come back, in Bermuda, St Thomas and Congressional Cup, I've been eating humble pie," he said. "But today I'm feeling comfortable again.
"I've got to get back into the swing of things, so I understand the new match-racing rules and how the umpires are going to interpret them for the cup."
Both Cayard and Barker, a young skipper going places, scored six wins from seven races in perfect 15-knot breezes yesterday.
And both lost to New Zealand skipper Gavin Brady, the world No 2, who recovered strongly from an abysmal start to the day.
Brady, back with a Kiwi crew after a year working for America True, lost his first three races, but after a break for lunch, won the next four.
Many of the skippers suffered first-day blues - world No 3 Englishman Chris Law and Prada helmsman Francesco de Angelis managed only two wins.
Swede Magnus Holmberg, seventh in the world, had just one victory despite spending the past month training in Auckland.
Barker and his Team New Zealand crew were in the same sizzling form as they were the last time this regatta was held - when they finished runner-up to boss Russell Coutts 18 months ago.
Since then, Barker has followed Coutts' example by putting more emphasis on tactics in the five-man crew, bringing former world No 1 Laser sailor Hamish Pepper on board.
"It was a huge help to us out there today having another pair of eyes looking up the course for wind," Barker said.
"We're still just learning about all this - it's only our second year match-racing."
If Barker has a good week in Auckland, he hopes to better his ranking of 16th in the world. His plan is to be in the top 10 by August, to earn a start in the world championships in Denmark.
