Yachting: Looking to pirate a global victory

Paul Cayard's Pirates of the Caribbean had a breather in Wellington before heading for Rio de Janeiro yesterday afternoon. Picture / Mark Mitchell

WELLINGTON - With the Black Pearl rocking gently in the water nearby, Paul Cayard appears relaxed sitting on the dock in Wellington - not exactly pirate like.

The savvy veteran American yachtie, whose sailing credentials rival that of any Kiwi, is perhaps a little more content these days knowing that Black Pearl is on the mend and a round the world race victory is not entirely unachievable.

The campaign, funded by Volvo and Walt Disney to promote the sequel to the movie Pirates of the Caribbean, was the last out of the starting blocks, their crew the last assembled and the Black Pearl the last boat in the water.

As a result they have had a few problems, namely with their canting keel mechanism, which forced them out of the first leg.

"I think 10 or 15 years ago I might have been a lot less patient and really more frustrated and upset," Cayard said.

"You can't take it personally ... the game is equipment dependent."

With the problems now, hopefully, sorted, a third place in the leg to Wellington and the points stacked towards the end of the race, Captain Cayard may be on the verge of a comeback.

"We were able to push the boat pretty hard in the last leg," Cayard said.

"If we get to Rio and have not had any issues, we'll have a lot of confidence going into the second half of the race."

Having won the 1997-98 race on EF Language, Cayard said there were three reasons why he decided to race again - the satisfaction of circumnavigating the globe, the technology and the Disney factor.

"When I went and did it in 1997, the biggest thing I took out of it wasn't the fact we won, it was the personal experience I got. Namely sailing in the Southern Ocean - it was so extreme.

"You are cold, wet and tired. It is a test every single day to see if you are going to get up and put in as much energy as you did the day before.

"Going around Cape Horn is a cool thing to have in the baggage of your life."

Most sailors will confess to moments of "Why am I doing this?" - but not Cayard. Not even during his leg on Amer Sports One in the last race, when Grant Dalton had his team so far south they were in ice for 10 days.

"Even then I don't remember thinking, 'God I wish I could get helicoptered off this thing and panicked'.

"I just have this feeling that nothing bad is ever going to happen to me."

An accomplished sailor - it was expected that Cayard, who was benched from Oracle in the last Cup, would be back in the chase for the Auld Mug. However, sadly, that is not the case.

"If you have done several of them, you kind of want to do it right, or your way.

"The America's Cup is a game where money counts. Alinghi and Oracle are going to spend double as much as Team New Zealand and their odds of winning are probably double.

"It is not that the Team New Zealand sailors or designers or anybody is any less talented, it's just with more money you take more bites of the apple and try more things and you gain that one one hundredth of a knot you are looking for.

"It is a great game though and I might go back to it one day."

"Might" being the key word.

It is no secret that Cayard and New Zealander Russell Coutts have a project in the pipeline.

Their idea is to set up a circuit where technologically advanced yachts would compete in a series of in-harbour races around the world. The concept has received approval from the international sailing body ISAF.

"Our biggest factor was to control the amount of money spent so it didn't end up being a thing where you had to raise $200 million to compete in the America's Cup.

"We have a good vision and a good plan for that and we are working on trying to get a big backer."

Until then Cayard said his family are his priority.

"My kids are now 16 and 17 - they are driving cars, drinking and going on dates. They are quite good at sailing travel and go to races.

"I'd like to go with them, help if I can and be their friend."

PAUL CAYARD

* Skipper: Pirates of the Caribbean.
* Age: 46.
* Nationality: American.
* Status: married to Icka with two children, Daniel and Alexandra.

* Cayard was the first American skipper to win the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1998 on EF Language. He is a seven-time sailing world champion, a five-time America's Cup veteran and two-time Olympian.