Yachting: Winning skipper begging for cash

By Suzanne McFadden

A couple of hours after Paul Cayard brushed off rival America's Cup skippers in Auckland, he was on a plane to beg for more money.

It's all very well to win regattas, as Cayard did yesterday in beating Team New Zealand helmsman Dean Barker in the final of the Steinlager Line 7 matchracing grand prix.

But the skipper and head of AmericaOne knows that to win the Auld Mug, you have to have the fastest boat. To have a fast boat, you need a lot of dosh.

"I'm off to beg - I'm a high-level professional beggar," he said. "The America's Cup is a design competition. I have to make 50 appearances this year to raise money - sailing is the fun part.

"This regatta was about building my team, and making sure I understand the rules before the Cup starts. I know I still have a way to go.

"I would be naive to think I'm better than Russell Coutts right now. But I'm closer than I was a year ago, when I won the Whitbread."

While Cayard has been out sharpening his entrepreneurial skills, he has lost nothing in sailing prowess.

But aspiring young skipper Barker put up a valiant battle, going down 1-3 in strong breezes on the Waitemata Harbour.

It could have gone on longer, if the Team New Zealand crew had not committed the cardinal sin and crossed the start line early in the final race.

"We beat ourselves today," said Barker. "In the last start we completely misjudged time and distance - we went to sleep and thought we'd won it. That's the totally wrong approach."

It was the second regatta running that Barker finished runner-up, last time to his boss Coutts. And it was the second time Cayard had competed in the event, and the second time he had won - the last time in 1996.

Cayard's crew, including Kiwis Sean Clarkson and Morgan Trubovich, convincingly won the first race yesterday, getting out of the blocks first.

In the next clash, Barker trailed Cayard off the line, but dogged him up the right-hand side of the course, overtaking him before the mark and forcing Cayard to cop a penalty for tacking too slowly.

Both teams were a little subdued at the next start, eyeballing each other up the breakwater, until Cayard crossed in front and stayed there for the rest of the race.

It looked good for Barker in the race four pre-start, until he crossed prematurely and had to go back.

"We felt we dominated the starts but didn't capitalise on it. It was one of those days when you had to be first around the first mark or it was all over," Barker said.

In the sail-off for third, Young America skipper Ed Baird outgunned the former master, Chris Dickson, 2-1. Prada skipper Francesco de Angelis came from last in the round-robins to be fifth overall.