NIPPON CUP 2004 -Official Website-

NIPPON CUP 2004 INTERNATIONAL MATCH RACE SAILING SKIPPERS
SWEDISH MATCH TOUR

SKIPPER:ED BAIRD エドベアード

NATIONALITY: American
RESIDENCE: St.Petersburg, Florida
DATE OF BIRTH(YEAR):
TEAM: Team Musto
CREW LIST: Pieter van Nieuwenhuysen , Jonathan Ziskind , Andrew Horton
ISAFマッチレースランキング1位

言わずと知れたチャンピオンセイラーである。彼のセーリングキャリアはオリンピックからアメリカズカップと幅広い。様々なクラスで8回の世界チャンピオンに輝き、マッチレースでも95.03.04年の世界チャンピオンである。さらに世界一過酷なホイットブレッド世界一周レースを戦い、95年にはROLEXのヨットマンオブジイヤーに輝いた。多才な彼は03年にはアメリカズカップ中継のコメンテーターも務めた。なにより、彼はISAFマッチレースランキングで1位になった唯一のアメリカ人セイラーである。

Swedish Match Tour Results:

2003-'04	- 7th Overall
2002-'03	- 6th Overall
2001-'02	- 5th Overall
2000-'01	- 8th Overall
2000	- 8th Overall
2004-'05	1st - Portugal Match Cup '04 (Crew: Andy Horton, Dean Phipps, Guy Salter, Jon Ziskind)
2003-'04	1st - Congressional Cup '04 5th - Swedish Match Cup '04 7th - Toscana Elba Cup - Trofeo Locman '04
2002-'03	2nd - UBS Challenge '02 3rd - Match Race Germany '03 4th - Toscana Elba Cup - Trofeo Locman '03 5th - Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini '02
2001-'02	2nd - Match Race Germany '02 3rd - Bermuda Gold Cup '01 3rd - Swedish Match Cup '02 9th - Congressional Cup '02 10th - Steinlager Line 7 Cup '02
2000-'01	3rd - Danish Open '00 3rd - King Edward VII Gold Cup '00 7th - Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini '00
2000	3rd - Danish Open '00 3rd - King Edward VII Gold Cup '00 7th - Trofeo Challenge Roberto Trombini '00Core

Core Crewmembers:

Andy Horton (USA)
Jon Ziskind (USA)

America's Cup Affiliation:

Young America 2000 - Skipper, 7th, Louis Vuitton Cup 2000
Team New Zealand 1995 - Coach, Won America's Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup

Additional Accomplishments:

Rolex Yachtsman of the Year 1995
Three-time Match Racing World Champion (2000, '03, '04)
1st - New York Yacht Club Maxi Boat Championship '97
1st - Rolex Sydney-Hobart Race 2000
2nd - Cowes Week '99, Maxi Class
4th - 1997-'98 Whitbread Round the World Race, Innovation Kvaerner
Past winner of Knickerbocker Cup
Past U.S. Soling Champion

Additional Information:

When it comes to match-racing in the U.S., Ed Baird is the undisputed king of the hill. He's the only American that practices the discipline on a regular basis. Other American skippers may have represented the U.S. in the match-racing discipline at the Olympics, but Baird campaigns actively on the international circuit, and has enjoyed great success.
Baird is the only American winner of the World Championship of Match Race Sailing, winning the title at the 1995 Steinlager Line 7 Cup in New Zealand. He repeated the feat at Lake Garda, Italy, in 2003.
On the World Match Racing Circuit, Baird has won 10 major international events and is the only American ever ranked no.1 on the ISAF World Match Race Rankings list. Baird is one of only two skippers to place in the top eight each of the first four years of the Swedish Match Tour.
Baird is a past recipient of the Rolex Yachtsman of the Year award. He won in '95 after his first Match Racing Worlds triumph and also for being part of the America's Cup winning Team New Zealand. Baird was a coach on the team that took the Cup to New Zealand.
Baird's run for America's Cup 2000 was less auspicious than his debut with Team New Zealand five years earlier. Baird skippered the New York Yacht Club's Young America syndicate, but the team's legacy on the event was its near sinking during a Louis Vuitton Cup second round race.

Sailing in 18- to 20-knot winds near the northeast corner of New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf, Baird's Young America, USA-53, reared up in a set of waves during a tack. The side decks near the jib tracks cracked, and the hull became compromised. The crew abandoned ship when they thought it was about to sink. Only slick seamanship and quick action saved the sloop from the depths of the gulf.
Baird tried his hand at distance sailing in 1998, joining the Norwegian Whitbread Round the World Race entry Innovation Kvaerner. Three years later he rejoined skipper Knut Frostad, this time aboard Djuice Dragons in the 2001-'02 Volvo Ocean Race, providing strategic and tactical support for the final four legs of the grueling race.
Baird formed an Olympic campaign for Sydney 2000 in the Soling class, which was the match-racing discipline. He won the U.S. Match Racing Championship and led the U.S. Olympic trials after the fleet racing portion. But he lost the bid in the match-racing final.
Baird has been lauded for his expert analysis of America's Cup and Louis Vuitton Cup racing on Television New Zealand's One Sport program. Baird is also a successful instructional author, coach and trainer.