Best wishes to Ed Baird

This is a great picture of Ed Baird by Alinghi photographer Guido Trombetta.

It's a reminder that America’s Cup is about sailors.

That is, real people who actually commit their lives to sailing and racing, and give everything they have to compete and win, and adapt to any and all challenges they face.

No sailor embodies that tradition more than Ed Baird (USA), helmsman for the mega-catamaran that Team Alinghi has entered for America’s Cup 33, which (as you may know) is that yachting race to be held in just a few weeks in the waters off Valencia, Spain, we hope.

Do you remember America’s Cup? Well, the racing is soon to begin. Again, we hope.

Anyway, as he coolly steered Alinghi to victory over Emirates Team New Zealand in Valencia in 2007, we all thought Ed Baird was the epitome of the dispassionate, true-grit competitor.

Interestingly, he amazed us with his jet-pack navigation kit that provided him with data we assume race officials agreed were OK.

It looked like he was downloading data from – what? – Versus USA, the cable station streaming races? Or Virtual Spectator, the modeling programmer that translated race data into computer-animated images that all of us watched?

Whatever.

Ed Baird just sailed brilliantly – and when the occasion called for it – as in the last race with Team New Zealand – had the confidence and competitiveness to pull a face down maneuver on the last mark that echoed the behavior of every competitive small dinghy sailor who ever lived.

We also admire the fact that this not-so-young competitor – certainly not one who is in any way green about the ears – is eager to race and steer one of the world’s most amazing vessels in one of the most amazing race series any of us will ever see – in sailing conditions that may be, in themselves, extraordinarily challenging.

Whichever vessel ultimately prevails – the power, dimension, and energy of Alinghi’s catamaran – or the equivalent from BMWOracle’s amazing trimaran – Ed Baird, in his own way, along with his peers and competitors, has the potential to change the world for yacht racing, the lives of racing sailors, and the future of America’s Cup.

We admire, respect, and salute Ed Baird as he moves into his prep for AC33.

Good luck, Ed.