Paul Cayard - Part 2

Oracle's sidelined helmsman reveals his predictions for America's Cup success to Andy Rice

One of the gaping holes in Cayard's CV is the fact that he has never been to the Olympics, let alone winning a medal at one. "I competed in the trials when I was a World Champion, and twice I really should have gone to the Olympics. It's tough being an American in the Star class. I have a French passport, so I could have gone to the Olympics about six times now if I'd have just told the French guys, yeah, I'm your man. My wife said that was stupid of me to hold out to be American. It didn't work out for me. I didn't really pursue it that way."

Cayard has always pursued his America's Cup goals harder than his Olympic dreams. He is, first and foremost, a professional sailor, and America's Cup is certainly where the money's at right now. But can it last? "This is the biggest America’s Cup for a while to come. These things come and go in cycles. In 2000 Bertelli [head of Prada] made his hit, the market hadn't crashed yet, and it was easy for the billionaires to say: ‘Hey, let's throw some funny money at sailing.’ But I was looking at the Internet the other day and I see Nextel is at $3.40 a share. When McCaw started his OneWorld campaign I would say it was worth $40 a share. These guys have been pounded. Even Larry Ellison would have been cut in half, but it doesn’t really matter for him. Even at $20 billion, it doesn't really matter whether it's $40 billion or $20 billion if he does an America's Cup campaign. A hundred million is nothing to him."

There are a lot of first timers entering the America's Cup this year. There will only be one winner, however, and there could be quite a few bruised and battered billionaire egos come this time next year. Will that put them off coming back for another go? Cayard replies: "Yeah, there's a little bit of that, and if it's New Zealand again, they'll walk away a bit. Obviously whichever billionaire wins it will be back again. I think of all the guys at the moment, this guy Bertarelli [head of Alinghi] seems to be the most genuinely interested in sailing. I don't think McCaw [OneWorld] is really that interested in sailing and Larry is, but he doesn't really spend that much time at it." Another hint at Oracle politics there, perhaps? "And Bertelli has got serious problems with Prada. The company has got huge debt and he's scraping just to get through this one."

So for the professional sailor, it is time to make hay while the sun shines. "Salaries will drop again," Cayard warns. "I told the guys when we got going with Oracle: ‘Don't start living like you're going to make this kind of money forever. This is a one-time thing, salt it away.’"