Yachting: Kiwis lure 'Clouds' out of forest

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Deep in the Australian rainforest, weatherman Roger Badham guides Grant Dalton's catamaran to a world record crossing of the mighty Atlantic.

He cannot even see the weather out of the tree-top canopy above his New South Wales house, yet he knows exactly which way the bows should be pointing thousands of miles away.

Badham is a sailing weather guru, so well respected that he has been one of the most wanted men in the next America's Cup.

That is why Team New Zealand reckon they have scored a major coup in signing up the Australian nicknamed "Clouds."

He had offers from six of the king players, with the biggest bid from the world's second-richest man, Larry Ellison, but chose the Kiwis, who offered the least money.

But no one can lure Badham to live out of his forest, an hour south of Sydney, where all he needs is a computer to predict what the wind will do anywhere in the world.

"I try to get away from the weather. I can hear the ocean, but I can't see a bloody thing but trees - and I like it like that," he said.

Badham will come out of the bush to work with Team NZ, and he is already commuting across the Tasman.

He had been tempted to stay working with his old buddy Paul Cayard after their partnership last time in AmericaOne.

"But Paul sold his soul to the devil," Badham said, referring to Cayard's decision to sell all the AmericaOne assets to Ellison and Team Oracle.

"I really like Paul, but it's not going to be Paul's effort this time. It won't reflect his personality any more. I just wasn't happy with that whole thing."

When Badham told Cayard, the American "got all angry," but it did not faze the laconic Australian. He had been approached by Team NZ head Schnackenberg - the pair had both worked on Alan Bond's victorious Australia II campaign in 1983.

"Finally it dawned on me - it seemed the Team New Zealand guys had their act together," he said. "Even though they lost some rock stars, it only speeded up what was going to occur anyway. I don't think they'll have any more problems."

Schnackenberg headhunted Badham, who has a PhD in numerical meteorology, after Team NZ decided to get more scientific in their weather forecasting.



Schnackenberg admires the weatherman, who will end up working the longest hours each day of anyone in the team, from 4.30 am to dusk.

Badham has lived on a watch system lately. From his home, he forecasts for Dalton's round-the-world campaign on Club Med. When the boat is on the water, he phones the crew every six hours around the clock after pouring over weather maps and data on his computer.

This is Badham's sixth America's Cup, and he has been a full-time sailing meteorologist for 17 years, the veteran of the business.

But it is still a nerve-racking job.

"The pressure calling which side to start on an America's Cup start-line is like short-term futures trading. You are either selling or buying, left or right," he said.

"Within 10 minutes you know if you made the right choice."

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