Yachting: 'Mafia' out to teach 'Golden Boys'

By SUZANNE McFADDEN

Paul Cayard has employed the help of "the Mafia" to polish his special weapon - USA61 - for the next crucial phase of the America's Cup.

AmericaOne skipper Cayard, who has strong Italian connections, will introduce his new boat for the Louis Vuitton Cup semifinals starting on Sunday.

Since Christmas, Cayard has been driving a new yacht, USA61, with Kiwi helmsman Gavin Brady behind the wheel of the tried and true USA49.

Cayard's crew are called the Golden Boys; Brady's are the Mafia.

AmericaOne operations officer Bob Billingham explained: "This is what the Mafia are paid to do - push the Golden Boys.

"They cannot make a single mistake without being jumped by the Mafia.

"By the time the Mafia get through this week of practising, the Golden Boys are going to be pretty tough, pretty smart and pretty fast."

The talk within AmericaOne is that USA61 - the last of the 2000 generation cup boats to race - is already fast.

The feeling around the waterfront is that Cayard and his racing team will be the challengers to fear in the top-six semifinals.

"We hope USA61 is our ace card. It's another weapon," Cayard said.

"The reality is that 61 is simply a better boat than 49. Like everybody, we have the tools that predict the speed of the boats. Based on that, 61 is faster than 49 all the time.

"It's a lot faster at a certain end of the wind range, but I'm not going to tell you what that is. But even when it's at its worst, it's still slightly better than 49."

AmericaOne have had just seven weeks with the new boat, which was shipped from California when the challenger series was well under way.

"Many of us would have loved to have had the sailing time Prada had, when they had two boats in the water in May," Cayard said.

"But we really have to be thankful that we had enough money to have USA61 at all."

Cayard, never seeming to lack in confidence, speaks of the America's Cup match in February as though he will be there, for a third straight time.

"We have to look at it like February 19 is the most important racing we have to prepare ourselves for," he said. "Of course we have to get by the hurdles of the semis and the challenger finals yet. But you have to have the faith and confidence to keep pushing.

"Now is not the time to be conservative and hold back your cards."

AmericaOne finished fourth of the top-six boats in the round-robins, but the rankings count for nothing on January 2, when the points slate is wiped clean for the semifinals.

"I like where we are - it's a good spot," Cayard said. "On paper for this America's Cup, we're supposed to be the favourites. I've been in the finals the last two times, and [designer] Bruce Nelson is good, [tactician] John Kostecki is good.

"But you're only as good as your last race. That's the only thing that's important in all this.

"To me, this is the scariest part of the regatta. I'd rather race all these guys on a best-of five basis."