Ed BAIRD and his talented team successfully defended their ISAF World Match Racing Championship title this year and in doing so climbed to the top of the ISAF World Match Race Rankings. Baird's results over the past twelve months are impressive. He has had podium finishes in three ISAF Grade 1 and 2 events, was part of the winning crew at the inaugural ISAF Offshore Team Racing World Championship, and, as tactician, guided his team to victory at Terra Nova Key West Race Week.

Throughout the nomination period, Baird has been ranked in the top three in the ISAF World Match Race Rankings.

ISAF World Match Ranking at the end of the nomination period (28 July 2004) - 1

Current ISAF World Match RaceRanking (1 September 2004) - 1

1st - Portugal Match Cup, Grade 2 - July 2004 (skipper)
1st - ISAF Match Racing World Championship, Grade W - July 2004 (skipper)
5th - Swedish Match Cup, Grade 1 - July 2004 (skipper)
2nd - Match Race Garda Trentino, Grade 1 - May 2004 (skipper)
7th - Toscana Elba Cup, Grade 1 - May 2004 (skipper)
1st - Congressional Cup, Grade 1 - April 2004 (skipper)
1st - Terra Nova Key West Race Week - January 2004 (tactician)
9th - King Edward VII Bermuda Gold Cup, Grade 1 - October 2003 (skipper)

Name	Ed BAIRD
Date of Birth	21322
Place of Birth	St Petersburg, Florida
Profession	Sailor
ISAF Sailor ID	USAEB3
Age started sailing	9
First boat sailed	Clearwater Pram (now known as Opti)
Age started racing	9
First boat raced	Clearwater Pram (now known as Opti)
What inspired you to take up sailing?	It was fun and gave me independence
How did you buy your first boat?	Money from summer jobs
Which was your first sailing club?	St Petersburg Yacht Club
First Event competed in and Year	Davis Island YC Thanksgiving Regatta, 1967
First Event won and Year	Davis Island YC Thanksgiving Regatta, 1967 (9 year old division)
Principle achievements	3 time ISAF World Match Racing Champion (1995, 2003, 2004)
Principle achievements	Skipper of Young America, the New York Yacht Club's challenger for America's Cup 2000
Principle achievements	World #1 Ranked Match Raceer
Principle achievements	1995 US Rolex Yachtsman of the Year
Principle achievements	Sparring helmsman for 1995 America's Cup Winner, Team New Zealand
Principle achievements	J24 World Champion -1983
Principle achievements	Laser World Champion - 1980
Principle achievements	Television commentator for 2003 Louis Vuitton Cup and America's Cup
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Doing multiple Olympic campaigns and being exposed to so many different ways to approach thE goal of winning the Games.
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Winning the Laser Worlds, for it's size (350 boats) and because it was my first world win.
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Being part of Team New Zealand's winning team at the 1995 America's Cup because it showed me how well a team could be assembled.
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Coaching Keven MAHANEY, who finished 11th at the US Olympic Trials in 1988, to a silver medal performance at the 1992 Olympics (in the Soling).
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Being skipper of Young America, the New York Yacht Club's America's Cup Team in 2000 because it taught me humility and how to deal with spectator catastrophe and disappointment (our boat broke in half).
Detail the personal highlights of your sailing career to date	Working with the commentary team for the America's Cup and helping the public get to know our sport and its personalities better.
What are your future sailing aspirations?	I want to continue to compete at the highest levels in match racing and grand prix classes. I hope to again be part of a winning America's Cup team. I'd like to continue helping the public and general sailing population understand more about racing through articles, lectures and television commentary. However, most of all I would like to see my kids grow up enjoying the water and understanding boating of all types.
Briefly state what sailing means to you	Sailing is one of the most complicated games, yet one of the simplest pleasures that we can enjoy. Whether I'm racing at the most difficult level, blasting across the bay on a sailboard or waching the smile on my son's face as he feels the power of a puff in his dinghy, I am equally appreciative that the sport is available to me.
Who has had the greatest impact or inspiration in your sailing career and why?	When I was a kid, my dad and his friend, Bill DANIELS taught me how to row, use a small outboard and eventually, sail. They were having fun, too, but if not for the greatest efforts of these two, helping me learn about boats and the water, and transporting me to events and practices, nothing I've accomplished in the sport would have happened.
Who do you consider to be your sailing hero?	I find it hard to define a hero in sailing. To me the sport is more about accomplishments.
What other sports do you participate in outside of sailing?	Some golf, a little fishing, wakeboarding, sailboarding.
Who do you consider to be the greatest sailor in the World and why?	Years ago, I met a woman who had been in a car accident, and would never again walk. She was part of the Shake-a-Leg disabled sailors group in Newport, RI. Despite her incredible loss, she made it her goal to get out in a boat nearly every day of the summer and to race whenever she could.
Who do you consider to be the greatest sailor in the World and why?
Who do you consider to be the greatest sailor in the World and why?	Whenever she was around, there was an energy, an enthusiasm. Her love for the sport was infectious. Nothing deterred her. I know she's not going to win the America's Cup, or even Key West Race Week. She'll never set a speed record or dominate the Olympics. But to me, she and the many disabled people she represents are the greatest sailors. They overcome huge physical constraints to enjoy our sport. My monthly battles against Coutts, Cayard and the like, are certainly kept in perspective when I think of this woman.
Briefly state what being nominated for the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year Award 2004 means to you	This year was truly special for me and the teams I raced with. It's a privilege and an honor to be considered in the same company that this award recognizes.
If voted as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2004, briefly say what will this mean to you?	Should I win this award, it would suggest that my success in racing against the best pros at the world's toughest match races, coaching at high levels and helping amateur owners to do their best in owner/driver classes is understood and respected by world's MNA's.
If voted as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2004, briefly say what will this mean to you?
If voted as the ISAF Rolex World Sailor of the Year 2004, briefly say what will this mean to you?	2004 was a year filled with special accomplishments, within a career that I'm proud of.