Liz Baylis

The boys had a slow night trying to move south to more pressure which hopefully will put them in a better position in the days to come… Wait and See!

To follow what is going on, visit the Pacific Cup page:

http://pacificcup.org/index.html

Each day at around 1100, the links to the new position charts and standings are posted on the left side.

Here is the link to the track of E.T’s class today. It is based on the morning check in and not on the transponder (which is good because E.T.’s transponder stopped transmitting on Saturday morning):

http://pacificcup.org/08/charts/d9/DDtm.html

(Remember that E.T. is the slowest rated boat in their class, so just because their track shows them “behind” they’re doing okay!)

And here are today’s results:

http://pacificcup.org/08/positions/pc08-prd9.html

E.T. and the boys had another good day yesterday! They are currently in 3rd in their class (picking up 5 hours on the leader) and have moved up to 5th overall.

To follow what is going on, visit the Pacific Cup page:

http://pacificcup.org/index.html

Each day at around 1100, the links to the new position charts and standings are posted on the left side.

Here is the link to the track of E.T’s class today. It is based on the morning check in and not on the transponder (which is good because E.T.’s transponder stopped transmitting on Saturday morning):

http://pacificcup.org/08/charts/d8/DDtm.html

(Remember that E.T. is the slowest rated boat in their class, so just because their track shows them “behind” they’re doing great!)

And here are today’s results:

http://pacificcup.org/08/positions/pc08-prd8.html

Looks good!

Here is a photo of our guys heading under the Gate:

We (Tom Montoya, Roger Hedin (Todd’s Dad), Peter Fisher (Todd’s brother-in-law), and Liz) borrowed Glenn and Gaby Isaacson’s boat, Q, and towed E.T. and the boys from San Francisco YC to the City Front for the start.

A group of fans led by Linda English (Tony’s wife) waved good-bye from atop the Golden Gate Bridge

They started in about 18 knots of breeze at the beginning of the ebb, so there was ebb on the shore and still flood in the middle. A few of the boats (Sapphire, Summer Moon, and Buzz Off) chose to start with reefed mains – our tough guys did not and paid a little by being over-powered off the line and out the Gate, but it moderated about ½ way to Point Bonita. We left them there with smiles and waves and motored home to warm and sunny Belvedere! By the time we passed back under the Gate, only one boat could be seen on the foggy horizon.

Tonight’s weather forecast looks pretty good. San Francisco Buoy (18 miles out) is showing about 15-20 knots from the WNW. This should hold through the night, so they should be moving right along. The sea state (waves) didn’t seem too bad, so hopefully everyone’s stomachs will be okay tonight.

Twas the Night Before Pac Cup, and all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse,

Just our favorite sailors on mighty E.T.

Todd Hedin ! Tony English ! Buzz Blackett ! That’s all !!

Sailing fast to Hawaii with “mail to haul”

Driving a Sleigh to Kaneohe Bay !

Their fans are all set to get the email

For an exciting and adventuresome sea story tale

As you have probably heard from the crew, I am happily serving as the email gateway for their communications. We use a gateway person to keep the communications consolidated from boat to land as the total bandwidth is limited and racers need to use that bandwidth for weather data downloads too. That being said, they love to hear from you and so when they write us, if you want to reply, please do but keep it short and I will consolidate and possibly edit it to fit their constraints (a paragraph is fine). From experience I can tell you in light winds they love jokes. In heavy winds they may not be writing us and they will definitely not be reading what we send – they will be too busy. But they will get back on line in a couple of days. So I may send an email just to let you know I have not heard anything. Not to worry.

Websites to watch are:
www.pacificcup.org

www.fistracking.com

www.norcalsailing.com

Good Luck E.T.

(Sue Senescu has volunteered to relay the updates from the boat - Thanks, Sue!)

E.T. with Todd and Tony and Buzz sailing her are just about ready to take off on Pacific Cup - they start tomorrow (Wednesday, July 16th).  You can follow the action on the Pacific Cup web site - www.pacificcup.org  There was also a nice article published today on the NorCal Sailing web site - norcalsailing.com .  The weather looks good for their start and they should have a good first few day.

Plans are currently in place for a new 40 foot production boat designed by E.T.’s designer, Jim Antrim (Antrim Associates, N.A.). The boat will be the Novis 40 and will be built by Novis Marine. Here’s a drawing of the boat:

Hi,

We sailed our final match yesterday – a sail-off for 9^th place with Silke Hahlbrock - GER (#3 in the ISAF World Ranking who will be competing in the World championship next week). It was an exciting match where we fought back from behind and passed Silke on the final run and then caused her to get a penalty right before the finish. So we secured 9^th place overall. Although the 9^th place is not what we came here for, it was a very hard fought 9^th in a very tough field. As a team we learned a lot and are looking forward to our next opportunity to sail these boats. With this regatta under our belt, we feel we will be much more competitive the next time we sail in them and feel confident that some of those close matches will go our way next time!

The event web site http://www.lysekilwomensmatch.se/ has lots of photos and will be posting the final results as they happen:

- The photos are divided by days in the “Bildgalleri” (click on the days in the left menu):

http://www.lysekilwomensmatch.se/page/3/bildgalleri.htm

- the results are posted at

http://www.lysekilwomensmatch.se/page/183/resultat.htm

Most of the team will be headed home tomorrow, while Liz will be headed to France and Slovenia to work on some of her WIMRA duties – holding the WIMRA Annual meeting at the World Championships in St Quay, France and then running the first of the WIMRA match racing clinics in Izola, Slovenia. (Visit www.wimra.org to see what she’s up to there.)

Our next regatta report will be coming from the U.S. Women’s Match Racing National Championship (USWMRC) in Detroit in early September. The crew for that event will be Liz, Suzy, and a new addition to the team – Cory Sertl (1995 Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year and winner of the 2004 USWMRC).

Thanks again for all of your support!

Cheers,

The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

(Liz, Aimee, Lee, Karina, Chafee, Suzy and baby, Nicole)

E.T.’s plans changed abruptly, so no trip to Mexico this spring. We’re setting our sights on the Coastal Cup in June and some cruising between Santa Barbara and the Channel Islands around Fourth of July.

The next race on E.T.’s calendar is the 2007 Puerto Vallarta Race.

The P.V. Race leaves from Marina del Rey around the 20th of February. The race is about 1100 miles and should take about a week for the little rocket! Tony English and Jim Antrim will be joining Liz and Todd for this adventure and we will be supported by our shore team of Erik, Lara, Rye, and Diesel Hedin.

Stay tuned here for updates. But if you can’t wait for that - check out the PV Race website for info: http://www.pv07.com/

Cheers,

Liz