Liz Baylis

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Tuesday was kind of a brutal day on the water for the San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team.  We ended the round robin with a scorecard of 5-6 and the round robin racing included a run-in with a large anchored seaweed farm during the pre-start with Leroy (ask Liz how the water is for swimming at Haeundae Beach next time you see her).  Needless to say we are not in the semi-finals and feel a little frustrated with how we sailed, but as always we are taking away some valuable lessons which we hope to apply in future events.

Thanks for all of your support and encouragement!

Liz will stay in Korea for the next week or so for the ISAF (International Sailing Federation) Annual Conference then return home on the 14th.  The rest of the crew will return home soon!

Cheers,
Liz, Katie, Shala, Lesa, and Karen
The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

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Busan Cup - Day Four

Racing continued in Busan, South Korea. The round robin was finished and the semi-finals were sailed in shifty and puffy conditions off of Hundae Beach amongst the fish nets and crab pots.

The semi-finals saw Lucy Macgregor (GBR) face Ann-Claire Le Berre (FRA) and Clair Leroy (FRA) face Sally Barkow (USA). Macgregor won her semi-final 3-0 and Barkow won hers 3-1.

This sets up a finals pairing of Macgregor and Barkow.  The petit-finals will see Leroy and Le Berre meet.

Results after Round Robin:
Macgregor (GBR): 11-0
Leroy (FRA) : 10-1
Barkow (USA): 8-3
Le Berre (FRA): 8-3
Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN): 6-5
Ward (DEN): 5-6
Tylinska (POL): 5-6
Baylis (USA): 5-6
Thies (NED):5-6
Urara (JPN): 2-9
Karlemo (FIN): 2-9
Lim (KOR): 0-11

Visit www.busanmatch.com <http://www.busanmatch.com>  for more information.

After two days of racing at the Busan Cup Women’s International Match Race, Claire Leroy (FRA) and Lucy Macgregor (GBR) sit on top of the leaderboard with 5 wins and no losses.

The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team had an up and down first day of racing. The win was very shifty sailing near the beach at Haendae. We won our first match against Anne-Claire Le Berre (FRA), then were safely leading the 2nd match until the 2nd beat when the Polish team, Tylinska, got a puff that no one els on the race course got and sailed up and around us.  After a two hour delay waiting for wind, the course was moved offshore and we won the next match against the Korean team, Lim.  The next two matches were losses to Macgregor (GBR) and Ward (DEN).  It seemed like a day we couldn’t catch a break, but we also identified some areas for improvement, so onward and upward tomorrow.
Round Robin racing continues tomorrow for the 12 teams from ten countries.  The forecast is for substantially more breeze and cold (43 F).

Results after 10 flights (out of 22 flights in the round robin):
Leroy (FRA) : 5-0
Macgregor (GBR): 5-0
Barkow (USA): 4-1
Le Berre (FRA): 3-2
Ward (DEN): 3-2
Thies (NED): 3-2
Meldgaard Pedersen (DEN): 2-3
Tylinska (POL): 2-3
Baylis (USA): 2-3
Urara (JPN): 2-3
Karlemo (FIN): 0-5
Lim (KOR): 0-5

Visit www.busanmatch.com for more information.

Racing started today for the Busan Cup (http://www.busanmatch.com) - The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team did not get to race today as the light wind in the morning delayed things. Group A sailed 5 flights - Claire Leroy (FRA) won all 5 matches, Sally Barkow (USA) won 4 and lost the last match to Leroy. Not sure how the other scores went in that group.

Racing starts today for the Busan Cup (http://www.busanmatch.com) - The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team (Liz, Shala Lawrence, Katie Pettibone, Lesa Gutenkunst, and Karen Loutzenheiser) is one of 12 teams competing. We are in “Group B”, so no sailing for us until later this afternoon.

Sorry for the late report – a long day on the water followed by an early morning flight.

The last day of the BoatUS Santa Maria Cup was not one of our better days! We sailed the last race of the round robin in a dying shifty northwesterly – by the time we rounded the first windward mark, it was a one-way race course with a reach to the leeward mark and no tacking to the windward mark, so no passing lanes. We lost that one and ended the round robin in 4th. This set up a semi-final match with Claire Leroy. We had two false starts as there were big wind shifts during the prestarts and the race committee postponed. The third attempt at starting was very light and we could barely enter and received a penalty immediately for not avoiding Claire despite Liz sculling mightily to turn the boat in the lack of breeze. The race went on despite multiple 180 degree wind shifts and we eventually lost that one. After another 2 or 3 hour delay, the race committee cancelled the semi-finals in favor of the finals, so we were out of contention. Claire Leroy went on to beat Genny Tulloch 2-0 in the finals and we lost our petit-final match to Katie Spithill despite being in complete control of the start until the last 15 seconds when a wind shift allowed Katie to wiggle out of trouble and lead across the start line.Overall a pretty frustrating day for the team.

Final Results:

1- Leroy (FRA)

2- Tulloch (USA)

3- Spithill (AUS)

4- Baylis (USA)

5- Bossard (FRA)

6- Mariani (ITA)

7- Lovell (USA)

8- Fisher (USA)

9- Senfft (BRA)

10- Ramires (POR)

The results may not have been what we wanted, but the team sailed well and had fun together. (The fun factor was important with the many hours spent drifting around together waiting to race this week!) We’re looking forward to some more events together later in the year.

A big thank you to Jeff and Sharon Borland for putting up with Liz and Karina and to Ted Morgan for looking after Kim and Carol.

Thanks for your continued support and look for more reports and news in the months to come by email and on http://www.lizbaylis.com

Cheers, Liz, Carol, Karina, and Kim

The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

It was another light day in Annapolis. We postponed ashore for an hour then went out and sailed five flights before the wind died at around 3. We drifted around for a few hours before they brought us in. We had a good day on the water with five wins over Bossard, Fisher, Ramires, Leroy, and Mariani.

Tomorrow’s forecast looks very similar to today except that they have added thunderstorms in the afternoon – oh boy!

Results after 7 flights:

Baylis (USA) and Leroy (FRA) – Tied at 6-1

Bossard (FRA), Mariani (ITA), Tulloch (USA), and Spithill (AUS) - Tied at 4-3

Lovell (USA) and (Fisher (USA) - Tied at 3-4

Senfft (BRA) - 1-6

Ramires (POR) - 0-7

The daily results for the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup  can be found at: http://www.santamariacup.org/results.asp  and the daily images of the days race can be found at: http://drop.io/eycsantamariacup2009

The  weather forecasts:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs/cbofs/wind_forecast.shtml
(To  find Annapolis: The latitude of Annapolis is 38.978N – between Washington and  Baltimore, but over to the right a little.)
Or
NOAA weather: http://tinyurl.com/4jugja
Thanks for your continued support!

Cheers,
Liz, Carol, Karina, and Kim
The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

Yesterday’s practice session and the a la Mode “pro-am” fleet race were cancelled due to high winds and difficult sea conditions for getting out of and back into the harbor.  In light of the forecast for the remainder the week (light winds), the Race Committee prudently protected the boats and sails from damage and moved the practice to this morning.

We left the dock at 8:30 and sailed out into a soupy fog and light wind.  The fog cleared up during the day, but the wind never built and we saw a maximum of 4, maybe 5, knots.  We managed to get two flights off in the light breeze before it completely died and we drifted around for a couple of hours before they brought us to the dock to wait and then at 4, they let us go for the evening.  As for the racing, we had a close match with Katy Lovell (USA) in the first flight that we lost.  Then we led wire to wire over Julie Bossard (FRA) in a very light and slow match.

Standings after 2 flights:
Leroy, Lovell, Tulloch – 2-0
Baylis, Fisher, Mariani, Bossard – 1-1
Spithill, Senfft, Ramires – 0-2

A lot more racing to come!

The daily results for the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup  can be found at: http://www.santamariacup.org/results.asp  and the daily images of the days race can be found at: http://drop.io/eycsantamariacup2009

The  weather forecasts:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs/cbofs/wind_forecast.shtml
(To  find Annapolis: The latitude of Annapolis is 38.978N – between Washington and  Baltimore, but over to the right a little.)
Or
NOAA weather: http://tinyurl.com/4jugja
Thanks for your continued support!

Cheers,
Liz, Carol, Karina, and Kim
The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

We’re in Annapolis getting ready for the  Grade 1 BoatUS Santa Maria Cup (SMC). This is our 11th straight year competing  in this event which we won in 2003.  We’re hoping to get back atop the  podium this year which could be a tough task with some of the top teams in the  world competing:  World #1 Claire Leroy (FRA), 2006 SMC winner Katie  Spithill (AUS), and top US competitors - Genny Tulloch, Katy Lovell and Jo Ann  Fisher.  Our team for the event is Liz-driving, Carol Cronin-tactics,  Karina Shelton-trim, and Kim Couranz-bow.

This week in addition to  being the San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team, we are representing the US  Sailing Center – Sheboygan. For those who are geographically challenged you  may wonder where Sheboygan is and how it is connected with San Francisco.   Sheboygan is in Wisconsin and is on Lake Michigan.  The USSCS is  the 4th US Sailing Center in the US and is dedicated to match  racing.

Today we borrowed our friend, Greg Fisher’s (North Sails –  Annapolis) boat and went out for a couple of practice sessions.  It was  light, hot, and humid, but we got some good light air boat handling practice  in.  Tomorrow we have the official practice time in the afternoon  followed by a “A la Mode Pro-Am fleet race” where the SMC fleet races with  some local teams. A la Mode is the name of lingerie shop owned by our hosts,  Sharon and Jeff Borland.  It was a pretty amusing couple of races last  year and we expect it will be the same this year!

Teams  Competing:

Leroy, Claire (FRA) (Elodie Bertrand, Claire Pruvot,  Marie Riou)
Baylis, Liz (USA) (Carol Cronin, Karina Shelton, Kim  Couranz)
Spithill, Katie (AUS) (Stacey Jackson, Jessica Eastwell,  Rayshele Martin)
Bossard, Julie (FRA) (Sophie d’Ortoli, Pauline Chalaux,  Morgane Gautier)
Lovell, Katy (USA) (Maegan Ruhlman, Lindsay Bartel, Amy  Gross-Kehoe)
Mariani, Lorenza (ITA) (Chiara Forcignano, Carmen Pardo,  Marcella Trioschi)
Fisher, JoAnn (USA) (Casey Williams, Debbie Probst,  Lynda Hiller)
Tulloch, Genny (USA)  (Liz Hall, Jamie Haines,  Elizabeth Kratzig)
Ramires, Maria (POR) (Flavia Contino, Ana Rocha,  Madalena Barbosa)
Senfft, Juliana (BRA) (Gabriela Sa, Marina Jardim,  Adhara Ginaid)

The daily results for the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup  can be found at: http://www.santamariacup.org/results.asp  and the daily images of the days race can be found at: http://drop.io/eycsantamariacup2009

The  weather forecasts:
http://tidesandcurrents.noaa.gov/ofs/cbofs/wind_forecast.shtml
(To  find Annapolis: The latitude of Annapolis is 38.978N – between Washington and  Baltimore, but over to the right a little.)
Or
NOAA weather: http://tinyurl.com/4jugja

Thanks  for your encouragement!

Cheers,
Liz, Carol, Karina, and Kim
The  San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team