Liz Baylis

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

The final day of the regatta brought new weather conditions – a light northeasterly and a little rain.  We finished our consolation semi-finals by beating Katy Lovell’s team 2-1 to advance to meet Deb Capozzi’s team in the sail-off for 5th.  We won the first match despite getting a penalty by forcing Deb into a penalty at the windward mark then sailing on to finish ahead.  The second and third matches didn’t go quite as well and we lost the series 1-2, thus finishing the regatta in 6th.

We came into this regatta with the mindset that the regatta was a continuation of the clinic and our primary goal was to continue to learn and take lessons away.  We definitely accomplished that goal and felt that we are still learning and we look forward to using some of the new techniques that we have learned against some teams that weren’t taught the same moves nor the defense against those moves!

The chief umpire said even though this was a grade three event on paper he felt that the match racing from top to bottom in this regatta was some of the highest level he had seen on the women’s circuit, even higher than many grade one events and comparable to the world championship level.

From the NYYC Press Release:

Anna Tunnicliffe Wins NYYC Women’s Match Racing Regatta

The final day of the New York Yacht Club Women’s Match Racing Clinic & Regatta brought lighter and shiftier northeasterly winds and a variety of current conditions that challenged the sailors in the semi-finals and finals. Anna Tunnicliffe and Sally Barkow started the morning by closing out their semi-final series with their third straight wins over Lotte Pedersen and Genny Tulloch, respectively, to move into a much-awaited finals match-up. Barkow started strongly in the best-of-five finals with two convincing wins, controlling the side of the course with less current in both races. Tunnicliffe rallied back with a decisive win in the third race. In the fourth race, Barkow pushed Tunnicliffe over the line early and opened up a commanding lead. However, on the first run, she ran out of breeze, and Tunnicliffe brought up a new breeze line to close the gap and just get an inside overlap at the leeward mark and stole a comeback win. In the final race, the two were side by side around the first lap before Barkow was penalized for jibing too close at the end of the run. She was able to take her penalty and round right behind Tunnicliffe but wasn’t able to pass, and Tunnicliffe went on to win the finals by a 3-2 score.

Final Results:
1 - Anna Tunnicliffe (Molly Carapiet, Molly Vandemoer, Liz Bower)
2 - Sally Barkow
3 - Lotte Meldegaard Pedersen
4 - Genny Tulloch
5 - Debbie Capozzi
6 - Liz Baylis
7 - Katy Lovell
8 - Marie Klok Crump

More from Annapolis in a couple of days!

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

Sorry for the late update, but we did not get home until 11 and we crashed immediately.  Another Chamber of Commerce day in Newport with southwesterly 10-16 knot winds and sun. We had a better day of sailing and are looking forward more sailing today.  We’re sailing against Lovell in the consolation semis then one more round after that.

Here is the press release from NYYC:

Newport, RI (May 22, 2009) - Another spectacular sailing day greeted the sailors at the New York Yacht Club Women’s Match Racing Clinic & Regatta with a second straight day of steady southwesterly breeze. A complete second round-robin was completed, as well as the first two races in the best of five semi-finals and consolation semi-finals. Anna Tunnicliffe, with her crew of Liz Bower and the two Mollys (Carapiet and Vandemoer), finished on top after the second round-robin, winning a tie-breaker for the top seed over Sally Barkow, with her crew Nancy Haberland, Dawn Riley and Suzy Leech. Both finished with impressive 13-1 records. Genny Tulloch, with Liz Hall, Jamie Haines and Chafee Emory finished third at 10-4, while Lotte Meldegaard Pedersen, with Sille Christensen, Christina Refn and Mia Nielsen rounded out the top four with a 7-7 record.

In the semi-finals, Tunnicliffe leads Pedersen 2-0, while Barkow leads Tulloch also by 2-0. In the consolation semi-finals, 5th seed Debbie Capozzi and 8th seed Marie Crump are tied 1-1. 6th seed Liz Baylis leads 7th seed Katy Lovell 2-0.

Racing concludes on Saturday with the remaining semi-final racing, followed by the finals and petit-finals. The top U.S. team will qualify to sail in the ISAF World Cup event in Weymouth, UK in September.

Results after Round Robin 1 and 2
Round Robins W-L
Anna Tunnicliffe 13-1
Sally Barkow 13-1
Genny Tulloch 10-4
Lotte Pedersen 7-7
Debbie Capozzi 4-10
Liz Baylis 4-10
Katy Lovell 3-11
Marie Crump 2-12

Semi-Finals (first to 3 pts.)
SF1 1 vs. 4 Tunnicliffe leads Pedersen 2-0
SF2 2 vs. 3 Barkow leads Tulloch 2-0

Consolation Semi-Finals (first to 3 pts.)
SF3 5 vs. 8 Capozzi and Crump are tied 1-1
SF4 6 vs. 7 Baylis leads Lovell 2-0

More later!

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

Today we had “a classic Newport day” as the locals called it.  Clear skies and a nice southeasterly sea breeze all day starting around 12 knots and building to a peak around 18 to 20 and staying in the 12 to 18 range all afternoon.

We sailed the whole first round robin – 7 flights of four matches per flight – so all of the competitors sailed each other once. We had some ups and downs with only 2 wins and 5 losses, but we feel better than you might expect from the scorecard.  We came into this week with the plan to treat both the clinic and the regatta as training and learning experiences and it has definitely been that.  The learning curve is definitely still on the increase which is great!  It’s fun to keep finding new trick and actually having the opportunity to put them to work on the race course.

Results from Round Robin One:
Barkow 7-0
Tunnicliffe 6-1
Tulloch 5-2
Meldegaard Pedersen 3-4
Capozzi 3-4
Lovell 2-0
SFWMRT 2-0
Klock-Crump 0-7

Tomorrow we will sail the second round robin and keep working with the great coaches.

Now it’s time for some rest!

We‘ll update by email throughout the regatta and hopefully post the updates on http://lizbaylis.com.

Cheers,
Liz, Carol, Jo Ann, and Kim (and Karina next week)
San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team

The San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team (SFWMRT) is getting ready to kick off their 2009 Match Racing Season next week with two back to back events.

Next week, we will travel to Newport, Rhode Island for the New York Yacht Club Advanced Clinic and Regatta.  This event will be a high level training event and Grade 3 clinic with some of the best coaches and match racing rules gurus in the country: Dave Perry, Dave Dellenbaugh, Tony Rey, and Henry Menin.  The participants/competitors will also be top notch with some of the country’s best match racing skippers and teams showing up: Sally Barkow, Deb Capozzi, Anna Tunnicliffe-Funk, Genny Tulloch, Katy Lovell, and us.  We will be joined by two top Danish teams: Lotte Meldgaard Pedersen and Marie Klok-Crump.

From there we will travel to Annapolis, Maryland, 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 first event is Liz-driving, Carol Cronin-tactics, Kim Couranz-trimming, and Jo Ann Fisher-bow.  For Santa Maria Cup, Karina Shelton will join us and Jo Ann will step down as she will be skippering her own team and sailing against us.

Look for more updates in the coming days!  Until then - Fair winds!

Todd and Erik completed the 2009 Boston Marathon in 4:14:10.  AWESOME!!!

Erik ran with his camera and put together a video of the day:

http://www.vimeo.com/4253033

Today Save The Bay launched a major campaign – The Bay vs. The Bag – to dramatically reduce plastic bag litter in San Francisco Bay and California’s waterways. To showcase this effort, we created an amazing movie and a new, multi-media website.

An estimated 3.8 billion plastic bags are used in the Bay Area every year. Millions end up in the Bay, polluting our water, smothering wetlands and killing animals. That’s why Save The Bay is helping cities in the Bay Area take a stand against plastic bag pollution.

Millions of plastic bags end up in our Bay, polluting water, smothering wetlands and harming wildlife. But the multi-billion dollar plastics industry is suing to stop local efforts to reduce bag use.

We need your help. This Earth Day, choose the Bay over the Bag and join Save The Bay’s fight to eliminate plastic bags in California! Please help us stand up to the plastics industry and reduce bag pollution by doing three things:

Watch our clever and fascinating video to see what could happen if we fail to cut our dependence on bags.
Take action to reduce preventable and costly plastic bag pollution.
Help spread the word – share this campaign with your friends!
Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/bayvsbag.

Thank you for your ongoing support to help us protect and restore San Francisco Bay – our region’s great natural treasure.