Liz Baylis

An excerpt from an open letter from Sally-Christine Rodgers, Oceana Board Member:

What would you do if you knew that  many species of fish and other marine life in the ocean will be gone within 30  years if levels of C02 continue increasing at their present rate?  We believe you would take action to stop this from happening, because informed  people make informed choices. This letter is about what we can and must do  together now to help solve a very serious but little-known problem, Ocean Acidification.

Ocean Acidification is primarily  caused by the burning of fossil fuels.  When carbon dioxide in the  atmosphere ends up in the ocean it changes the pH, making the sea acidic and  less hospitable to life. Over time, CO2 reduces calcium carbonate,  which prevents creatures from forming shells and building reefs. In fact,  existing shells will start to dissolve. Oysters and mussels will not be able  to build shells.  Crabs and lobsters?  Your great-grandchildren may  wonder what they tasted like.

Carbon dioxide concentrated in the  oceans is making seawater acidic.  Many of the zooplankton, small animals  at the base of the food web, have skeletons that won’t form in these  conditions, and sea-life further up the food chain – fish, mammals and  seabirds that rely on zooplankton for food will also perish. No food – no  life.  One billion people rely on seafood for their primary source of  protein.  Many scientific reports document that worldwide, humans are  already consuming more food than is being produced.  The implications are  obvious.

The issue of Ocean Acidification  is causing irreversible loss to species and habitats, and acidification trends are happening up to ten times  faster than projected.  We want you to know what this means,  how it affects all of us, and what we can do about it.

Today, the atmospheric  concentration of CO2 is about 387 parts per million (ppm) and  increasing at 2 ppm per year.  If left unaddressed, by 2040 it is  projected to be over 450 parts per million, and marine scientists believe the  collapse of many ocean ecosystems will be irreversible. Acidification has  other physiological effects on marine life as well, including changes in  reproduction, growth rates, and even respiration in fish.

Tropical and coldwater corals are  among the oldest and largest living structures on earth; the richest in terms  of biodiversity, they provide spawning areas, nursery habitat and feeding  grounds for a quarter of all species in the sea. Coral reefs are at risk!   As C02 concentrations increase, corals, shellfish and other  species that make shells will not be able to build their skeletons and will  likely become extinct.

The good news is we can fix this  problem. But, as you guessed, it will be difficult.  Ocean Acidification  and global warming are caused by increased CO2 in the  atmosphere.  Solving one will solve the other.  Passage of HR 2454,  the Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act” is a first step in  reducing CO2 emissions, and deserves our support, but the bill  needs to be  strengthened.

“The intergovernmental panel  on climate change concluded that in order to stabilize C02 in the  atmosphere at 350 ppm by 2050, global carbon emissions need to be cut 85%  below 2000 levels.” That’s a very tall order!  And the way our political  system works (or doesn’t) makes it tougher.  It will take all of us to  step up and take responsibility to make this happen.

Here is what you can do: Contact your Representative now:

Click on this link to send an email, which will go  directly to your representative based on your address.  http://www.oceana.org/acid

You may use the letter provided,  but it is more effective to  edit it, and in your own words  urge them to strengthen the  Waxman-Markey “American Clean Energy and Security Act” H.R.  2454.

Ocean Acidification is an issue we  can do something about.  We need a groundswell of informed citizens to  get Congress to have the backbone to stand up to the entrenched interests of  coal, oil, and gas and not compromise on the reduction of CO2.   We also need real leadership to aggressively create jobs using  sustainable technologies. The choice is ours.  We can solve this or not.   What we do know is that the future facing our children, grandchildren  and indeed all of humankind depends on our decision.

I will be doing live commentary at St. Francis YC on Sunday for the US Match Racing Championship Area G Quarterfinals. Hopefully the westerly will come in strong and we can have some exciting racing. Please come by and check it out. (Twelve teams competing including US Olympians, Olympic hopefuls, and World Champions!)

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