I met Liz Baylis in May 2009, forty years after she first started sailing solo at the age of five. “I was allowed to sail on my own when I could swim across the lagoon where I grew up,” Liz recalls. The boats were little, she explains, and her family lived in a protected lagoon. “You’d end up at somebody’s dock, if all else failed, and you could swim home. So we grew up on boats, my dad was building a boat in my back yard from the time I was born.”

Since then, she’s become a successful competitor, demonstrated that a competitive sailor does not have to be a young fry to win, and moved into a career that promotes the future of competitive sailing.

At the age of seven, Liz was in her first sailing competition. She was in the junior sailing program in San Francisco, taught sailing, and competed in the major sailing events, with a long list of wins as well as awards. She has been the skipper of the San Francisco Women’s Match Racing Team since its inception in 2000. In 2002, she and her crew won the world championships in Spain, earning them a ranking of second in the world.

Two competitions Liz participates in regularly are the long-distance races from California to Hawaii: the Pacific Cup from San Francisco on even years and the TransPac from Los Angeles on odd years. “The boat I own is a 27-foot boat,” Liz explains, “and that’s considered crazy by some.” However, the small boat has worked for Liz, as she’s won her class three times on that boat. She’s also won her class on other boats, as skipper and crew, joining three other women for the race in 2005, and with her husband the last three times.

I spoke with Liz when she was in Annapolis, Maryland for the 2009 invitational BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup, May 26-30, an all-women event. Liz has competed in every Santa Maria Cup since a win in 2003. At the time I met her, she was ranked sixth in Women’s ISAF World Match Racing.

The 2009 Santa Maria Cup was a demonstration of the dependence of the sport upon the vagaries of the weather. Although all outdoor competitions understand the weather’s effects upon how or whether you compete, a factor that can generally be overlooked in other sports can make or break sailing: the wind. This year’s event saw four beautiful days—with insufficient wind—as well as thunderstorms.

On Friday, May 29, I had the opportunity to go out in a boat to watch the racers. We all took our time heading out towards the Chesapeake Bay, hoping the wind would pick up. The racers made use of the time by relaxing and sunning on their boats, working on their tans and conserving their energy. The wind finally picked up to about five knots—not ideal but sufficient. A course was set (as sailing race courses are set according to the direction of the winds) and skippers and crews prepared for their races.

A match race flight (a round) pits two crews against each other—like tennis round robins rather than a horse race with a field of many horses. Unlike tennis, however, the match racers could be all competing at the same time, on the same course. Imagine Monica Seles playing Serena Williams while Dinara Safina plays Venus Williams on the very same court—and then throw two more players out while Monica and Senera are still going at it. In tennis, at least you could follow the ball to recall who was playing whom, and, if you were close enough, you’d likely be able to distinguish the players or at least their garb.

In match racing, however, it may be difficult—especially given the distance from spectator to boat—to follow who is racing whom, with all sailors in the same size boats with crisp, white sails. This confusion, though daunting to a first-time spectator, is irrelevant to the racers and to the results.

Going into the Friday afternoon flight, Liz had been tied for first with France’s Claire Leroy, but the day’s race broke the tie, giving Claire the clear lead.

At the end of the four-day match, Liz Baylis and her crew, Carol Cronin, Kim Couranz, and Karina Shelton placed fourth, behind Claire Leroy, the top-rated women’s match racer in the world for the past five year; U.S.’s Genny Tulloch; and Australia’s Katie Spithill.

In her mid 40s, Liz is a senior among match racing competitors. “At the World’s last year,” she recalls, “Claire [Leroy] won, we were second, and I was sailing in my semifinals against someone who was half my age. Her whole team was an average age considerably less than ours. So it’s definitely [possible to continue being competitive]—if you’re physically fit it doesn’t come into play.”

She understands that the younger women have advantages, but sees benefits to being older as well. “For the driver, for the helmsperson,” she explains, “you could probably get away with being older.” Some of the crew jobs are physically demanding, giving an advantage to the strength of youth. However, Liz says, “In match racing, knowing the rules and having the experience (are advantageous)—old age and treachery definitely does have its place!”

Liz has discovered another benefit of an older crew: “I’ve sailed long enough that I like sailing with people I like to sail with, and sometimes generational differences don’t always work.” Even off of the water, she appreciates the team-building value of being with like-minded people.

Though she still enjoys competing, Liz has turned much of her attention to a different aspect of the sport. She is executive director of the Women’s International Match Racing Association (WIMRA), founded in 1996 to help promote women’s match racing all over the world, with a goal of getting women’s match racing into the Olympics—a goal that seems to be in place for the 2012 London Summer Games.

Of course, before competitors can reach the Olympics, they have to have plenty of experience, and that’s where Liz puts much of her professional effort, teaching clinics all over the world, including Brazil, Slovenia, the Caribbeans, Korea, Croatia, Israel, and Mexico. She explains that building match racing throughout the world is like the base of the pyramid, with the apex being match racing in the Olympics.

“It’s pretty cool,” Liz says of doing what she loves for her job, admitting that it can be challenging not to overload herself. “Last year I probably weighted the schedule a little too heavily, I tried to do everything: I tried to do a tough match racing schedule of my own in addition to the work. I was pretty burned out at the end of the year, so I scaled back this year.”

Actually, part of scaling back meant organizing the races instead of competing—also demanding, but helped her achieve work objectives and was easier on her pocketbook.

For forty years, Liz Baylis has found her passion in sailing. She’s still enjoying her time on the water, and is putting her effort and abilities into ensuring that other women can enjoy the world of match racing, too. The world competitor has come a long way from the little boat on the lagoon.

For more information, visit

www.wimra.org

www.lizbaylis.com