- Local News for Southern Sailors - January 2002 Next Story
California team captures Rolex Osprey Cup
By Doran Cushing
 Doran Cushing photo Marie Fauré of France had led the top four teams after two round-robins of match race sailing but lost the best-of-three finals to Californian Liz Baylis as the four-day international series concluded Dec. 2. 
Baylis, along with crew Aimee Hess, Karina Shelton, and Stacie Straw, forced Fauré's team into three penalty turn situations while wrapping up the finals with two consecutive wins.
The two-boat match racing format involves a series of maneuvers with each skipper attempting to get the opponent to commit a right-of-way foul during the pre-start sequence. The fouls must be corrected by performing penalty turns during the race.
"The race committee did a great job in the challenging conditions," Baylis said. "I tried to keep the boat moving fast with the crew looking for the puffs (of wind). That was the key factor in winning today."
In the runoff for third place, Sandy Grosvenor's Chesapeake Bay team won two consecutive races over Charlie Arms' northern California-based team. Susan Wallace of St. Petersburg sailed with Arms for this event.
The St. Petersburg Yacht Club junior team (see sidebar story), skippered by Evan Brown, won their final race on day two of racing and finished fifth in the seven-team field. Their opportunity to move up in the standings was cut short when all racing was cancelled due to a lack of wind on day three and the race committee decided to skip the semifinals.
Day one opened with the sailors fighting the light winds and choppy bay waters as much as their competitors. Three of the top-ranked women's teams took an early lead over windward/leeward courses just east of The Pier in downtown St. Petersburg.
France's Marie Fauré, Liz Baylis of San Rafael, CA, and Charlie Arms of Valleho, CA, each won three of four match races after a long day on the water. The seven all-women teams competing in this international event finished three races in less than 10 knots of winds in the morning and only two races later in the day as the breeze built and died throughout the day.
The St. Petersburg team of junior sailors won their closing race after four earlier defeats.
"I've never seen a happier bunch of girls," said race official Tom Farquhar.
As the event came to an early end, Farquhar said, "We completed one full round-robin plus two flights of the second. The forecast was sufficiently poor (for more wind) so we cancelled the semifinals and moved directly to the finals." He added, "It was light air, but very exciting racing."
"I focused more on boat speed than tactics," Brown said about her first match racing experience, "positioning myself so we didn't have any fouls. But I was surprised how aggressive some of the sailors were at the start."
Other sailors on the youth team included Kristin Britt, Betsy Bryant, Alyson Dagly, Abby Ethington, and Rachael Silverstein.
"The kids...they taught us a few lessons," Baylis said at the awards ceremony.
Bow to bow at the Rolex Osprey Cup.RESULTS Rolex 2001 Osprey Cup Nov. 29 - Dec. 2 on Tampa Bay Finals - Baylis defeated Fauré 2-0; Consolation Round - Grosvenor defeated Arms 2-0 Round Robin results 1. Marie Fauré 5; 2. Liz Baylis 4.5; 3. Charlie Arms 4; 4. Sandy Grosvenor 3.5; 5. Evan Brown 1.5; 6. Arabella Denvir 1.5; 7. Sandy Hayes 1 |  |
for local youth sailors
This is a team of women—young women—who still giggle, tease their crewmates, snitch food off each others' plates, and start water fights when the opportunity presents itself. But their spirited antics belie the talent and commitment they carried into the Rolex 2001 Osprey Cup—an international sailing competition for women match racers which was held Nov. 29 - Dec. 2 on Tampa Bay.
These six women, or girls to be more accurate, range in age from 12 to 17. Their unofficial "mom" is Abby Ethington, the senior member of the team, who attends St. Petersburg Catholic High School. She's the only one on the team with any big boat experience, and last year she won a national championship in the Windmill Class with local sailmaker Ethan Bixby.
As the youngest sailor at 12 and a student at Admiral Farragut Academy, Rachael Silverstein isn't the least bit intimidated by her older teammates. Shy she isn't.
Pacing in practice, the SPYC juniors work on their downwind speed.
Evan Brown, who did the driving during the Osprey Cup, is 15 and attends Berkeley Prep in Tampa along with Betsy Bryant, also 15. Together they recently won the Great Oaks Invitational Regatta—a national championship for high school sailing teams.
Both Kristin Britt, 14, and Alyson Dagly, 15, are students at St. Petersburg High School and have been sailing competitively for about two years.
These youngsters only found out in early November that they would be invited to compete at the Osprey Cup against women racers who travel the world for sailing events.
O'Malley Avant, along with Morten Christoffersen, have been coaching the team. Avant said, "We found out November 5 that we were going to be able to get a boat. They started practicing November 6."
Avant, who was the head coach of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club junior program until mid-December, had been talking with Christoffersen, sailing master of the St. Petersburg Sailing Center, about having a team in the event as a way to step up the girls' experience. When one of the international teams dropped out, the door opened for the youths.
"Pat Seidenspinner liked the idea so much she made it happen," Avant said. Osprey Cup race official Seidenspinner is the past commodore of the St. Petersburg Yacht Club, which is hosting the Osprey Cup.
"The hardest part was going to be to pick the four girls to sail," Avant said. "No one had put in more effort than anyone else. Their level of dedication and commitment is unbelievable. But the yacht club has generously allowed us to substitute during the event so everyone can sail."
That commitment started each day after school as the six teammates gathered at the sailing center for coaching, on-the-water drills, and fitness training. Weekends, for the time being at least, were also dedicated to sailing.
"We come early," Silverstein said. " Sometimes we have PT...running, push-ups, sit-ups."
"They're athletes," Avant added.
During a practice session against another boat earlier in the week, coach Avant ran out of patience with some crew squabbling. With the blast of his whistle he instructs Brown to stop the boat and hollers "drop and give me 15 "(push-ups). Without a word, the team accepts their coach's reprimand.
"Now maybe they'll be mad at me instead of each other," Avant offered.
He followed the tough training session with lunch at the team's unofficial headquarters, Quizno's Subs on Central Avenue in downtown St. Petersburg. All of the tension from the boat has been left on the boat.
Dagly says, "The hardest part is disagreeing with teammates. But this has done so much for our confidence and teamwork...learning how to work with other people."
Sailing against people who are ranked in the world is a really cool experience," Brown added.
Talking all at the same time, they each say that the best part is "us...working together."
The team understands its goals must be realistic, given the lack of experience.
"I'd be happy if we beat one boat," Ethington said. "To have fun," Silverstein said. "It's amazing that we get to be here."
Brown was more optimistic, hoping to earn a spot in the semifinals.
Avant said, "Competitiveness is not something they lack. But I don't think there will be a group of girls out there that will have more fun."
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Copyright © 2001 Southwinds Media.
All rights reserved. 12.30.01