ZDO Blog
The firepower behind women's match racing.
One of my colleagues, Kristina Lee, and I had drinks with Liz Baylis this past Friday evening and then again on Saturday afternoon, and then spent several hours with Liz over an early lunch that went into late afternoon on Monday. Liz, for those of you who don’t know her, is consistently ranked either the first or second-place female racing skipper in the United States and ranked seventh or eighth in the world (of course, she is always incredibly modest when she talks about it).
Liz is also the Executive Director of an on-fire organization called Women’s International Match Racing Association, affectionately known as WIMRA. The organization encourages and supports women’s participation in match racing, a sailing event that pits one boat against another—just two boats and typically, either a three- or four-person crew. Because both boats, their sails and all equipment on-board are identical, it takes incredible skill and athleticism to beat your opponent.
Just five or ten minutes with this down-to-earth female rockstar will teach you that if you plan to go up against her, you’d better have all your best people in the cockpit—men or women. You’d all better be in amazing shape, physically. And this thing called match racing had better be a passion of yours and not just a little something you like to play at once in a while. Liz is passionate. She’s fierce. She’s got an amazing track record. And she’s sailing for the gold in 2012. That’s right, if you asked me, she will very likely be skippering the American boat, an Elliot 6m, sort of re-created just for the match races of the 2012 games—the games into which Liz can claim a lot of responsibility for getting her sport as an event.
But Liz is also the kind of person with whom you could very easily while away an entire afternoon and completely lose track of time. She’s got countless great stories from her travels and the seemingly zillions of races she’s participated in all over the globe. She’s got a wonderful sense of humor that’ll have you giggling to yourself long after you’ve parted company. And she’s the best of the best, but knows when to laugh and when to turn up the pressure. Take my word for it—become a fan of match racing, and you’ll become a fan of Liz Baylis. And, if you want my advice, don’t you dare miss our ladies in 2012 as they take on the world in the first ever Women’s Match Racing event in the Olympic Games!
Bryon D. Zimmerman, CEO
05.07.2009. 23:18
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