Linda Elias Memorial Regatta
Co-skippers Wendy Corzine and Lisa Meier of Long Beach Yacht Club won the 26th annual Linda Elias Memorial Women’s One-Design Challenge on October 14-15, breaking a 14-year dry spell — the hosting LBYC team last won this regatta in 2003. The event used the Long Beach Sailing Foundation’s fleet of matched Catalina 37s.
Weather conditions were good for the 11 West Coast teams representing yacht clubs and sailing organizations from Tacoma, WA, to SFYC in Marin County, to San Diego. Principal Race Officer Sharon Bernd made the call to run five of the seven scheduled races on Saturday, just in case the wind didn’t show up on Day 2.
At the end of the first day, California YC’s Marilyn Cassidy had a six-point lead over the LBYC team. All that CalYC had to do was not let the LBYC boat slip by them. But they did, with LBYC winning Races 6 and 7.
“There were so many years of practice and training,” said Corzine, “and the magic came together this year. We couldn’t get a good start yesterday, but today we had two good starts.”
Cassidy commented on Day 2: “We just couldn’t get up to speed today. Today’s lighter conditions were a challenge for us. Today was a credit to their team.”
Calling tactics for Corzine and Meier was Liz Baylis, a San Rafael resident and member of SFYC and Richmond YC. Baylis is a skilled match racer, having won a silver medal at the 2008 Women’s Match Racing World Championship in Auckland, New Zealand, and also winning LBYC’s Mayor’s Cup women’s match race in 2007. She was US Sailing’s Rolex Yachtswoman of the Year in 2002.
Years ago, she raced with Linda Elias. “This feels really good for me,” said Baylis. “I have never won this event, and I have always wanted to come back. It’s nice to be back and to be on the winning team with my name now next to hers. All we had to do is sail our races. That’s what we did. We sailed our races.”
Christy Smitheran, Merry Cheers, Carly Meyer, Sharie Sneddon, Blair Carty, Cheri Busch, Marissa Pei, Sheri Sanders, Beth Winton and Janice Eagle were the crew.
The Women’s One-Design event began 26 years ago and Linda Elias won the championship three of the first five years. Elias passed away in 2003, and the Long Beach/Los Angeles Women’s Sailing Association rededicated the event to her memory. For complete results see www.lbyc.org.