Match racing is taking sailing by storm, thanks to a new women’s event in the 2012 Olympics. Betsy Crowfoot checks it out, and has the bruises to prove it.
Vanity got the best of me, when I was asked by one of the world’s top-ranked women’s match racing skippers to join her team for the Mayor’s Cup—a Grade 2 invitational regatta held in the same boats and waters as the famed Congressional Cup.
In the past I have covered the event, but when my normal gig didn’t pan out, competitor Sandy Hayes called and said, “I was thinking of something crazy … ” interrupting herself with nervous laughter. “I’m short one for the Mayor’s Cup. Would you have any interest in coming sailing?” The Scituate, Massachusetts, skipper, ranked 16th in the world, was at the Match Cup regatta in Sweden and would be arriving in California in a few days.
Had I been thinking straight I might have said “Thanks, but no thanks,” but pride, and a writer’s curiosity, prevailed; and I find myself days later packed and driving to Long Beach, California, at 5 a.m. … on an empty stomach. Parched. Gnawing on my nails and bubble gum, because the first dirty little secret of match racing is that you have a cap on crew weight, and I was six pounds over my allotment.
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