By Nancy Noyes

After a morning postponement waiting for wind, the second day of the BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup women’s international match racing regatta went off in nearly perfect conditions as the breeze appeared from the south and held steady between 6 and 12 knots all day. Although the racers didn’t return to the docks at host Eastport Yacht Club until about 7 p.m., a full complement of seven additional flights were completed, bringing the totals for the double round-robin phase to 14 and leaving just five more to go before the semifinal and final rounds.

2003 champion Liz Baylis from San Francisco had arguably the best day of anyone, winning six of yesterday’s matches, but defending champion Sally Barkow, who led at the end of Wednesday’s racing, continued to hold a slim lead in the fleet of 10 outstanding teams of women sailors from the U.S., South America, and Europe.

“We were expecting two knots of breeze,” said Regatta Chair Tom Mullan, “but it built to six to eight, then 10 to 12, with gusts to 15. We actually had to lengthen the course twice. My impression was that it was a rather unusual day in that the winner of the start did not necessarily win the race. We saw a lot of tacking duels, and the boats were extending the starting box hundreds of yards, using the spectator boat and the committee boat as picks. It was phenomenal sailing.”

One of the closest contests of the day came in the ninth flight of the first round-robin, when unranked match race newcomer Derby Anderson of Annapolis narrowly beat Santa Maria Cup veteran Katy Lovell out of New Orleans, ranked 17th internationally, by inches.

With the round-robin still incomplete but well into its second half, scoring is based on a complex set of calculations based on who has beaten whom, so that Barkow now leads by a mere half-point over Baylis. One of the idiosyncracies of the scoring system is that Arnold sailor and match racing newcomer Jo Ann Fisher had actually won more matches than Brazilian Caroline Martins de Castro Bejar, though she stood a point behind Bejar at the end of yesterday’s competition.

At the end of the round-robin phase, the top four teams will advance to the semi-final and final rounds, to be sailed today and Saturday, weather permitting. Live results and commentary from the water are available on the event website, www.santamariacup.org, along with other information, including biographies of the skippers and tips for watching on the water without getting in the way and a match-racing primer.

The action concludes with an awards party with live music, food and drink on Saturday evening, May 31. The party is open to the public; tickets are $20 at the door, and include food and two drinks.

BoatU.S. Santa Maria Cup Regatta
Preliminary Results, Round Robin 2 (14 of 18 flights complete)
1. Sally Barkow (USA, #5), 12-2, 7.5 pts.
2. Liz Baylis (USA, #11), 11-3, 7 pts.
3. Christelle Philippe (FRA, #4), 9-5, 6 pts.
4. Anne-Claire LeBerre (FRA, #64), 9-5, 5.5 pts.
5. Molly Carapiet (USA, NR), 8-6, 5 pts.
6. Derby Anderson (USA, NR), 7-7, 4.5 pts.
7. Lorenza Mariani (ITA, #25), 5-9, 3.5 pts.
8. Katy Lovell (USA, #17), 4-10, 2.5 pts.
9. Caroline Martins de Castro Bejar (BRA, #39), 2-12, 2 pts.
10. Jo Ann Fisher (USA, NR) 3-11, 1.5 pts.