Cool People -- Women in the Cup Mar 18, 14:47
After all, this is 2006 not 1966, and we have already had an AC "Women's Team" (see our post entitled "Equal Opportunity" a week or so back), so it is no big news that there are a number of women in key positions with Cup teams, including some sailors, and even one team general manager (K-Challenge's Dawn Riley). Indeed, the new chair of the Challenger Commission is Alessandra Pandarese (ITA, Mascalzone Latino - Capitalia Team).
One of the key women in our campaign is staff lawyer Gillian Williams (NZL). A keen racing sailor who did an Olympic campaign in the Europe dinghy, Gilly is a former associate in the prestigious NZ law firm Bell Gully. (There must be something in the office water-- two other Bell Gully alumni are involved in the Cup: Jury member Graham McKenzie and Alinghi General Counsel Hamish Ross.)
Gilly's fingerprints are on just about every important piece of paper that our team's business department deals with, and her quick mind and keen eye for detail are a help to every department. And given her racing background, Gilly is also a member of our rules compliance team.
Another cool person, and woman, involved in the Cup is international umpire Maria Torrijo Moll (ESP). A former sailor in the Optimist, Vaurien and Europe, she has served on the Jury at the OK Dinghy Worlds among other major championships, and was an umpire observer and assistant during the 2005 Louis Vuitton Acts.
We met Maria earlier this week on a day of "friendly" race-training with Desafío Español.
When two teams hook up for practice racing, normally one team tender serves as the race committee, and the other team supplies a chase boat to set the marks. Each team also supplies an umpire who work together on a chase boat supplied by one of the teams. And it's the only time you see people from different teams, wearing their own team gear, together on the same boat!
Cool people on a chilly late-winter day off Valencia: BMW ORACLE's
Gillian Williams (NZL) and Desafío Español's Maria Torrijo (ESP), aboard
the umpire boat earlier this week during a break in the "friendly"
racing between our two teams.
One of the key women in our campaign is staff lawyer Gillian Williams (NZL). A keen racing sailor who did an Olympic campaign in the Europe dinghy, Gilly is a former associate in the prestigious NZ law firm Bell Gully. (There must be something in the office water-- two other Bell Gully alumni are involved in the Cup: Jury member Graham McKenzie and Alinghi General Counsel Hamish Ross.)
Gilly's fingerprints are on just about every important piece of paper that our team's business department deals with, and her quick mind and keen eye for detail are a help to every department. And given her racing background, Gilly is also a member of our rules compliance team.
Another cool person, and woman, involved in the Cup is international umpire Maria Torrijo Moll (ESP). A former sailor in the Optimist, Vaurien and Europe, she has served on the Jury at the OK Dinghy Worlds among other major championships, and was an umpire observer and assistant during the 2005 Louis Vuitton Acts.
We met Maria earlier this week on a day of "friendly" race-training with Desafío Español.
When two teams hook up for practice racing, normally one team tender serves as the race committee, and the other team supplies a chase boat to set the marks. Each team also supplies an umpire who work together on a chase boat supplied by one of the teams. And it's the only time you see people from different teams, wearing their own team gear, together on the same boat!
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Cool people on a chilly late-winter day off Valencia: BMW ORACLE'sGillian Williams (NZL) and Desafío Español's Maria Torrijo (ESP), aboard
the umpire boat earlier this week during a break in the "friendly"
racing between our two teams.
Cool People | by TFE
