Will Baylis sailed for the San Francisco Yacht Club, with his siblings, Trevor and Liz. Their father, Derek, grew up in Sydney, Australia, but moved to San Francisco in 1956 and caught on as a crew member on the Stephens’ cutter Orient, passing along his knowledge of sailing to his children. Will started sailing at an early age and by age 13, was a crew member on a National Champion Rhodes 19. Will became enamored of sailing especially in the summer of 1977 when he and Trevor competed all over the world. In 1984 Will was noticed by top US Olympic sailor John Kostecki who invited him to be a crew member on his Soling boat that would win a bronze medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
After the Olympics Baylis drifted away from big-boat sailing and starting windsurfing. He was drawn back to competition in the late 1990s, and in 1999 was a crew member for Kostecki on the Farr 40 Samba Pa Ti, which won the Worlds that year. He later moved to New Zealand with an America’s Cup syndicate, and raced in the Louis Vuitton Cup. Baylis then became a tactician for Don Jesberg’s Melges 24 Ego in ocean racing. Baylis earned a degree in engineering and later worked for Dynatex, a semiconductor manufacturer in the Bay Area.
United States