Fundació Navegació Oceànica Barcelona

As she stepped off the boat and onto the quayside at Salvador de Bahia, Anna Corbella had already become the first Spanish female to sail solo across the Atlantic, although the skipper was modest about the title. With characteristic humility and charm, Anna explained: “The fact that I’m the first Spanish woman to cross the Atlantic solo isn’t that important to me, but I do hope it will encourage other women to do it as we have just as much sailing potential as men”.

This is evident when you take a look at the results in many offshore races where women have competed in both solo and double-handed events. However, it is true to say that this evidence has taken time to filter through to public perception and I can’t help but think of the wave of comment on female successes in the sport over the spectacular past three decades.

Taking on the sceptics

The first woman sailor to make an impact in the media was Claire Francis in the 1976 OSTAR. She finished 13th with a 38-footer, setting a female record for crossing the Atlantic from East to West. Claire was talked about even more when she led the Swan 65 ADC Accutrac in the 1977/78 Whitbread, sailing a great regatta with ‘only’ two other women in the crew. Women in offshore sailing were received with a mixture of condescension and kindness by the sailing world and press. However Tracy Edwards and Maiden, sailing in the Whitbread 1989/90 with an all-female crew didn’t enjoy much of that kindness. Her project aroused great scepticism and some journalists even went as far as to label the sailor ‘irresponsible’, accusing her of putting her crew’s lives at risk. Tracy went on to win two of the legs and finished second in the overall final rankings. She arrived at Southampton to a roaring reception of 50,000 fans. The clichés and misconceptions began to crumble, although the idea that it was possible for a woman to win a race was still far from general public opinion.

Then Florence Arthaud came along and rocked the competitive sailing world by beating the solo North Atlantic East-West record and reducing it to 9 days, 21 hours and 42 minutes. This meant two days less that Bruno Peyron’s former record. Florence was splashed across headlines all over the world, especially in her native France where she was named ‘the bride of the Atlantic’, a somewhat patronising and sexist tag that fortunately faded away quickly.

In 1991 Isabelle Autissier finished 7th in the BOC Challenge, despite dismasting in the second leg. She became the first woman to sail solo around the world. In 1996 Isabelle Autissier and Catherine Chabaud took the start of the Vendée Globe, which had only previously ever had male competitors. Isabelle was forced to abandon the race with rudder problems but Catherine finished the race and became the first woman to sail solo around the world non-stop. From thereon women’s presence in the most gruelling offshore challenges became commonplace.

Crumbling clichés for good

Many of my colleagues have admitted to me that perhaps ten years ago they wouldn’t have imagined that women could do as well as men or even better in offshore races. They all stuck by the typical arguments; lack of physical strength, less decisiveness in the face of danger and some even admitted considering women to be ‘the weaker sex’ when it comes to facing the ocean. Ellen MacArthur took it upon herself to show that all of these ideas were simply clichés, by finishing second in the famous Vendée Globe sailing challenge. Not only was she runner-up, but the Briton played ‘check mate’ with none other than Michel Desjoyeaux and is the only person to have been ‘insolent’ enough to catch up 620 miles with the ‘professeur’, as seen from the Doldrums to Cape Horn. The recovery of this petite 24 year-old skipper was watched closely by the entire world media, and also by none other than the Prime Minister of England, Tony Blair, who spent many nights tracking Ellen’s progress on the internet. Unfortunately the sailor struck a semi-submerged container with her Kingfisher and Ellen finished in second place. The young skipper’s feat silenced those who had viewed Ellen’s custom-built ‘feminine’ boat, with a grinder in the cockpit – the first to be seen on an IMOCA Open 60 – and a rather scaled down sail area with scepticism. The latter was a decision driven by some wise advice from Alan Gautier to put trust in the boat manoeuvrability above everything when designing the boat. Ellen proved that these factors were just as key to offshore sailing victory as the search for the most power. The Englishwoman’s consequent Atlantic and around the world records confirmed that. 

A similar situation was seen in the 2007 Mini Transat, when Isabelle Joshcke wiped out her rivals with a 5 day, 15 hour, and 33 minute time for the La Rochelle – Funchal leg. She didn’t go on to win the race, however, due to boom damage in the second leg that saw her drop to the bottom of the rankings. Yves Le Blévec, who won the race commented in Funchal: “Isabelle was unreachable. I’m amazed. I was going as fast as I could but she made the right tactical calls with each board and she skippered with great precision. She sailed a first leg that should enter the history books of offshore sailing”.

And that’s what it boils down to; tactics and precision. There’s no call for male force or aggression here, and Michèle Paret, Servane Escoffier, Samantha Davies and Dee Caffari have demonstrated that in past editions of the Vendée Globe and the Barcelona World Race. Anna Corbella also reminded us of that fact: “Offshore sailing is a sport that requires a balancing act of many different factors to win. Us women may have less physical force, but that means we must carefully calculate each move and not make mistakes where we expend our energies unnecessarily. This is actually a benefit to women and perhaps evens out the performance with men”.

Santi Serrat 

sserrat@fnob.org