The History of Women Who Changed the Sailing World
Traditionally, images of sailors are usually men, but women have always been more than passengers on sailboats. Women have participated in the technical aspects and decision-making of sailing for centuries and have contributed their own advancements in the sailing world. These four trailblazing women sailors are fantastic examples of how women can change who sailing is for and how it’s done.
Grace O’Malley
The most notorious, but certainly not the only, female pirate is Grace O’Malley who made her mark harassing Spanish and English ships in the second half of the 16th century. Born into a prominent seafaring family on the coast of Ireland, she inherited her father’s fleet, even though she had a brother. At her peak, she commanded around 200 men and more than twenty ships using them to exert her clan’s power and defy English conquest. Known as “The Pirate Queen,” her legacy reshapes our perception of the history of sailing, proving that women sailors have always existed and even rivaled their male counterparts.
Dame Tracy Edwards
Tracy Edwards was the first woman to receive the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy after she founded and skippered the first all-female team to compete in the Whitbread Round the World Race (now called The Ocean Race) in 1989. Her team surprised everyone by winning two of the six legs of the race aboard their yacht Maiden. Later, Edwards established The Maiden Factor Foundation, a charity which promotes education for girls around the world.
Isabelle Autissier
Like sailing, STEM fields have been underrepresented by women which is why Isabelle Autissier broke stereotypes when she graduated in 1978 as a nautical engineer. She utilized her expertise to become the first woman to sail alone around the world in a competition. Her understanding of the mechanics of a sailboat helped her regularly place high in races and achieve the shortest time on record on the Around Alone Race. Through her lifetime of dedication to sailing, she helped legitimize women sailors as technical authorities in ocean racing and opened the door for more women to enter the design, engineering, and performance side of the sport.
Dame Ellen MacArther
Ellen MacArthur is perhaps the most well-known female sailor in modern times. In 2005, MacArthur broke the world record for the fastest solo non-stop circumnavigation of the globe, sailing alone for 71 days around the world, beating the best male sailors of the time, and proving that endurance, strategy, and systems management mattered more than physical size. Her success redefines what it means to be a sailor in the twenty-first century.
Ready to Join Us?
In celebration of International Women’s Day, join the proud community of women sailors with a learn to sail vacation! Earn ASA certification on our liveaboard courses while cruising through the Virgin Islands and enjoying the best beaches in the Caribbean. Our courses start at the beginner level, with more advanced options so you can grow into an expert sailor with us and make your mark on the sailing world forever!