BRIAN CARLIN/VOLVO OCEAN RACE; C/O MAIDEN FACTORboatshadmorepressure.Wehung
on, but by the Solomon Islands, we
were 90 miles behind the leaders.
“Looking at satellite images, ahead
I could see the leaders heading north
were slowing under heavy cloud bands;
although all the routing was still sending
usnorthIproposedasoutherlyroute
through the doldrums, less cloud,
more pressure and a shorter route.”
It worked, and in 48 hours Scallywag
went from tail gunner to 30-mile race
leader. They set the best 24-hour distance
of the leg, 507 miles, and kept extending.
“As we approached the northern tip
of the Philippines, we had a lead of 90
miles, but when we finally gybed to cover
VestasandDongfeng,ourleadwent
down to 30 miles. However, being the
first to more pressure, our lead opened
back up to 50 miles. We were in a strong
position, we have experienced drivers
and trimmers and we could afford to
bealittleslowerthantheothersbehind
us,theywouldnotclosethegapin
timeandthatprovedtobethecase.”
Greenhalgh has now been signed on
to Scallywag all the way to the Hague.FORGING THE WAY
As the Volvo Ocean Race (and previously
asthe Whitbread) the most highly
regarded offshore sailing event, became
increasinglycompetitive,itbecamemore
andmoreofaclosedshop.Therewere
all women’s teams, with Maiden in 1989,
EF Education in 1997-98, Amer-2 in
2001-02 and Team SCA in 2014-15, but
womensailingontheboatsinmixed
crewotherwisewererareandtherehad
been little in terms of boat knowledge
transfer from the veteran male sailors.
In 2016, the then VOR CEO Mark
Turner saw a crisis looming in terms
ofwomen’sparticipation.Hesaid:
“In mid-2016 there was no potential
women’steamreallyadvancedenough
in the sponsorship battle to guarantee
a race start, which meant there might
notbeanall-femaleteamandinthat
case,therewouldbenowomen.”
To fix this situation, the VOR
instituted a new set of rules under
which any all-male team could have
justsevensailors–onefewerthanin
2014-15 – but crews with women sailors
would have an overall increase in crew
numbers. The resulting potential crew
combinations include: 7 men; 7 men and
1or2women;5menand5women;
womenand1or2men;and11women
(the numbers could vary from leg to leg).
Clearly,acrewofjustsevenmen
wouldstruggletocompeteagainstthecrewrulewasintroduced.“The
newruleforcrewsintheVolvoOcean
Race in this edition has been very
successful. How we go forward I don’t
know,butforsuretheobjectiveisto
keep working on gender equality for all.
“InCapeTownwehadameeting
with 12 or 15 of the female sailors and
it was quite inspiring how the new
women who have come into the race
are thankful and grateful for the SCA
women, because they say ‘you inspired
us to dream and to come into the VOR’.
“WewerefortunatebecauseSCA
was really trying to make a difference,
so we had time and resources, and we
hadsomeofthebiggestnamesfrom
theVOR–MagnusOlsson,Torben
Grael, Joca Signorini and Brad Jackson
–toallowthefemalesailorstogetthis
head start on the learning curve as we
set out to challenge stereotypes and
to inspire other people to go out and
achieve beyond everyday expectations.”VETERAN VIEWPOINTS
What do those who are out there
doingit–andthosewhohave
been there, done that – think?a larger crew, or crews, so by the
fourth leg, all boats had at least two
womenontheirroster.Asaresult,
atleast17womenaretakingpartin
this race, most of them with Olympic
or previous VOR experience.
Initially, there was an outlier;
ScallywagskipperDavidWittproposed
a seven-man team, anticipating a
lighter crew would deliver more boat
speed.Hehadraisedeyebrowssaying
hehadnowishtobeinvolvedina
‘social experiment’. But he changed
his tune as the race progressed, first
withonewoman,thentwo,ashe
realised – surprise, surprise – that
hehadmadeamajormistake.
The recently appointed new VOR
President, Richard Brisius, who along
with co-President Johan Salén ran the
EF and SCA campaigns, is very pleasedBelow from top
Dee Caffari
skipperingthe
50:50 mixed team
Turn The Tide
on Plastic; The
all-female Maiden
competing in the
1989 Whitbread;
Tracy Edwards
led the way for
mixed crews SCA allowedfemale sailors to
get this head
start on the
learning curve
and set out to
inspire others
to achieve
GENDER EQUALITY OFFSHORE
20 Yachts & Yachting March 2018 yachtsandyachting.co.uk