Sailing, a mixed sport
Samantha Davies, Clarisse Crémer, Alexia Barrier, Isabelle Joschke, Pip Hare, Miranda Merron. These names are no doubt familiar to you, and for good reason, since they are part of this new generation of female sailors ready to take on the greatest challenges! Willing, motivated, courageous, they show self-sacrifice, as shown by Samantha Davies and Isabelle Joschke, who despite their retirement from the Vendée Globe 2020/2021 have decided to finish the race out of the race.
The days when we used to proclaim loud and clear that women were not welcome on board a ship . The proof is that there have never been so many women in competitive sailingeuros! Young or not so young, single or married, mothers or not, they have decided to take their ambitions to the highest level and join a world usually reserved for meneuros But in full mutationeuros!
Because if there is a sport that works for gender diversity, it is the sport of ocean racing!
Sailing is the only sport where men and women sail equally, with no difference in ranking. This is what Clarisse Crémer explained on her arrival at the 2021 Vendée Globe .
"I heard that I was the fastest woman in a Vendée Globe, but it is a mixed sport, there is no male/female ranking. It's sure nice to be the first woman to complete the race, being a woman in the sailing world is cool, but again there is no female/male ranking."
"In France, women in sailing are very lucky. In sports, they have their place. There are no barriers in sailing, but it is rather because of a vision that society has that it is difficult for a woman to make a career in ocean racing. However, there are sponsors who say they want to sponsor women, but society's view weighs heavily.
In Class40 (Editor's note: Miranda Merron was sailing in Class40 at the time), there is absolutely no machismo. In French sailing more generally, I don't think so either. Which is not the case in other countries, where women are generally not even invited to sail."
Races that impose the mix
If in 2012, we could read in the columns of Le Monde that living in promiscuity with women could be complicated on a crewed race, or that they lacked physical strength, things have changed.
In 2017, the Volvo Ocean Race (now The Ocean Race) imposed a rule of mixed gender within the crews. In 2024, the Olympic Games could also host the first mixed pairs ocean racing event.
Of course, all-female crews like Team SCA in the 2014-2015 Volvo Ocean Race or mixed crews are still rare. Marie Riou, former crew member of the French challenge on the Sail GP circuit was the only woman among more than 30 sailors.
Solo projects mainly
But today, women are present in many classes of ocean racing, from the Mini Circuit, through the Figaro class, the Class40 or the IMOCA class. As proof, there were 6 women sailors at the start of this 2020/2021 Vendée Globe, a first!
And with projects that hold up, like Samantha Davies and Isabelle Joschke, whose sponsors have entrusted them with the helm of foilers, certainly not the latest generation, but upgraded for performance. In the same style, the young Clarisse Crémer was entrusted with the helm of the IMOCA Banque Populaire, even though she had only just started sailing competitively a few years earlier!
And they all have the recognition and admiration of their male peers, as shown by Jean Le Cam who came to welcome Pip Hare on her arrival in Les Sables d'Olonne, finding her "amazing". Arnaud Boissières also congratulated Isabelle Joschke and Samantha Davies at his arrival press conference.
"I also think of Samantha and Isabelle Joschke. They made a stopover and they finish. And as if by chance they are both women. Women have a strength of character and a power that men do not have. The proof is two women who have stopped and Samantha is extraordinary because she arrived in South Africa and sent us a picture of her at the bar drinking a beer in the WhatsApp group. It's just amazing. She could have cried in her corner, telling herself that she is at the end of the world and that it is over. But instead. She was constantly messaging us. I think that's great. Samantha and Isa I hope that there will be people to welcome them because what they do is extraordinary. It's been a few editions where when we stopped the Vendée Globe, we didn't continue. But these two women will finish it. And I can say that they really have it in them! Apart from the fact that they are extremely strong on the water, they are also extremely pretty, which doesn't take anything away."
Only the Multi50 or Ultime classes are not represented by women sailors. These elitist projects, costing several million euros, are in any case reserved for a handful of sailors.
However, before the start of the 2021 Vendée Globe, Romain Attanasio, who shares the life of the sailor Samantha Davies, told us about his wife's hesitation between her current IMOCA project and an Ultime project. So when will a female sailor be sailing in Ultimeeuros?
