Yesterday we celebrated the first women only Olympic sailing event in 1988 and the first all female entry that blew up the gender barrier in the Whitbread round the world race in 1989.
From a marketing perspective, you may have noticed that in the Tracy Edwards movie, the women got much more fan and media attention than the men did. This could be because Tracy and her team were much more professional and inclusive than the men were.
Sailboat racing is complicated and technical, making it at least as intellectually challenging as it is physically demanding. To this day there are very few rules about gender in sailing.
There are hundreds of types of sailboat races with big boats, small boats, inshore (around a course), and offshore (long distance) variations. Most sailing is in small boats around a course, and most of those boats are extremely weight sensitive. Occasionally that means big people win. But mostly it means small people win.
So to win in sailboat racing you have to be smart, and most of the time you have to be small. Sounds to me like the women are inherently advantaged. I think it is going to be interesting to watch this sport as the barriers come down.
Here are a few things to watch on the current state of gender in sailing.
Olympics: The International Olympic Committee is pushing sailing hard and at the Paris Olympics in 2024, there will be an equal number of medals for each gender in sailing. It was close in Tokyo with 2 more medals going to men than women. It will be particularly interesting to watch the 470 class. In this small 2 person boat, there will be a man and a woman, where there used to be 2 separate events of all men and all women. So there are plenty of experienced people of both genders and the smartest configuration will be to have the smaller person drive the boat. I predict the winner will have a female driver and male crew.
Sail GP: Since season 2 there has been one female spot on each boat. Depending on conditions, there are a total of 6 positions or 4 positions on the boat. Next race in NZL on March 17th.
The Ocean Race: The current rule gives an advantage to crews with women that has resulted in a woman on each of the five teams (5 people on each team): 11th Hour – Justine Mettraux; Guyot – Annie Lush; PRB – Abby Ehler; Malizia – Rosalin Kuiper; Biotherm – Sam Davies. The Ocean Race has a stated goal of an equal number of men and women by 2030. Currently in between legs 2 and 3 in Capetown, in port race tomorrow, next leg starts on Sunday)
Vende Globe: In this single handed, round the world, nonstop race. Without a doubt the most demanding sailboat race, there were 33 entrants in 2020 – 6 of whom were women. There are no rules about gender in the event. Next race starts Nov 10, 2024.
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