Environment
MARTA rail cars succeed as haven for sea lifeAugust 7, 2024
By David Pendered
Jan. 21 – New routes into professional sailing may be emerging for young women, judging by experiences of sailors in The Ocean Race.
Two striking examples are represented by Annie Lush, a British Olympian in match racing, and Rosalin Kuiper, a Dutch blue water racer with no Olympic experience.
The routes they have followed to secure berths in one of the world’s renown round-the-world sailboat races are as different as their generation.
Lush, 41, came up through the Olympics, a traditional path to blue-water racing.
Kuiper, 26, bypassed the Olympics and focused on blue-water sailing, covering 55,000 miles offshore to secure her berth in The Ocean Race.
Lush’s perspective of the Olympics as a necessary step in a sailing career is evident in a conversation reported by Ben Snowball in a story posted on eurosport.com. Lush observed in the report:
Lush’s comment underscores her own background and start with the Olympics.
Lush campaigned for a slot on the 2008 British Olympic yachting team. She fell short. In 2012 Lush clinched a seat on the three-handed Elliott 6m and the team finished 7th.
With that win in her pocket, Lush secured a slot on the all-female Team SCA for the 2014 Volvo Ocean Race. Lush helped fellow Brit Sam Davies, the skipper, clinch 7th place.
Kuiper’s resume is completely different from that of Lush. This is the description provided by her page on the imoca.org website, operated by organization of these go-fast ocean racers, the International Monohull Open Class Association:
For its part, The Ocean Race associates itself with two iconic sailing contests:
The fleet has completed the first leg of The Ocean Race and is resting in Cabo Verde. The second leg is to start Jan. 25 with Cape Town as the destination.
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