Nicola Henderson [1] (born 1993 [2] ) is a British professional yachtswoman. In 2018, she became the youngest ever skipper to lead a team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race at the age of 25. [3]
Nicola Henderson [1] (born 1993 [2] ) is a British professional yachtswoman. In 2018, she became the youngest ever skipper to lead a team in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race at the age of 25. [3]
Henderson began sailing aged 13. After spending a short period of time with the Sea Cadets, she decided to pursue a career in sailing. Following a season working with "Girls for Sail" (the UK's only all-female sailing school), Henderson skippered three ARC Trans Atlantic races, twice as youngest skipper in the race. She has raced three Caribbean seasons, skippered the RORC Caribbean 600, competed in two editions of the Fastnet Race, and gained further experience teaching and offshore racing in Europe. She was selected as skipper of Visit Seattle in the 2017/2018 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. [4] [5]
Two days after her 25th birthday, Henderson skippered Visit Seattle to second place in the 2017/2018 Clipper Round the World Yacht Race. She was the youngest skipper in the Clipper Round the World Yacht Race history. The same race saw Wendy Tuck become the first woman to win a round the world race. [2]
Henderson will be a guest skipper on Maiden's global voyage in 2018 in support of The Maiden Factor Foundation. [6]
In June 2019, Henderson joined the winning team "Sail Like a Girl" to compete in the Race to Alaska, an engineless boat race from Port Townsend, Washington, to Ketchikan, Alaska. [1]
In November 2019, she accompanied the environmental activist Greta Thunberg on her return voyage to Europe aboard the catamaran La Vagabonde . [7]
Henderson is the daughter of former Conservative Minister of State for Skills and Apprenticeships Anne Milton. [2]
Yacht racing is a sailing sport involving sailing yachts and larger sailboats, as distinguished from dinghy racing, which involves open boats. It is composed of multiple yachts, in direct competition, racing around a course marked by buoys or other fixed navigational devices or racing longer distances across open water from point-to-point. It can involve a series of races with buoy racing or multiple legs when point-to-point racing.
The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Race after Swedish automobile manufacturer Volvo took up the sponsorship, and in 2019 it was renamed The Ocean Race.
Denise "Dee" Caffari MBE is a British sailor, and in 2006 became the first woman to sail single-handedly and non-stop around the world "the wrong way"; westward against the prevailing winds and currents. In February 2009, Caffari completed the Vendée Globe race and set a new record to become the first woman to sail solo, non-stop, around the world in both directions.
The Clipper Round the World Yacht Race is a biennial sailing race that takes paying amateur crews on one or more legs of a circumnavigation of the globe in 11 specially-designed identical yachts owned by Clipper Ventures. Professional skippers and additional qualified persons (AQPs) lead each teams on the 10-month journey. All participants must complete a four-week training course before starting the race. The race was conceived in 1995 by Sir Robin Knox-Johnston and is run by Clipper Ventures plc. The race has been held every two years since 1996, although in 2004 there was not a race and biennial racing resumed in 2005.
Tracy Edwards, MBE is a British sailor. In 1989 she skippered the first all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race, becoming the first woman to receive the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy and was appointed MBE. She has written two books about her experiences.
The Contessa 26 is a 7.77 meter (25.6 ft) fiberglass monohull sailboat, brought about when Jeremy Rogers, with a background in traditional wooden boatbuilding along with one of his Folkboat customers, David Sadler, created a modified version of the same boat in glass reinforced plastic (GRP). Rigged as a masthead sloop, with a deep keel and a hull-mounted rudder, the Contessa 26 was launched in 1966 and early boats proved to be very successful racers, including long-distance events. Jeremy Rogers Limited went on to produce the Contessa 32.
Michael Perham is an English sailor and adventurer from Potters Bar. In 2007 at the age of 14 he became the youngest person in the world to successfully sail across the Atlantic Ocean single-handedly, beating the record set in 2003 by British sailor Seb Clover. In 2009 at the age of 17 he became the youngest person to sail around the world solo. Perham's second record surpassed that of Zac Sunderland, an older 17-year-old American, set only six weeks earlier. Following this, Perham's adventures included driving around the world and racing in many offshore races, most notably the Sydney to Hobart yacht race in 2011 where his team placed second in class.
Dawn Riley is an American sailor, and a pioneer in the sport of sailboat racing. She is in the National Sailing Hall of Fame and the international America's Cup Hall of Fame. The youngest and only female to be a 'dual-famer' this. She sailed in four America's Cup races and two Whitbread Round the World races. She was the watch captain on Maiden, the first all-women's entry in the Whitbread race, and was the team captain of the first all-women's team in the America's Cup. She later established the America True Foundation to encourage youth participation in sailing. Since 2010 she has run Oakcliff Sailing dedicated to Building American Leaders Through Sailing
Jennifer J. Isler, best known as J. J. Isler and also known by her maiden name of J. J. Fetter, is an American yachtswoman. She is a two-time Olympic medalist and a world sailing champion. She was a starting helmsman in the 1995 America's Cup races. A pioneer in the sport of women's sailing, in 2005 she was the first woman inducted into the Sailing World Hall of Fame and in 2015, she was inducted into the National Sailing Hall of Fame.
Boris Herrmann is a German yachtsman and author competing mostly in offshore races in the IMOCA 60 class.
Jessica Watson is an Australian sailor who was awarded the Order of Australia Medal after attempting a solo circumnavigation at the age of 16. Although her voyage did not meet the distance criterion of 21,600 nautical miles (40,000 km) for a circumnavigation, Watson was nevertheless named the 2011 Young Australian of the Year and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 2012 for "...service to sailing and to youth through the achievement of sailing solo and unassisted around the world [sic], and as a role model for young Australians". She currently resides in Melbourne.
The first around the world sailing record for circumnavigation of the world can be attributed to the surviving crew of Ferdinand Magellan's expedition, including the last captain Juan Sebastián Elcano who completed their journey in 1522.
The 2014 Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, sponsored by Rolex and hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia in Sydney, New South Wales, was the 70th annual running of the "blue water classic" Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. The 2014 edition began on Sydney Harbour at 1pm on Boxing Day, before heading south for 628 nautical miles (1,163 km) through the Tasman Sea, past Bass Strait, into Storm Bay and up the River Derwent, to cross the finish line in Hobart, Tasmania.
Wendy Tuck is a yachtswoman and previous chief instructor and principal at the Clipper Race training base in Sydney, Australia. She was the first female skipper to win a round-the-world yacht race.
Maiden is a 58 foot (18 m) aluminium ocean racing yacht built in 1979, designed by Bruce Farr and raced by Pierre Fehlmann, Bertie Reed and Tracy Edwards and John Bankart. Edwards bought the yacht in 1987 to compete in the 1989–90 Whitbread Round the World Race with an all-female crew. The yacht achieved good results and broke records, leading to Edwards becoming the first female winner of the Yachtsman of the Year Trophy, changing the perception of women in ocean racing.
Gitana 16, her name when launched, is an IMOCA 60 monohull sailing yacht, designed by VPLP and Guillaume Verdier and constructed by Multiplast in France. She was later known as Malizia II. The yacht's hull has a tumblehome shape and is equipped with foils, which were upgraded in 2016 and again in 2020. The boat was commissioned for the Gitana Sailing Team founded by Benjamin de Rothschild. Her first skipper was Sébastien Josse who was later replaced by Boris Herrmann. The yacht does not use any fossil fuel for power. In 2019, solar panels with an output of 1.3kw were installed, and power is also generated by two hydro-electric generators at the stern that can be raised and lowered as needed.
Climate activist Greta Thunberg made a double crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 2019 to attend climate conferences in New York City and, until it was moved, Santiago, Chile. She sailed from Plymouth, UK, to New York, United States aboard the racing yacht Malizia II, returning from Hampton, Virginia, to Lisbon on the catamaran La Vagabonde. Thunberg refuses to fly because of the carbon emissions of the airline industry and the trip was announced as carbon neutral. As a racing sailboat, the Malizia II has no toilet, fixed shower, cooking facilities or proper beds.
Joe English was an Irish yachtsman, professional sailor and sailmaker. He competed at multiple world championship-level sailing events, including America's Cup, the Whitbread Round The World Race and Admiral's Cup race series. In 1989, English skippered Ireland's first entry to take part in the Whitbread Round the World Yacht Race.
Lisa Blair is an Australian solo sailor who holds multiple world records. She is also an advocate for climate change, which she promotes through her Climate Action Now project. She has written a book, Facing Fear, about her first attempt at circumnavigating Antarctica solo on her yacht Climate Action Now.