Wendy Schmidt Is No Longer a Rookie at the Maxi Yacht Rolex Cup

Even when you feel a boat breathing down your neck and coming fast, you don’t turn your head and look because you might turn the wheel a little bit. You need to practice focus. When you do, it becomes a Zen-type place.

What’s it like being one of very few women skippers in maxi racing?

I grew up in a household of four brothers. It never occurred to me there was anything I couldn’t do. I don’t really think about skippers as a gender role. There are some extraordinary women in sailing rising to the highest echelon of the sport. There are a lot of challenges for women in their lives and getting into this kind of work, but it isn’t impossible. The only challenge for me is the limit of physical strength. I’m not a big person, and I’ll never be strong like a big guy.

Finally, how can we restore the ocean?

It begins with connection, understanding and caring. The biggest threat to the ocean is ignorance. Understanding what we don’t know about the ocean is absolutely fascinating. Most of life on earth is hidden from us. Sailors are the most natural advocates for ocean health. They go places nobody goes and see things nobody sees. When you start to ask them what’s changing in the ocean, they’ll tell you.

Our group — 11th Hour Racing — wants to transform the sailing industry and change the way regattas operate. We do that through demonstrations that get people thinking about the ocean. There are concrete changes that can be made — races with zero waste, refillable bottles and water stations. I think it’s setting a new standard on how the race world should work.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/30/sports/sailing/wendy-schmidt-maxi-yacht-cup.html