Irish international offshore sailor Joan Mulloy has recently completed a ten-day trip from Antigua to Portugal in a Mod 70 trimaran as part of the Famous project led by Dee Cafarri and Alexia Barrier, which aims to break the record for the fastest circumnavigation of the planet by sail and set a world first record for an all female crew.
Irish international offshore sailor Joan Mulloy
On Friday, May 24th, Mulloy is one of the keynote speakers, along with Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy and ex RTÉ news anchor Bryan Dobson, at a supper marking the opening of the fourth Women at the Helm regatta.
Olympic silver medallist Annalise Murphy
Hosted by the National Yacht Club on May 25th and 26th, and supported by SIA Partners, the event encourages female sailors who may not normally lead, to step up and make the move from crew to helm.
Men are also welcome to participate and support the crew of registered boats. The Saturday race counts for both WATH regatta points and Dublin Bay Sailing Club points.
The event will include female race officers Suzanne McGarry and Mairead Ni Cheallachain, and there will be many women "manning" the two committee boats for the event.
Mulloy spoke to Wavelengths about the event, as did Women at the Helm organiser Ann Kirwan, who has been a commodore of the Dublin Bay Sailing Club and is a highly respected Ruffian 23 sailor and was on the Irish team in Hong Kong last year.
Ann Kirwan at the helm of her Ruffian 23 Bandit on Dublin Bay
Kirwan described her own challenges in relation to the path towards helming, and recalled how when she bought into a share of a Ruffian, one of the first rules was “no shouting – except to be heard”.
More details on Women at the Helm are here
Listen to Wavelengths below
