American Yacht Club

Carina Becker Earns Crew Position with All Female Team for Sydney Hobart Race
 
Sometimes the fierce competition in sailing is not just on the racecourse but also in the pre-race. On November 20 Carina Becker (American Yacht Club, Rye NY) learned that she had earned one of four crew positions competing against over 170 international female sailors.  This brought great relief and joy to the 18 year-old sailor who in her brothers words “is on a roll”.  Carina a longtime team member of the Young American Sailing Team and gained notoriety last year for her part in the Newport Bermuda winning High Noon team.

The Magenta Project was created by members of the all-female Volvo Ocean Race crew SCA to help promote women sailors.  Their mission: enable women to acquire the training/skills needed to narrow the gender gap for career advancement, increase visibility of the accomplishments of extraordinary women across the globe, and to drive change in sailing through raising awareness, building a network and influencing policies.  The Magenta Project’s stated goals are exactly the factors that will help talented sailors like Carina get the next big opportunity and introduction into the small world of professional ocean racing sailors.

The Sydney Hobart Race opportunity is created through the collaboration between Lisa Blair and The Magenta Project.  The four crew members; Alison Kent, Allie Gray, Karen Young and Carina Becker will join Lisa Blair, Libby Greenhalgh, Liz Shaw and Ellie Draper to make a crew of 8 to sail Lisa Blair’s Climate Action Now. 

‘It was incredibly hard to identify the final 12, never-mind the final 4. The cross section and quality of applications from across the world was amazing.’ said Libby Greenhalgh of The Magenta Project, adding, ‘It is clear there is an ongoing need for this type of opportunity and we hope to create a networking event before the start to continue to building the relationships needed for there to be more women racing.’

Over the next two weeks, follow the social media feeds as the team gets ready to meet in Sydney, to get to know each other and to start their race preparation and practice for one of the most famous and sometimes grueling offshore races. 

Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheMagentaProject/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheMagentaProj

LisaBlairSails: https://lisablairsailstheworld.com/


Sydney to Hobart Race Tracker: http://rolexsydneyhobart.com/tracker/
 
Alison Kent, Allie Gray, Karen Young and Carina Becker make up the four crew members to join the first all-female crew  for 16 years , in the 2017 Sydney Hobart. The women will be part of 8 crew that will race on-board Climate Action Now with Lisa Blair in partnership with The Magenta Project.