SailGP women assemble at Auckland Harbour. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
Look out, Peter Burling and Dylan Fletcher… the SailGP sisterhood are coming after your jobs.
The professional sailing league has made a point of developing and promoting woman athletes through its five years of existence, reserving a spot for them on each F50 boat and now boasting its first female driver.
Two-time Olympic gold medallist Martine Grael will helm Mubadala Brazil on the Waitematā Harbour this weekend, hoping to close the gap between her fledgling team and their more experienced rivals in only their second regatta together.
- RNZ will live blog SailGP action from Auckland starting at 4pm Saturday.
Grael is very conscious of her position as a role model for other young girls aspiring to chase a career on the waves, but her elevation to the top job hasn't escaped the attention of the other women in the fleet, who can now see that promotion as a realistic goal.
"I'd love to helm one day," admitted New Zealand strategist Liv Mackay. "I've been spending a bit of time on the helm.
"I got some time yesterday with Pete [Burling] on strategy, which was super cool. I definitely think anything can happen in SailGP - it's a very intense, high pace sport, with injuries or sickness.
"We travel a lot, there's always that, so we're really trying to make our team really solid and I've really been taking interest in helming. We'll see where it leads."
Great Britain strategist Hannah Mills wryly observes how her team have had three drivers in the past 12 months, burning through legendary Sir Ben Ainslie and twice Olympic champion Giles Scott, before returning to Dylan Fletcher, who shared the helm of INEOS Britannia with Ainslie in last year's America's Cup challenge against Team NZ.
"Lots of adapting, lots of learning, different styles, but all three have been amazing sailors and, for me, it's been a privilege to learn from all of them," she said.
Another two-time Olympic gold medallist, Mills has openly expressed her ambition to take the wheel some day.
Hannah Mills celebrates Great Britain's win at SailGP Halifax. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
"That has always been my aspiration, as soon as SailGP started, and I saw what was going on and the progress it was making," she admitted.
"That was the ultimate goal and every opportunity to get behind the wheel, I take it.
"You never know what's just around the corner. In life, it's always about waiting and being ready, and if the opportunity arises, you're the first person they look to to grab it."
On shore, Mills holds the distinction of being the first of three mothers in the fleet, with husband Nick Dempsey - an Olympic sailboarding medallist - and daughter Sienna accompanying her around the world, helping create a family culture within the fleet.
"It's probably different for each team," she said. "I was the first mum on SailGP, so our team was probably the test case and we set the benchmark pretty high, in terms of how it was accommodated… breast-feeding and all the things that go into being a mum."
Women have cracked many of the gender barriers in sailing, with Brit Sam Davies skippering the first all-female crew in the 2014/15 Volvo Ocean Race, winning the 1200km eight leg from Lisbon, Portugal to Lorient, France.
Last year, Italy's Luna Rossa Prada Pirelli won the inaugural Women's America's Cup off Barcelona, but Mills is hesitant to advocate for a SailGP equivalent or even an all-female crew on the circuit.
SailGP women assemble in Auckland. Photo: Ricardo Pinto for SailGP
"I definitely see a day where there'll be 50-50 equality on the boats, I think that'd be amazing… it depends what the league wants to do. I would never say never, because it's happened elsewhere, hasn't it?
"My drive and passion is very much about equality, and showing our sport that men and women can compete together and race together, and be really competitive. Showing the world that men and women are sailing together is really powerful.
"For me, that's really important and that's why I think SailGP can really strive to show."
The sorority had their chance to take over the F50s during a two-day women's training camp at Dubai last November.
"We had three boats out, with one male grinder at the front, just to help coaching and an element of safety, with a lot of people doing new roles for he first time," said Mills. "It was phenomenal and such a cool moment for the sport."
Grinders are often regarded as the engineroom of these craft, but USA have passed even that task to pocket powerhouse Anna Weis, whose lightweight frame proved an advantage for her third-placed team in light breezes off Dubai.
"Being in this position, it's a huge opportunity to pave the way for women in this sport," said Weis. "When [team leader Mike Buckley] called me to be a grinder and jib trimmer, I was excited for the challenge and ready to embrace the opportunity.
Liv Mackay (second from right) in action with Black Foils at Dubai. Photo: Felix Diemer for SailGP
"Hopefully, it can inspire a lot of other women in the sport to take on these roles."
Many teams recruit grinders from other sports and, while Olympian Weis regards herself as a sailor first, she also crewed in rowing at Boston College and loves mixing it with her male counterparts in the weightroom.
"An all-woman team would be amazing, but the cool thing about sailing and this league is it's a co-ed sport," she insisted. "We women want to show that we can be just as good as men, so competing in the same arena as them, on the same level against them is really important.
"We're trying to pave the way in this space."
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