Isabelle Autissier: making this race is important for these women

Isabelle Autissier: making this race is important for these women

A few weeks after being the first woman to complete a solo sailing round the world race in the Boc Challenge, navigator Isabelle AUTISSIER looks back on this experience. She says that being the first woman involved in such a race did not matter to her: "I happened to be the first woman to do it, it had to start one day, that’s done". It had among its sponsors the State Secretariat for Women’s Rights but did not feel particularly flag-bearer. "I did a race like any skipper would have done a race". However, she realized that in the ports of call in South Africa and South America, she received an enthusiastic welcome from women. She was touched because her participation was important to these women who often did not sail and had difficulty expressing themselves as women.

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File : Isabelle Autissier

Publication date : 20 July 1991