Sailing Into History: Vendée Globe's Female Skippers Share Their Stories

Our host, Charlie Enright, speaks with three female skippers competing in this edition of the Vendée Globe - frontrunner Justine Mettraux, and multi-race veterans Sam Davies and Pip Hare. These women are the best of the best and an inspiration for all young offshore sailors.  

Over the years, the Vendée Globe skipper roster has included some of the best female offshore sailors in the game. And to be fair, to get to the start line of this level -solo, around the world, and without assistance- you have to be one the best offshore sailors in the world, period.    

Isabelle Autissier and Catherine Chabaud blazed the trail by entering the 1996-1997 edition of the Vendée Globe. Chabaud claimed her place as the first female to conquer the “Everest of the Seas,” and the race has welcomed 12 women for a total of 15 starts since the race was launched in 1989. Six female skippers are participating in the Vendée Globe 2024-25. Sam Davies leads the charge as the most veteran race competitor, while Violette Dorange, at 23, is the youngest skipper ever, male or female, to participate in this storied race.  

This episode of Loft 57 features Sam Davies, Pip Hare, and Justine Mettraux. When we published Episode 5, Mettraux was on track to be the fastest female to race a monohull around the planet, Davies was holding firm among the top 15, and Pip was speaking with us after a dismasting crushed her chance to complete the circumnavigation.