Skip to main content
Time to race start
00 days
:
00 hrs
:
00 min
:
00 sec

A first for First Light navigator in Rolex Sydney Hobart

Home 2025 A first for First Light navigator in Rolex Sydney Hobart

Class 40 First Light. Image: CYCA | Ashley Dart

Annie Stevenson credits her late grandfather, for inspiring her to become a navigator; the 26-year-old Yorkshire native’s grandfather, George Stevenson, was a meteorologist in the Royal Air Force and passionate about his profession.

news
—

Understanding weather systems is an integral part of navigation and Stevenson was lucky enough to learn from a young age.

“I think my grandfather would be proud of what I’m doing now,” Stevenson said. “He’d think, ‘She's made something of herself,’ or ‘She's following in my footsteps’. I’m carrying it [meteorology] on in a very different way to him but I’m keeping that skill alive.”

Some of the First Light crew following the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast. From left to right: Whitney Taylor, Elizabeth Tucker, Annie Stevenson and Madeline Lyons.    Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart 

From software engineering to navigation

Stevenson will be tied to the navigation station for several days during her first Sydney Hobart, aboard Elizabeth Tucker’s First Light (Class40). The yacht is the only all-women-crewed entry in the 80th edition of the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s (CYCA) 628-nautical-mile race. The six-person crew is comprised of Tucker, Stevenson, Malin Ludwig, Madeline Lyons, Katie O'Mara and Bayley Taylor.

As a software engineer who relocated from London to Sydney four years ago, Stevenson draws strong parallels between her profession and her role as navigator.

“I always liked problem solving and understanding how things work,” Stevenson said. “And I think that’s why I like navigation - it connects to my work a bit.”

While this will be Stevenson’s first Sydney Hobart, and her first in the role of navigator, she believes the First Light crew has the collective experience to achieve some firsts of their own.

First Light charging out of Sydney Harbour.    Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

Well-rounded sailors

Tucker’s long-term goal is to compete in the 2027/28 Global Solo Challenge (GSC) – a ‘budget-friendly’, solo, around-the-world race. As part of her GSC preparation, she involved her Rolex Sydney Hobart crew in workshops with professionals, focusing on engines, electronics, rigging, navigation and more. The purpose is to shape the crew into well-rounded sailors.

Stevenson’s preparation included working with the team behind marine weather forecast app Predict Wind, as well as picking up advice from other women sailors and the sailing community in general.      

“I think we’re getting lots of great weather preparation done beforehand,” she said.

All smiles on board First Light.    Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

Offshore success

The CYCA’s Audi Centre Sydney Blue Water Pointscore (ACSBWPS) races have given Stevenson the chance to learn on the job and hone her skills as a navigator before the main event.

“The Blue Water Pointscore and bigger races have shown us what weather stations we should use,” Stevensen said. “They’re all trainings to get to this, the Sydney Hobart.”

Stevenson (left) speaking at a women in sailing panel. Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

First Light has competed in six  of the ACSBWPS races so far – Noakes Sydney Gold Coast, Flinders Islet, Tollgate Islands, Bird Island and Cabbage Tree Island races. The finale is the Rolex Sydney Hobart.

First Light came speeding off the starting blocks in the pointscore, placing second in Division 1 in the Noakes Sydney Gold Coast Yacht Race.

Stevenson said that result sent a clear message to any doubters about the capability of an all-women crew.

“The expectation is that we want to finish the race - and that’s our goal,” Stevenson said.

“We want to be respected. When you’re a woman in sailing you can be put in a box. If it’s blowing 30 knots, we’ll be out there. And we’ll be racing and pushing hard.”

Stevenson (right) and some of the First Light crew at a Sydney Race Village event.    Image: CYCA/Ashley Dart

Next steps

While this may be Stevenson’s first Sydney Hobart, she has other offshore ambitions too.

She has caught the short-handed sailing bug and in August, competed with Tucker double handed on First Light in the 2025 GCCM Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race (520 nautical miles), and loved every minute.

First Light speeding away in the GCCM Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race - Salty Dingo/GCCM Gold Coast Mackay Yacht Race pic.

She even harbours ambitions of sailing around the world one day, inspired after she watched the Globe40 competitors (a double-handed round-the-world race sailed on Class40s) arrive in Sydney Harbour earlier this month.

But even with all these opportunities on the horizon, Stevenson understands the importance of slowing down to enjoy the ‘climb’.

“I am quite driven and excited, and it is like, ‘I want to do this and want to do that’,” Stevenson said. “But sometimes it is also about enjoying the journey and ask, ‘Do I want to do this race, or should I focus on this other thing?’

“The Globe 40 is the kind of sailing I would love to do. But you have to do the steps in between. So, it is about working out what those steps are, and then the opportunities will come.”

Greta Quealy, RSHYR media