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Pioneering skipper offers sage advice to teenage rookie

Home 2025 Pioneering skipper offers sage advice to teenage rookie

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Ali Braden began sailing to help out her brother when one of his crew quit and it took a long while before she embraced the sport, but now at just 18, Braden will be aboard Pacific Road Xanthus as the youngest woman in this year’s Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race.

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These days, having fallen in love with sailing, the teenager is never far from the water, taking on everything from offshore racing to pursuing an Olympic dream in the 470 class.

Despite juggling her sailing commitments with university and ‘quite a few jobs’, Braden took time out of her pre-race preparations to meet one of the Sydney Hobart’s pioneers.

Some 32 years before Braden was even born, Victoria Willman skippered the first all-female crewed entry, Barbarian, to Hobart in 1975, against the odds and amid much public ridicule. Women simply didn’t sail the Great Race South together.

 

Barbarian competing as the first all women crew in 1975

 

Willman had tried for years to ‘get a ride’ to Hobart but couldn’t find a crew - so she did what no one before her ever had – she found a bunch of willing women and took them with her.

“It was just a childhood dream (to do the Sydney Hobart), because no one would take me,” Willman said.

“And every time I’d try and go, they’d say, ‘yes, you can come if you cook’.

“And I kept saying, ‘I don't cook’. They didn't want anyone. You didn't want a girl as crew.

“So, I just decided, eventually, after I had an all-girl 18 footer crew, that I'll try for Hobart.”

 

Braden getting ready to go training on Pacific Road Xanthus

 

For Braden, who says her main role on board the 55 foot X-55 Pacific Road Xanthus, that will be skippered by Mitch White, is trimming sails, the journey hasn’t been as challenging.

“It was always a goal of mine to be to do it as soon as I possibly could when I turned 18, and here we are, I got the opportunity to do it,” Braden said.

“My first time I ever went sailing was at Middle Harbour with my older brother and I absolutely hated it.

“Then I was forced to do it for five more years and I was like, ‘oh, you know what, it's not that bad’.

“And then it started getting a lot more interesting and I took up sailing on my own on a Laser. Then from that, I worked up that Olympic pathway, which has got me into the 470 now. So now I'm a 470 crew.”

For Braden, to hear stories from Willman’s iconic trip south 50 years ago, was an honour.

“It's really awesome. I really didn't even know that that that happened,” Braden said.

“Really awesome to hear and I think we should have as many stories about that whole period of time as we can.”

 

 

Braden (left) and Willman (right) talking about the race ahead

 

Eleven other all-women crews have made the journey to Hobart since Willman led Barbarian into Constitution Dock in 1975 and that number will grow to 12 this year when a crew of seven will be on board Elizabeth Tucker’s First Light, the first all-women’s crew since Stacey Jackson skippered Wild Oats X in 2018.

Overall, there are 14 female skippers/owners in the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia’s 80th edition of the Sydney Hobart and 167 women across the fleet. Braden will be joined by two other women amongst the 14-crew on Pacific Road Xanthus.

Willman will be watching on intently, cheering on the next generation of female sailors and had some sage advice for Braden.

“My message would be, believe in yourself. Get plenty of rest, and don't wait for someone to tell you what to do. If you see something that needs doing. Just do it.”