Word: whitbread
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Dates: during 1995-1995
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...past five years, two all-female crews have sailed the 33,000-mile Round-the-World Whitbread, the most punishing of fleet races. And on the international regatta circuit, the number of women on crews has crept up. But so far, the America's Cup -- sailed on the world's biggest, fanciest racing yachts in one-on-one matches -- has remained off limits. Although several owners' wives sailed in pre-World War II Cups, only three independent women sailors have participated in Cup trials in recent years. Was it the old saw that women bring bad luck on a boat...
...chemical engineering from M.I.T., trounced four-time winner Conner and the Italian finalist, Gardini, in the last Cup, it was because he built four boats only to settle on the one with the sleekest hull, stiffest mast and lightest sails made from a revolutionary carbon fiber/polymer blend. As Whitbread veteran Merritt Carey, one of the two self-described "bow chicks" on the women's team, says, "Even idiots sailing a fast boat every day can do a pretty good...
...member team, of whom only 16 are allowed to sail the boat during a race, was chosen from 678 applicants after rigorous tryouts. Among them: eight Olympic athletes, two women who sailed through hurricane-force winds and icebergs in the Whitbread, a world-class weightlifter who coaches the University of Washington Huskies football team, a native Hawaiian who sailed a 60-ft. canoe using Polynesian wayfinding, an aerospace engineer, and three mothers of small children. As impressive and eclectic as the women are, however, only two are experienced in big-boat match racing. By contrast, virtually all the members...