Adrienne Cahalan (born 1964) was the only woman competing in the 2005–06 Volvo Ocean Race. She is a qualified lawyer and had a master's degree in Applied Meteorology. Adrienne grew up on the

Lane Cove River The Lane Cove River, a northern tributary of the Parramatta River, is a tide-dominated, drowned valley estuary west of Sydney Harbour, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river winds through a bushland valley and joins Parramatt ...

(part of

Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...

) in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. After learning how to sail as a teenager, she began to race

lasers A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word ''laser'' originated as an acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radi ...

and was a member of the twelve-foot

skiff A skiff is any of a variety of essentially unrelated styles of small boats, usually propelled by sails or oars. Traditionally, these are coastal craft or river craft used for work, leisure, as a utility craft, and for fishing, and have a one-pers ...

club. Since then Adrienne has been part of the Cheyenne crew which broke the Round the World World Speed Record in 2004; she has circumnavigated the globe on several projects, and has had four World Yachtswoman of the Year nominations. This is all with also having experience in three

Volvo Ocean Race The Ocean Race is a yacht race around the world, held every three or four years since 1973. Originally named the Whitbread Round the World Race after its initiating sponsor, British brewing company Whitbread, in 2001 it became the Volvo Ocean Rac ...

s (formerly known as the Whitbread Round the World Race) prior to her race in the 2005–2006 Volvo Ocean Race. Her education was at Marist Sisters' College, Woolwich, an all girl secondary school in the suburbs of Sydney. She came and gave a speech to her old school (11 March 2015) as an alumni and ex student. Some of her words were; "33 years ago, I sat in those seats. When I sat there I didn't know I would leave and become a professional sailor and maritime lawyer." She told them what she has achieved after stepping out of those doors of high school. She told them that she has set a world record for going around the world on a yacht in less than 64 days. She said she once told her crew when they were absolutely exhausted, "If you don't try now and we lose that world record by one second, you will never forgive yourself but if you put everything into it, then you know you've done what could be done to complete it". She has been the navigator on four line honours winners in the

Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race The Rolex Sydney Hobart Yacht Race is an annual oceanic yacht racing event hosted by the Cruising Yacht Club of Australia, starting in Sydney, New South Wales, on Boxing Day and finishing in Hobart, Tasmania. The race distance is approximately ...

including Wild Oats. Cahalan was awarded

Medal of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of then ...

(OAM) in the

2019 Queen's Birthday Honours The 2019 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as p ...

for service to sailing. In October 2019 Cahalan was inducted to the

Australian Sailing Hall of Fame Australian Sailing Hall of Fame was established in 2017 by Australian Sailing in collaboration with the Australian National Maritime Museum. There are two nomination categories: the sailor or athlete category; and the general category which recogni ...

Bibliography

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Australian female sailors (sport) Volvo Ocean Race sailors Sailors (sport) from Sydney Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia 20th-century Australian sportswomen {{Australia-yachtracing-bio-stub