Overview

By the time the U.S. Women's Challenge had completed the first leg of the 1993-94 Whitbread Round-the-World Race, the crew was riven by dissent, financial problems, and personal conflicts. Only a new captain could save the all-women's team from mutiny and lead them to a successful finish. When Dawn Riley received an unexpected phone call from Uruguay asking her to take on the assignment, she was not eager to step into the midst of a fractured crew-and yet she knew she needed to keep this boat in the race. She packed up her life and flew south. After four days of hasty boat preparation and group training, the women set out from sunny Punta del Este, unprepared for the perils of the treacherous Southern Ocean. In their streamlined, stripped-down vessel, the crew faced near-hurricane winds, numbing temperatures, and jagged icebergs. Eating freeze-dried food and working in four-hour watches, they braved the forces of nature in the face of physical injury, dwindling supplies, equipment failure, and overall exhaustion. In the midst of it all, bitter resentment was brewing among the original crew members while the controversy over Riley's takeover made headlines on land. As the boat sailed on to complete the arduous six-leg race, this female crew and their boat-renamed Heineken for its new sponsor-circumnavigated the globe. But these women traveled much farther than the race's 32,000 miles: with each leg and each new test, this crew learned to rally under their captain's leadership when their very survival was at stake. In recounting how she took responsibility for the lives of eleven other women, Riley tells an extraordinary story of self-discovery within the gripping context of the world's most demanding sailboat race.

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Dawn Riley is one of the best-known sailors in the world. She was the first woman to manage an entire America's Cup syndicate. She was the first American-man or woman-to sail in three America's Cups and two Whitbread Round-the-World races. She founded the America True syndicate at age thirty-two and became the youngest CEO of an America's Cup Team, establishing a record that still stands. Dawn is currently executive director of the Oakcliff Sailing Center, a non-profit training and coaching sailing center in Oyster Bay, New York, that runs a series of unique programs ranging from corporate team-building to a tuition-based residential program for individuals under age thirty. Oakcliff is helping America regain its leadership position in the sport by building leaders through sailing. A past president of the Women's Sports Foundation, Dawn is a sought-after motivational speaker. Learn more at www.dawnriley.com. Co-author Cynthia Goss has written extensively on sailing-the sport's personalities, its events, and its industry. Her reporting has appeared in The New York Times, the Boston Globe, and in books and nautical magazines published throughout North America and Europe. Cynthia works with a variety of individuals and organizations, to help them tell their stories in books, articles, grant proposals, and other written materials. Learn more at www.cynthiagoss.com.

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