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Isabelle Autissier is credited, in the words of BBC Sport, with “smashing sailing’s glass ceiling”. She has sailed alone through some of the deadliest oceans on Earth, surviving two capsizings near the South Pole. By the age of 46 she had completed two complete circumnavigations. As someone who began sailing alone because she didn't have the experience to sail on a men's team, she beat all her male competitors to Cape Town by a convincing five-day margin during the 1994 BOC Challenge, then experienced a near fatal dismasting deep in the Roaring Forties of the Indian Ocean. She managed to effect emergency repairs on tiny Kerguelen Island—her first encounter with the desolate isle whose discoverer was to fascinate her. Along with Yves Parlier and Christophe Auguin, she was the driving force behind the formation of the international Open 60 Skipper's Class Association (ISMOCA) which spends much of its time looking into boat design issues.
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