Dawn Riley on leadership, team management, and helming to win...

Sailfaster: The No 1 podcast for racing sailors

Today’s episode features sailing legend Dawn Riley at the renowned Oakcliff Sailing Center. Dawn’s been interviewed hundreds of times but I tried to home in on her thoughts on getting boats and teams to sail faster. Our episode touched on many things – managing campaigns and teams, race preparation, nutrition, and we spent a fair amount of time on her approach to helming. Oh we also talked about being tested to the limits – by the Southern Ocean and by kids learning to sail which was hilarious. I thoroughly enjoyed our chat – Dawn is inspiring, gracious and hilarious.

Dawn is one of the foremost sailors of the modern era. Famous around the world, she was the first woman ever to manage an entire America's Cup syndicate, the first American, man or woman, to sail in three America's Cups and two Whitbread Round the World races. Just to zoom in on that for a moment - Dawn was the first women to have an active role on an America’s Cup team in 1992 as pitperson, in 1995 she captained America3, the first women’s team in the America’s Cup, and was skipper of Skipper of Heineken, the only all-women’s entry in the 1993-94 Whitbread round-the-world race. If you haven’t seen it already, you must watch the film Maiden – it’s the epic story of the first all-women’s team in the 1989-90 Whitbread race, in which Dawn stars with Tracy Edwards, Mandi Swan, Claire Warren, and others.

Dawn is also a passionate advocate for the sport of sailing – under her leadership the Oakcliff Sailing Center in Long island has become one of the foremost providers of community access into the sport of sailing. And this is where we met for the recording, on a snowy winter’s day in Long Island, New York. You’ll find the audio quality changes a little as we were in an echoy room; I do hope that doesn’t spoil your enjoyment of what was a terrific discussion. Take a listen…