Our daughter sails Mackinac with her grandfather.
Jul 10th, 2008 by Scott
Our daughter sailed her second Port Huron to Mackinac Race with her grandfather aboard his sailboat Liberty. Below is her video of the race.
Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.
Below is a Port Huron Times Herald article about Kelsey.
More women brave the waves
Female sailors bring expertise to the water
VERSATILE: Kelsey Bert, 14, of Jeddo stands Tuesday with her grandfather, Bob Bert, on Liberty, his Beneteau First 42, docked at the Port Huron Yacht Club. (Photo by MELISSA WAWZYSKO, Times Herald)
Flags were whipping in the breeze and Kelsey Bert took a quick reading. The 14-year-old cocked her head, narrowed her eyes and said: “It’s okay. It’s a medium wind.”
On Saturday, Bert of Jeddo will compete in her second Port Huron-to-Mackinac Island Sailboat Race and she hopes the wind picks up a bit.
“Last year, we didn’t do so well,” she said, describing how long her grandfather’s 11-ton boat, Liberty, sat dead in the water, sails slack in a weak breeze.
As she sat Tuesday at a table outside of the Port Huron Yacht Club, she left no doubt of her readiness to compete for a win.
“I’m addicted to (sailing),” she said. “It’s like you’ve captured the wind and are controlling it.”
Kelsey is one of many females participating in this year’s race. The number of women in the race, and in the sport of sailing in general, is growing.
Still, many local female sailors say they’re still outnumbered.
“Last year, I was the only girl on the boat,” Bert said. “My parents say I’ve been hanging around boys too much.”
Locally, many women have broken through sailing’s glass ceiling in recent years. The sailors include people such as Katie Pettibone. The Port Huron native was selected in 1995 out of nearly 700 sailors to be one of a 28-member crew on America 3, the first all-female crew in the 144-year history of the America’s Cup. Pettibone, who now lives in Sacramento, Calif., went on to compete in two more cups.
Bert, who begins her freshmen year at Croswell-Lexington High School this fall, said she’s introduced a few of her friends to sailing but none have shown her level of dedication.
She said she’s experienced some resistance when trying to compete, but it mainly was due to her size and age, not her gender.
“At first, I felt a little odd,” she said. “But I just jumped in there and proved to them I could do it. … Now, I do foredeck and they trust me with it.”