When the PIC Coastal Classic fleet assembles this year, one entry carries more than a racing programme. Vixen Racing arrives with a deliberate purpose: to put women in meaningful ownership and command roles on competitive offshore yachts.
At the helm is skipper Sharon Ferris-Choat, who has co-purchased Vixen alongside Deb Steele, Carla Bennett and Lynn. The boat has an interesting pedigree, having passed through the hands of Graham Dalton and later Scott and Tash Fickling before its current ownership. She is a modified Class 40 monohull, adapted for inshore and light-air sailing with a taller rig and an extended bowsprit, features that give her extra power in the typically gentle breezes found across the Gulf.
The Coastal Classic represents a first outing and a learning exercise rolled into one. "We've done a few small modifications and just want to learn the boat as a team," Sharon says. Once the race is done and the crew reaches Russell, the journey continues north to Opua, where final preparations will be made for a Trans-Tasman passage to Sydney. The weather window for that crossing opens 17 November, with an eight-day voyage planned along the northern route around the high, setting Vixen up to compete in the Rolex Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race.
The crew assembled for these campaigns is a careful blend of skill and experience. Women and men make up equal halves of the team, and the roster includes Olympic Finn sailor Clifton Webb, Taylor Edwards serving as boat captain, and James Tucker, who comes aboard fresh from winning the Sands Series double-handed on Vixen. Tucker's role carries a knowledge-sharing dimension, bringing the "tricks of the trade" that will help the team sharpen its collective rhythm on board.
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The philosophy underpinning Vixen Racing goes beyond race results. Opportunity, the team believes, is what develops capability, and right now that opportunity is not evenly distributed. "We don't necessarily need quotas," Sharon says, "but if that's the only way to get women on boats, then we need to do it, because the opportunities still aren't there." Co-owner Carla, who brings a background in match racing and Olympic competition, offers a complementary perspective: mixed crews frequently outperform single-gender lineups precisely because they draw on a broader combination of strengths rather than relying on raw power alone.
"You can't compete if you don't have the opportunity," Sharon says. That view sits at the heart of what Vixen Racing is setting out to do, from this Coastal Classic debut to the ocean passage that follows.
“That’s why we created Vixen Racing, to give women the chance to race a competitive boat, gain confidence, and eventually own one themselves.”
For the Coastal Classic, that work is already in motion, and Vixen takes to the start line with skill, experience and purpose in her corner.
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