Often times when one thinks of Sailing Week and boat races, thoughts of being tossed and slammed by waves may cause feelings of panic to ensue. For some, images of sun burnt, brawny men pulling on ropes and steering that big wheel may come to mind.

If the latter image holds true for you, then you may be in for a pleasant surprise when you see Heather Cooper this Sailing Week doing her thing on The Hugo.

Heather is a former graduate of the Antigua Girls High School (where sailing was not a part of Physical Education by the way) and she said she had her first sailing experience when she was about 9 or 10 years old. The maiden voyage was a short one from English Harbour to Jolly Harbour.

Funnily enough, Heather did not find her initial sailing exposure pleasurable. She remembers the rolling of the yacht in low water and the waves washing over the rails as very frightening. Her maiden voyage might have been her last if she wasn’t successfully convinced to learn sailing a few years later.

On a whim, Heather took a course ran at Jolly Harbour in a Sun Fish and found that she enjoyed it. She readily admits to needing rescue a few times during that course. By this time, Heather had been bit by the ‘sailing bug’, so much so that after graduating from high school, she went to work at Sunsail (Club Cologna). At Sunsail during peak season, Heather was on the water sometimes four hours a day taking children out sailing, or just sailing on her breaks.

It was Race Week 1999 when Heather made a courageous and pivotal decision which changed her life. On the morning of Monday’s Race, Heather “plucked up the courage” to decide she wanted to crew for race week. Early in the morning she took off to Dickenson Bay in search of local boats to crew for. She says she walked from boat to boat asking if they needed additional crew.

Having been turned down a few times, Heather remembered hearing of Captain Hugh Bailey and his boat called the Hugo. Not knowing the captain personally, she decided to ask a water taxi to take her to the Hugo. She got there and asked for the captain and explained her desire to crew. Heather fondly remembers Captain Bailey giving her the “once over” and asking her what she knew about sailing. After asking her a few pertinent questions, the Captain gave her “the nod” and laughingly said “if you’re good, we’ll keep you, if not we’ll send you back”.

There began her now decade-long love affair with sailing and the Hugo. Heather has participated in every single Race Week held during Antigua’s annual Sailing Week with Captain Bailey since her initial one in 1999. This might sound ordinary but considering that Heather has been living in the United Kingdom now for a number of years; one can see that her passion and love for the sport and for the Hugo is a deep one. In fact her preparation for Race Week 2010 is now in high gear as Sailing Week quickly approaches.

Outside of Antigua’s Sailing Week, Heather has raced competitively on both the Hugo and the Hugo B at the Angostura Regatta in Tobago, the Mount Gay Rum Regatta in Barbados and The Heineken Regatta in St. Maarten. Recently, she has done the Cowes Regatta in the UK (on another boat).

Currently, Heather lives and works in Central London as an IT Business Analyst. It should be interesting to note that she has also taken flight lessons and plans to pursue an interest she has long had in car mechanics. One may wonder what the correlation is between sailing and flying, to this Heather says “It’s quite simply amazing. Interestingly some of my confidence in the sky came from my sailing experience… I think it might have been having learnt how powerful the wind can be and that it was not something to fear. The sailing was more of an unknown desire...waiting ready to get me!”
For other females thinking of giving sailing a try, Heather suggests finding an avenue to get in and then giving it a try.

When asked why many females are not usually seen actively involved in sailing, she thinks this may be due to the fact that in general not many Antiguans are involved during Sailing Week and she thinks most view it as a sport that is not readily available to them. This she sees as a pity for an island surrounded by waters with excellent sailing conditions.
Heather says globally, sailing is fairly a gender-equal sport with many females who are also outstanding sailors. She cites Ellen MacArthur as an example and says it is not uncommon to find all-female teams at regattas. However, on the whole Heather thinks that often-expressed “sailing is not for our kind of people” mentality needs to be done away with and more local participation and involvement needs to happen during Sailing Week.

It’s plain to see Heather Cooper is a woman with adrenalin-induced passions and a love for her country and its world famous Sailing Week. Be sure to visit the Dockyard and all the events and activities that will be held during Antigua Sailing Week 2010 and if you see the Hugo make sure and wave to Heather, she’s sure to be there as Captain Bailey has never “sent her back”.