Mini Transa - Aussie Katrina Ham solo sailor competing

Australian solo sailor Katrina Ham from Brisbane will be sailing her Class Mini 6.5 Meter Pogo 2 out in the Atlantic alone. She is the only Southern Hemisphere entrant in this huge fleet of tiny boats racing solo across the paddock (more info at minitransat-ilesdeguadeloupe.fr).

The race started on September 19 and she is one of only three women in the race. McIntyreAdventure.com has been supporting Lizzy Foreman, one of the other British women entrants in the Mini Transat, and only then did I learn about Katrina’s late entry.

While entered in the 2013 Mini Transat, Katrina lost her boat and everything she owned in a sad accident. She has made it back after an epic ongoing struggle, with a second-hand boat and bits of used gear to hopefully complete her dream. She has lived in the back of a Transit van all that time. I sent an email wishing her the best of Aussie luck. She replied and told me she didn’t even have any good wet-weather gear and the race starts in two weeks. Crowdfunding had paid her entry fee. She was eating lots of rice!

Lizzy is sponsored by Hudson Wight, a new UK wet-weather gear brand. I rang Lizzy and told her I need to buy a full set of wet-weather gear and a smock for Katrina and my credit card was ready. Turns out they are great mates! Two days later it was done. Now Katrina will at least be partly dry and hopefully warm. But she still needs help and if anyone deserves, it Katrina does.

The Mini Transat has a month-long stopover at Lanzarote Island in the Canaries, and she has to buy food for that month living on her boat before the main crossing to Guadeloupe in the Caribbean begins. She is not sure how she can? Then, after winning, she hopes to book a hotel room to recover and also ship her boat back to the UK.

If you want to help a great Aussie battler and real adventurer struggling with a dream and one of the few women sailors who are trying to mix it with the French and other sailing pros, you can help on her website. Maybe someone could buy her a night in a hotel? Even just send her a message and say good luck! She will smile large, so follow her at katrinahamracing.com and Lizzy at lizzyracing.com.

See the full version of this storyin Trade-A-Boat #470, October 2015.