Isabelle Autissier

Isabelle Autissier in 2008.

Isabelle Autissier (born 18 October 1956, Paris) is a French sailor, navigator, writer, and broadcaster. She is celebrated for being the first woman to have completed a solo world navigation in competition (BOC Challenge 1991).

While competing in the 1994-95 BOC Challenge Autissier's boat Ecureuil Poitou Charentes II was dismasted and severely damaged approximately 900 nautical miles (1,700 km) south of Adelaide, Australia. Autissier was rescued on 1 January 1995 by a Seahawk helicopter launched from the Royal Australian Navy frigate, HMAS Darwin.

In the 1998-99 Around Alone race Autissier was rescued by fellow competitor Giovanni Soldini when her boat PRB capsized approximately 1,900 miles (3,100 km) west of Cape Horn.

Bibliography

• Rendez-vous avec la mer (The first years), avec Antoine Le Seguillon (Solar, 1996)
• Une solitaire autour du monde (Alone Around the World), avec Eric Cocquerel (Arthaud, 1997)
• Kerguelen, le voyageur au pays de l'ombre (Kerguelen, the Traveller in the Land of Shadow), (Grasset, 2006)
• Salut au Grand Sud (Goodbye to the Great South), avec Erik Orsenna, (Stock, 2006)
• Versant océan : l'île du bout du monde (Sloping Ocean: the Island at the Bottom of the World) avec Lionel Daudet, (Grasset, 2008)

http://www.finerminds.com/personal-growth/profound-lessons-from-the-sea/

References

This article incorporates information from the revision as of February 2008 of the equivalent article on the French Wikipedia.